Mayor Parker: Commit to Moving Forward on an Inter-City Bus Solution

Dear Mayor Parker:

For more than a year, bus passengers in Philadelphia have endured terrible conditions. For the past ten months, buses have been loading on and blocking the streets, bike lanes, and sidewalks of Northern Liberties, with no clear end in sight.

We know your administration did not create this situation and that you share our desire for a better solution. At the same time, the City said it aimed to move the buses to a more viable location by the end of March, then by Labor Day, and there is still no indication of a new location or plan.

It is time to move this process forward. We demand that by September 30, 2024, the City publicly commit to a date on which it will announce a new location for inter-city bus operations.

We are not demanding that the City say right now where the buses will go or exactly when they will move. We ask only that the City commit to a specific future date by which it will supply that information to the public.

Like you, we have watched bus passengers suffer from a lack of shelter, seating, and proper sanitary facilities. Northern Liberties proposed an idea to keep the buses in the neighborhood, get them off the streets, and provide shelter and dignity to passengers. That idea turned out not to be feasible, but it demonstrates the good faith efforts of the
community to try to work with the city.

We, along with our fellow Philadelphians and bus riders, have been reasonable. We have been patient. We have done our part. It is time for the City to definitively commit to a date for announcing its interim solution for inter-city bus operations.

Sincerely,
The Northern Liberties Neighbors Association and the undersigned