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SEPTA

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people throughout five counties in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It also manages projects that maintain, replace, and expand its infrastructure, facilities and vehicles.

SEPTA is the major transit provider for the city of Philadelphia and four surrounding counties within Greater Philadelphia, including Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester. It is a state-created authority, with the majority of its board appointed by the five counties it serves. While several SEPTA commuter rail lines terminate in the nearby states of Delaware and New Jersey, additional service to Philadelphia from those states is provided by other agencies: the PATCO Speedline from Camden County, New Jersey is run by the Delaware River Port Authority, a bi-state agency; NJ Transit operates many bus lines and a commuter rail line to Philadelphia's Center City; and DART First State runs feeder bus lines to SEPTA stations in the state of Delaware.

SEPTA has the sixth-largest U.S. rapid transit system by ridership, and the fifth-largest overall transit system in the U.S. with about 302 million annual unlinked trips as of fiscal year 2018. It controls 290 active stations, over 450 mi of track, 2,350 revenue vehicles, and 196 routes. It also oversees shared-ride services in Philadelphia and ADA services across the region, which are operated by third-party contractors, Amtrak, and NJ Transit.

SEPTA is the only U.S. transit authority that operates all five major types of terrestrial transit vehicles: regional commuter rail trains, rapid transit subway and elevated trains, light rail trolleys, trolleybuses, and motorbuses. This title was shared with Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which also ran ferryboat service, until trolleybuses in Greater Boston were officially discontinued in 2023.

Formation
SEPTA was created by the Pennsylvania legislature on August 17, 1963, to coordinate government funding to various transit and railroad companies in southeastern Pennsylvania. It commenced on February 18, 1964.

On November 1, 1965, SEPTA absorbed two predecessor agencies:
 * The Passenger Service Improvement Corporation (PSIC), was created on January 20, 1960, to work with the Reading Company and Pennsylvania Railroad to improve commuter rail service and help the railroads maintain otherwise unprofitable passenger rail service.
 * The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Compact (SEPACT), was created September 8, 1961, by the City of Philadelphia and the Counties of Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester to coordinate regional transport issues.

By 1966, the Reading Company and Pennsylvania Railroad commuter railroad lines were operated under contract to SEPTA. On February 1, 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central railroad to become Penn Central, only to file for bankruptcy on June 21, 1970. Penn Central continued to operate in bankruptcy until 1976, when Conrail took over its assets along with those of several other bankrupt railroads, including the Reading Company. Conrail operated commuter services under contract to SEPTA until January 1, 1983, when SEPTA took over operations and acquired track, rolling stock, and other assets to form the Railroad Division.

Subsequent expansion
Like New York City's Second Avenue Subway, the original proposal for the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway dates to 1913, but construction has remained elusive. Instead, after completing the Market–Frankford Line in and around the city stagnated until the early 2000s.

On September 30, 1968, SEPTA acquired the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), which operated a citywide system of bus, trolley, and trackless trolley routes, the Market–Frankford Line (subway-elevated rail), the Broad Street Line (subway) and the Delaware River Bridge Line (subway-elevated rail to City Hall, Camden, NJ) which became SEPTA's City Transit Division. The PTC had been created in 1940 with the merger of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (formed in 1902) and a group of smaller, then-independent transit companies operating within the city and its environs.

On January 30, 1970, SEPTA acquired the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, also known as the Red Arrow Lines, which included the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W) route now called the Norristown High-Speed Line, the Media and Sharon Hill Lines (Routes 101 and 102) and several suburban bus routes in Delaware County. Today, this is the Victory Division, though it is sometimes referred to as the Red Arrow Division.

On March 1, 1976, SEPTA acquired the transit operations of Schuylkill Valley Lines, which is today the Frontier Division. Meanwhile, SEPTA gradually began to take over the Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading Company commuter trains. SEPTA primarily sought to consolidate the formerly-competing services, leading to severe cutbacks in the mid-1980s. Subsequent proposals have been made to restore service to Allentown, Bethlehem, West Chester, and Newtown, with support from commuters, local officials and pro-train advocates.

SEPTA's planning department focused on the Schuylkill Valley Metro, a "cross-county metro" that would re-establish service to Phoenixville, Pottstown, and Reading without requiring the rider to go into Philadelphia. However, ridership projections were dubious, and the Federal Railroad Administration refused to fund the project.

