Philadelphia, PA: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority or SEPTA has made the first major step towards changing the transit system. Starting February 23rd, 2025, SEPTA will finally retire the lettered bus routes in favor of numbers. On this same date, SEPTA will officially begin using the SEPTA Metro branding thorough the system.
To start, SEPTA is converting all but one letter routes to numbers. This change is to universalize the naming conventions of the bus route network, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the SEPTA Metro network. The conversions are as follows:
- Route G is becoming route 63
- Route H is becoming route 71
- Route J is becoming route 41
- Route L is becoming route 51
- Route R is becoming route 82
- Route XH is becoming route 81
You may have noticed route K is absent from this. The reason is due to the fact that the route K is to be merged with route 26 at a future date as part of SEPTA’s better bus initiative (formerly the Bus Revolution).
As previously mentioned, the SEPTA Metro Network is due to officially go LIVE on February 23rd As well. The changes slightly differ from what was laid out back in 2021. As witnessed from the signage, but otherwise is largely the same. Here is how the SEPTA Naming will work (as a recap for those who didn’t know or don’t remember)
- Market-Frankford Line would become the L line
- L1 all stops
- Broad Street Subway would be come the B lines.
- B1 Broad Street Local
- B2 Broad Street Express and Sports Express Service
- B3 Broad-Ridge Spur (8th-Market)
- Norristown High Speed Line This would be a bigger change, because the name would first change to Montgomery County Line and the symbol will become M instead of N
- M1 will be local service from 69th Street to Norristown
- Subway-Surface Trolley Lines would be unified as the T lines (Tunnel Trolleys). These will also be numbered from north to south instead of following the current numbering.
- T1 Lancaster Avenue (former route 10)
- T2 Baltimore Avenue (former route 34)
- T3 Chester Avenue (former route 13)
- T4 Woodland Avenue (former route 11)
- T5 Eastwick Avenue (former route 36)
- Route 15/Girard Avenue Lines will become the G line
- G1 Service from 63rd-Girard to Richmond-Westmoreland
- Suburban Trolleys 101 and 102, which spend most of their time in Delaware county, would be rebranded as the D trolleys to reflect this.
- D1 would replace the 101
- D2 would replace the 102
As stated, all these changes take effect on February 23rd, 2025. Check out SEPTA’s website for more details as well as more up-to-date info on said changes.
