The City of Philadelphia, SEPTA and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) have installed red-painted bus-only lanes on three major corridors in Center City and South Philadelphia.
The new lanes will appear on sections of Chestnut Street, Walnut Street and Oregon Avenue.
The initiative forms part of a wider effort to improve bus service reliability and manage street congestion. The red lanes will be installed alongside scheduled PennDOT resurfacing work, reflecting a joint approach between the three agencies.
The selected corridors were identified in the 2021 Philadelphia Transit Plan as Tier 1 priorities, chosen based on factors such as ridership levels, bus speeds, service hours, and connections across the network.
The new red-painted lanes will be introduced on the following sections:
- Chestnut Street: Broad Street to 21st Street
- Walnut Street: Broad Street to 19th Street
- Oregon Avenue: 5th Street to Front Street
SEPTA General Manager, Scott A. Sauer said:SEPTA is proud to partner with the City of Philadelphia and PennDOT to expand our region’s bus lane network. These bus lanes immediately improve the customer experience by enhancing bus reliability and trip times while increasing traffic safety for SEPTA’s riders and operators.
Philadelphia has already introduced similar red bus lanes on Chestnut Street (Broad Street to 2nd Street), Market Street (20th Street to 15th Street) and Erie Avenue (Germantown Avenue to Old York Road).
A City study of the eastern section of Chestnut Street found that bus travel times improved by around 12 percent, while double parking and misuse of the bus lane declined. During the same period, bus travel times elsewhere in Center City increased by about 4 percent.
The City and SEPTA also expect further benefits from the Automated Bus Camera Enforcement Initiative, operated in partnership with the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA). The system uses cameras with computer vision technology to identify and enforce violations such as blocking bus lanes, bus stops and trolley zones.
