SEPTA gets a new Web site

While SEPTA transit workers were on strike this month, it appears the organization’s Web team was hard at work.
As announced via a tweet yesterday afternoon, the transit authority has released a brand spankin’ new Web site.
The new digs highlight SEPTA’s (sorta) cutting-edge features, like RSS feeds, Twitter account and a real-time train ticker. The home page is noticeably cleaner and continues SEPTA’s push in branding each of their services with a distinct color.
As pointed out by Colin over at SEPTA Watch, there are a few bugs to be worked out such as an empty Regional Rail page. It’s likely that the transit organization wants to fix these bugs before releasing any formal press announcements. Calls for comments to SEPTA have yet to be returned.
After the jump we take a look at some highlights from the new design.

Aesthetically, the site is definitely an improvement over the previous version, launched in late 2003, early 2004. Here are a look at some of the new features:
SEPTA is finally taking advantage of its recently formed partnership with Google Transit by including a Google option in its trip planner. When “Plan My Trip” is clicked, it takes the user to an old layout. The form’s “From” and “To” sections lack an auto-complete, something we think should be standard for transit sites that should be catering to those unfamiliar with the system.

We may be color blind, but the Buses and the Regional Rail look dangerously close in color:

And the new site even has rhythm [Using Firefox 3.0.15 on Leopard.]:
[viddler id-2c872009 h-305 w-420]
As to be expected with a large site like SEPTA, some links still take you to the old layout. Witness the career page, one of the main navigation buttons on the site:

And finally, SEPTA gets all Apple on us:

Overall, the site appears to continue SEPTA’s progress concerning its online presence and technology improvements, and for that the transit authority should be applauded. But key features such as “Plan My Trip” just redirect to the old layout, and many pages are sparsely populated or missing information all together.
As SEPTA has said many times before: They’re getting there.