Many derelict lines under SEPTA ownership have been converted to rail trails, postponing any restoration proposals for the foreseeable future. Proposals have also been made for increased service on existing lines, including later evenings and Sundays to Wilmington, Delaware and Newark in Delaware. Maryland's MARC commuter rail system is considering extending its service as far as Newark, which would allow passengers to connect directly between SEPTA and MARC. Other recent proposals have focused on extending and enhancing SEPTA's other transit services. Senator Bob Casey has supported recent proposals expanding the Broad Street Line to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. , SEPTA had completed an Environmental Impact Statement to extend the Norristown High Speed Line to the King of Prussia area.

In September 2021, SEPTA proposed rebranding their rail transit services, the Market–Frankford Line, Broad Street Line, Subway–Surface trolley lines, Norristown High-Speed Line, Route 15 trolley, and Routes 101 and 102 trolleys) as the "SEPTA Metro", in order to make the system easier to navigate. Under this proposal, new maps, station signage, and line designations would be created. Under the proposed nomenclature, trunk lines would receive a letter and a color, with services having a numeric suffix and service name, to make wayfinding easier. Services on the current Market–Frankford Line, for instance, would be called "the L" and colored blue, with local service becoming the "L1 Market–Frankford Local". SEPTA budgeted $40 million to June 2023 for the rebranding. SEPTA upgraded its website in late 2023  in advance of the planned rollout of SEPTA Metro in 2024.

Governance
At its founding in 1968, the board had 11 members. In 1991 the state legislature added four additional members, giving themselves more influence on the board.

SEPTA is governed by a 15-member board of directors:

 * The City of Philadelphia appoints two members: one member is appointed by the Mayor, the other by the City Council President. These two board members can veto any item that is approved by the full SEPTA board because the city represents more than two-thirds of SEPTA's local funding, fare revenue, and ridership. However, the veto may be overridden with the vote of at least 75% of the full board within 30 days.
 * Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties appoint two members each. These members are appointed by the county commissioners in Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery and by the county council in Delaware.
 * The majority and minority leaders of the two houses of the Pennsylvania State Legislature (the Senate and the House of Representatives) appoint one member each, for a total of four members.
 * The governor appoints one member.

The members of the SEPTA Board are:

The day-to-day operations of SEPTA are handled by the general manager, who is appointed and hired by the board of directors. The general manager is assisted by nine department heads called assistant general managers.

The present general manager is Leslie Richards. Past general managers include Jeffrey Knueppel, Joseph Casey, Faye L. M. Moore, Joseph T. Mack, John "Jack" Leary, Louis Gambaccini, and David L. Gunn. Past acting general managers include James Kilcur and Bill Stead.

SEPTA is a member of the Northeast Corridor Commission, a federal commission on Northeast Corridor rail service.

Ridership
SEPTA Ridership (millions of unlinked trips) In 2020, annual ridership was 223.5 million individual rides. 17.1 million were rides on SEPTA's suburban network. 26.3 million were rides on SEPTA's "regional rail" network. 180.1 million were rides on SEPTA's "city transit" network.

Ridership had decreased 13% from 2014 to 2019 due to many factors. Some explanations mentioned by SEPTA for this decrease are "increased competition, structural changes in ridership patterns, and moderate gas prices." The 24% decrease in ridership from 2019 to 2020 was mostly attributable to the impact of government-implemented lock-downs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that began in mid-March 2020.

Routes
SEPTA's public services consist of three main networks: SEPTA Metro, bus operations, and regional rail.

SEPTA Metro
, SEPTA is in the process of rolling out SEPTA Metro, a unified brand for its urban rail transit services, including rapid transit, trolley, and interurban services. SEPTA has the largest trolley system in the United States.

Buses
SEPTA lists 115 bus routes, not including about two dozen school trips, with most routes in the City of Philadelphia proper. SEPTA generally employs lettered, one-digit, and two-digit route numbering for its City Division routes; 90-series and 100-series routes for its Suburban Division routes; 200-series routes for its Regional Rail connector routes; 300-series routes for other specialized or third-party contract routes; and 400-series routes for limited-service buses to schools within Philadelphia.

Trolleybuses
Trolleybuses, or trackless trolleys as they are called by SEPTA, operate on routes 59, 66, and 75. Service resumed in spring 2008 after a nearly five-year suspension. Until June 2002, five SEPTA routes were operated with trackless trolleys, using AM General vehicles built in 1978–79. Routes 29, 59, 66, 75 and 79 used trackless trolleys, but were converted to diesel buses for an indefinite period starting in 2002 (routes 59, 66, 75) and 2003 (routes 29, 79).

