Software Development

That snow storm sent SEPTA trains to new ‘Turbo F*cked’ status

On Thursday, Regional Rail trains were delayed by more than 35 minutes on average according to “Is Septa Fucked?” an online tracker of SEPTA's status.

SEPTA Key. (Screenshot via SEPTA)

Back in September, Is SEPTA Fucked? creator Douglas Muth added a new category to its transit status tracker.

“I just quietly rolled out a new update for ‘Is SEPTA Fucked,” Muth told Technical.ly via Twitter DM over Labor Day weekend. “It’s a new status of “Turbo Fucked”. Hope the site doesn’t show that status anytime soon! :-O”

But on Thursday evening, amid the biggest November snow storm in 30 years, stranded commuters — like this reporter — could see the new status flash on their screens.

The new status is reached when five trains or more are delayed by at least 30 minutes. A total of 70 out of 85 trains were running late on Thursday, with average delays of 28.3 minutes around 6 p.m.

At 30th Street Station, hundreds of passengers were stranded as several trains were delayed by an hour or more last night. Six lines were eventually suspended for the night, with the Paoli-Thorndale line still inoperative on Friday morning.

Muth, an Ardmore-based software developer who commutes to Center City for work, said although he doesn’t currently keep a log of statuses, this is “very likely” the first time SEPTA has reached Turbo Fucked status.

As of press time, 12 out of 36 trains were running late per the site’s data, with an average delay of 17 minutes.

Is Septa Fucked? was created in 2012 and took home the Best Side Project award at our NET/WORK Awards.

Update: This story has been updated to more accurately describe what kind of delays trigger the new status. (11/16/18, 11:23 a.m.)
Companies: SEPTA
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