SEPTA
System-wide ridership for November 2025 decreased 1% or 8,547 unlinked trips per day from November 2024, SEPTA recently reported.
Average daily ridership was 756,672 unlinked passenger trips across all modes.
Metro ridership declined by approximately 0.4% or 1,176 trips per day relative to this time last year. The trolley tunnel closure and bus substitution resulted in a 26% decline or 14,800 less unlinked passenger trips on the T and D but a 9% increase on the L. Average daily ridership on the B, M, and L combined grew 6% or 13,624 average weekday trips since this time last year and average daily ridership is at the highest level since February 2020. Ridership on the G grew by 9% or approximately 1,000 trips per day.
Bus and trackless trolley ridership increased 0.3% or 1,233 trips per day relative to this time last year. Saturday ridership increased by 1% and Sunday ridership increased by 4%. The five routes with the strongest year over year growth by total number of trips are: 2, 21, 40, 42, and 3. Bus alternatives to T routes experienced strong growth in November due to the tunnel closure.
Regional Rail ridership declined by 10% or 8,531 trips per day relative to this time last year due to the SLIV car shortage and the SLIV FRA safety inspection mandate.
STV
The Quantico Station Improvements Project, a comprehensive modernization of the historic rail station serving the Town of Quantico and Marine Corps Base Quantico (MCBQ) in Virginia, has been honored with a prestigious Grand Award by ACEC Virginia.
On behalf of the Virginia Railway Express (VRE), STV served as the engineer-of-record, providing design and engineering services that transformed the historic Quantico Station into a modern, high-capacity, accessible and future-ready rail hub. STV’s scope included the design of more than 0.7-miles of new third mainline track, the extension of the station’s existing side platform, constructing a new center platform, installing three elevator towers and pedestrian bridges for safe, grade-separated, ADA-compliant access and designing a 714-foot-long retaining wall to minimize impacts to MCBQ and preserve adjacent historic structures.
These improvements, STV says, “significantly enhance the station’s capacity, enabling longer trains, improving safety and accessibility for commuters (including service members and civilians alike) and supporting growth in both passenger and freight rail services along a vital corridor in Virginia.”
“Quantico Station plays an important role in connecting communities in Virginia, and we approached this project with a responsibility to enhance that experience,” said Derek Overstreet, PE, DBIA, Vice President and Engineering Director. “Seeing this work recognized by ACEC Virginia is incredibly meaningful because it celebrates the collaboration and care that went into every detail.”
The project team will be recognized at the ACEC Virginia Engineering Excellence gala in Richmond in February.
NYMTA
Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed legislation Friday that would have required New York MTA subway trains to operate with at least two workers at all times, according to a Spectrum News report.
According to the report, the bill passed by the state legislature would have permanently mandated both an operator and a conductor on all trains. Meanwhile, Spectrum News reports, the MTA is interested in moving widely towards one-person train operation (OPTO).
The Citizens Budget Commission, Partnership for New York City, Regional Plan Association, Reinvent Albany, and the Transit Costs Project at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management said in a joint statement that OPTO is the “global norm used by the vast majority of subway authorities across the world.”
“We strongly support efforts to provide New Yorkers with world-class public transit. This bill would have done the opposite by raising MTA operating costs and constraining the MTA’s ability to implement modern operating methods, adopt new technologies, and provide better service for riders,” the groups said.
In her own statement defending the veto, Hochul “echoed the groups’ stance on OPTO safety and savings for the MTA,” according to the report.
“This bill would cost as much as $10 million annually, reducing service, and limiting the MTA’s ability to benefit from capital investments in modern rolling stock and signals,” Hochul said in a statement, in part.
The Transport Workers Union (TWU), however, strongly supports two-person crews, citing safety concerns, according to the Spectrum News report.
TWU International President John Samuelsen posted responses on social media saying the veto was “futile” and that “conductors will be on subway cars serving and protecting Blue Collar NYC as long as the NYC Transit system exists.”
“While we are of course disappointed that OPTO was vetoed by Governor Hochul, our contract prohibits the further unilateral expansion of the practice on the subway system, and we will continue to operate the trains as we have been, and how it is safest—with both a train operator and conductor aboard. OPTO will not expand due to this veto,” said John V. Chiarello, President of TWU Local 100, which covers public transit workers in the city, in a statement.
Amtrak/USRC
Leaders from Amtrak and the USRC’s Board of Directors voted unanimously on Dec. 19 to approve a renegotiated agreement that will officially restore federal control of Union Station “amid efforts to overhaul the facility,” according to a report by The Hill.
According to the report, the revised agreement “gives the USRC greater authority as the operator of the station to pursue private sector investments and carry out upgrades and repairs, while Amtrak focuses on rail operations,” a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) spokesperson said.
Thursday’s agreement follows an announcement from the USDOT in August that the federal government “was taking over management of Union Station as part of a broader effort by the [POTUS 47] administration to put its stamp on the District of Columbia.”
“[POTUS 47] administration officials previously pointed to Union Station as part of the District’s problem with crime and homelessness,” according to The Hill report. National Guard troops were stationed outside the transportation hub for weeks after POTUS 47 “deployed members of the military around the city as part of a crackdown on crime.”