The aging AM General trackless trolleys were retired and in February 2006, SEPTA placed an order for 38 new low-floor trackless trolleys from New Flyer Industries, enough for routes 59, 66 and 75, and the pilot trackless trolley arrived for testing in June 2007. The vehicles were delivered between February and August 2008. Trackless trolley service resumed on Routes 66 and 75 on April 14, 2008, and on Route 59 the following day, but was initially limited to just one or two vehicles on each route, as new trolley buses gradually replaced the motorbuses serving the routes over a period of several weeks.

The SEPTA board voted in October 2006 not to order additional vehicles for Routes 29 and 79, and those routes permanently became non-electric.

Regional rail
On January 1, 1983, SEPTA took over the commuter rail services formerly operated by Conrail under contract and reorganized them as Regional Rail. This division operates 13 lines serving more than 150 stations covering most of the five-county southeastern Pennsylvania region. It also runs trains to Wilmington and Newark in Delaware and Trenton and West Trenton in New Jersey. Daily ridership on the regional rail network averaged 58,713 in 2023, with the Lansdale/Doylestown, Paoli/Thorndale, and Trenton lines each receiving over 7,000 riders per day.

Most of the cars used on the lines were built between 1976 and 2013. After building delays, the first Silverliner V cars were introduced into service on October 29, 2010. These cars represent the first new electric multiple units purchased for the Regional Rail system since the completion of the Silverliner IV order in 1976 and the first such purchase to be made by SEPTA. As of March 19, 2013, all Silverliner V cars are in service and make up almost one-third of the current 400 car Regional Rail fleet, which are replacing the older, aging fleet.

In July 2016, a serious structural flaw, including cracks in a weight-bearing beam on a train car's undercarriage, was discovered during an emergency inspection to exist in more than 95% of the 120 Silverliner V cars in the SEPTA regional rail fleet. SEPTA announced that it would take "the rest of the summer" to repair and would reduce the system's capacity by as much as 50%. In addition to regular commuter rail service, the loss of system capacity was also expected to cause transportation issues for the Democratic National Convention being held in Philadelphia on the week of July 25, 2016.

Operational divisions
SEPTA has three major operating divisions: City Transit, Suburban, and Regional Rail. These divisions reflect the different transit and railroad operations that SEPTA has assumed. SEPTA also offers CCT Connect paratransit service.

City Transit Division
The City Transit Division operates routes mostly within Philadelphia, including buses, subway–surface trolleys, one surface trolley line, the Market–Frankford Line, and the Broad Street Line. SEPTA City Transit Division surface routes include bus and trackless trolley lines. Some city division routes extend into Delaware, Montgomery, and Bucks counties. This division is the descendant of the Philadelphia Transportation Company. Aside from the two heavy rail lines, the City Transit Division has eight operating depots in this division: five of these depots only operate buses, one is a mixed bus/trackless trolley depot, one is a mixed bus/streetcar depot and one is a streetcar-only facility.

Victory District
The Victory District operates suburban bus and trolley or light rail routes that are based at 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby in Delaware County. Its light rail routes comprise the Norristown High Speed Line (Route 100) that runs from 69th Street Transportation Center to Norristown Transportation Center and the SEPTA Surface Media and Sharon Hill Trolley Lines (Routes 101 and 102). This district is the descendant of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, also known as the Red Arrow Lines. Some residents of the Victory District operating area still refer to this district as the "Red Arrow Division".

Frontier District
The Frontier District operates suburban bus routes that are based at the Norristown Transportation Center in Montgomery County and bus lines that serve eastern Bucks County. This district is the descendant of the Schuylkill Valley Lines in the Norristown area and the Trenton-Philadelphia Coach Lines in eastern Bucks County. SEPTA took over Schuylkill Valley Lines operations on March 1, 1976. SEPTA turned over the Bucks County routes (formerly Trenton-Philadelphia Coach Line Routes, a subsidiary of SEPTA) to Frontier Division in November 1983.

Suburban contract operations
Krapf Transit operates one bus line under contract to SEPTA in Chester County: Route 204 between Paoli Regional Rail Station and Eagleville. This route is operated from Krapf's own garage, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Krapf has operated three other bus routes for SEPTA in the past. Route 202 (West Chester to Wilmington), Route 207 (The Whiteland WHIRL) and Route 208 (Strafford Train Station to Chesterbrook) are no longer operating.

SEPTA contracted bus operations before in Chester County. SEPTA and Reeder's Inc. joined forces in 1977 to operate three bus routes out of West Chester. These routes were Route 120 (West Chester to Coatesville), Route 121 (West Chester to Paoli), and Route 122 (West Chester to Oxford). Bus service between West Chester and Coatesville was a replacement for the previous trolley service operated by West Chester Traction. SEPTA replaced two of the routes with their own bus service. Route 122 service was replaced by SEPTA's Route 91 in July 1982, after only one year of service. Route 91 was eliminated due to lack of ridership.

Route 121 was replaced by SEPTA's Route 92 in October 1982. This service continues to operate today. Since ridership on the Route 120 was strong it continued to operate under the operations of Reeder's Inc. even after SEPTA pulled the funding source. Krapf purchased the Reeder's operation in 1992 and designated the remaining (West Chester to Coatesville) bus route as Krapf Transit "Route A". Route 205 (Paoli Station to Chesterbrook) was formerly operated by Krapf until late 2019, when it was merged into SEPTA's own Route 206 (Paoli Station to Great Valley).

Railroad Division
The Railroad Division operates 13 commuter railroad routes that begin in Center City Philadelphia and radiate outwards, terminating in intra-city, suburban and out-of-state locations.

This division is the descendant of the six electrified commuter lines of the Reading Company (RDG), the six electrified commuter lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR, later Penn Central: PC), and the new airport line constructed by the City of Philadelphia between 1974 and 1984.

With the construction and opening of the Center City Commuter Connection Tunnel in 1984, lines were paired such that a former Pennsylvania Railroad line was coupled with a former Reading line. Seven such pairings were created and given route designations numbered R1 through R8 (with R4 not used). As a result, the routes were originally designed so that trains would proceed from one outlying terminal to Center City, stopping at 30th Street Station, Suburban Station and Jefferson, formerly Market East Station, then proceed out to the other outlying terminal assigned to the route. Since ridership patterns have changed since the implementation of this plan, SEPTA removed the R-numbers from the lines in July 2010 and instead refers to the lines by the names of their termini.

The out-of-state terminals offer connections with other transit agencies. The Trenton Line offers connections in Trenton, New Jersey to NJ Transit (NJT) or Amtrak for travel to New York City. Plans exist to restore NJT service to West Trenton, New Jersey, thus offering a future alternate to New York via the West Trenton Line and NJT. Another plan offers a connection for travel to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. via MARC, involving extensions of the SEPTA Wilmington/Newark Line from Newark, Delaware, an extension of MARC's Penn service from Perryville, Maryland, or both.

CCT Connect
CCT Connect is a paratransit service from SEPTA that offers a Shared-Ride Program for senior citizens and ADA Paratransit Service for people with disabilities. The Shared-Ride Program provides a door-to-door ridesharing service through advance reservations for senior citizens age 65 or older in the city of Philadelphia for travel within the city and to points within 3 mi of the city's borders.

The ADA Paratransit Service provides door-to-door service through advance reservations for people with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), allowing for travel across the SEPTA service area within 3/4 mi of fixed-route transit service when such service operates. CCT Connect is operated by third-party contractors for SEPTA.

Easton Coach, First Transit, MV Transportation, and Total Transit Corp. operate CCT Connect service in Philadelphia County; Easton Coach operates CCT Connect service in Bucks County; Krapf Transit operates CCT Connect service in Chester County; Community Transit of Delaware County operates CCT Connect service in Delaware County; and First Transit operates CCT Connect service in Montgomery County.

Financing
SEPTA is considered a non-profit. SEPTA gets income from passenger fares, investments, and multiple government agencies to cover operating costs.

Operating costs
SEPTA had $1,530,984,000 in total operating expenses for the fiscal year of 2021. $1,088,773,000 (71.1%) of those expenses are considered "Labor and Fringe Benefits". $331,432,000 (21.6%) of those expenses are "Material and Services" costs. $27,313,000 (1.8%) are due to "Propulsion Power" costs. $26,026,000 (1.7%) are due to "Fuel" costs. $24,711,000 (1.6%) are for "Injury and Damage Claims". $23,875,000 (1.6%) are due to "Depreciation/Contributed Capital" costs. The last $8,854,000 (.5%) in costs are due to "Vehicle and Facility Rentals".

Operating revenue
To cover 35% of their operating costs, SEPTA receives $541,768,000 in operating revenue, which includes: $480,574,000 (88.7%) from passenger revenue, $16,250,000 (3%) from SEPTA's "Shared Ride Program", $42,188,000 (7.8%) from "Other Income", and $2,756,000 (.5%) from "Investment Income".

Government funding
To make up for the $989,200,000 gap in operating expenses for FY2021, SEPTA receives 65% of its FY2021 income from federal, state, and local government funding. SEPTA receives this financial support in the form of direct funding, grants, income from a Pennsylvanian sales tax, proceeds from state bond programs, and lease funding.

$779,842,000 (78.8%) of SEPTA's funding short-fall is covered by a combination of state government funding. $111,986,000 (11.3%) of SEPTA's funding short-fall is covered by local government programs. $93,028,000 (9.4%) of SEPTA's funding short-fall is covered by the Federal government. $4,360,000 (.5%) of the gap is covered by "Other" means.

As of June 2022, SEPTA no longer receives $180,000,000 annually from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission as a result of Act 89, signed into law in 2013. Under Act 89, this funding became $50,000,000 for the 2023 fiscal year, and will eventually become nothing.

Fares
Rides on SEPTA's transit services (buses, rapid transit, trolleys, and trackless trolleys) cost $2.50 when using cash or a Quick Trip. This must be paid in exact change. Electronic payment methods offer single rides on transit for $2, and allow transfers from one SEPTA transit service to another. This includes two free transfers. A number of interchanges between rapid transit lines can be used for free, without a transfer.

Fares on Regional Rail are based on fare zones reflecting the station's distance from Center City Philadelphia. Fares are higher during the day on weekdays and lower during evenings and on weekends. SEPTA also offers intermediate fares for trips on Regional Rail that do not go through Center City Philadelphia and "via Center City Philadelphia" fares that can be used between two outlying stations that require travel through Center City Philadelphia.

Fares for the CCT Connect service cost $4.25.

Passes
Several types of passes are available that allow a certain number of trips on transit and/or Regional Rail for a specified amount of time. These passes are only available on a SEPTA Key card. Paper passes have been discontinued.

The TransPass costs $25.50 weekly and $96 monthly and can be used for all transit rides within the time period. The TransPass is valid on Regional Rail for riders traveling between Zone 1 and Center City stations or the Airport Line. The TransPass can be used anywhere on Regional Rail on weekends and major holidays.

The TrailPass is available either weekly or monthly and can be used on Regional Rail up to the zone printed on the pass along with all transit rides within the time period. Prices for the TrailPass are based on fare zones reflecting distance from Center City Philadelphia. TrailPasses have anywhere privileges on weekends and major holidays.

The Cross County Pass costs $30.75 weekly and $115 monthly and can be used for all transit rides and all Regional Rail trips outside Center City Philadelphia within the time period. The pass can be used with a payment of an additional Zone 1 fare for travel into Center City Philadelphia. Cross County Passes have anywhere privileges on weekends and holidays.

The One-Day Anywhere FleX Pass, formerly called the One-Day Independence Pass, can be used for up to 10 trips in one day on transit and Regional Rail services, with an individual pass $13 and a three-pass bundle $35. An additional charge of $3.75 per individual pass must be paid for Regional Rail travel in New Jersey.

The One-Day Neighborhood FleX Pass can be used on transit and Regional Rail, between Zone 2 and Center City Stations for 10 trips costing $10 for one day and $27 for a three-pass bundle. Additional surcharge applies to riders using the Neighborhood FleX Pass beyond Zone 2 stations on Regional Rail.

The One-Day Convenience Pass allows for 8 rides on transit services in one day for $6, while the Three-Day Convenience Pass allows for 24 rides on transit services in a 72-hour period for $15.00. The pass is not valid on Regional Rail.

SEPTA offers the SEPTA Key University Pass to college students at University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University, University of the Arts, and Saint Joseph's University. These passes can be monthly or semester-based, and allow 960 rides over the course of the semester; fares are discounted by approximately 10 percent.

Reduced fares
SEPTA allows senior citizens to apply for Senior Fare Cards. This allows them to ride transit services and Regional Rail trains in Pennsylvania for free with identification; fares on Regional Rail trains operating to Delaware or New Jersey are half the weekday fare. Disabled persons may apply for a Reduced Fare Card. This allows them to ride transit services for half price and Regional Rail trains for half the weekday fare with identification.

SEPTA allows all children under the age of 12 to ride for free with a fare-paying adult. Children riding alone must pay regular fares. SEPTA offers special fares for students in K–12 schools who ride SEPTA to get to school. The SEPTA Key Student Fare Card program provides students with a SEPTA Key card that can be used for up to 8 trips per school day, between 5:30 AM and 8:00 PM. Cards can be upgraded to be used on Regional Rail.

SEPTA is currently partnering with the City of Philadelphia on running a 2-year pilot program that will allow 25,000 residents who live near or below the Poverty threshold to ride services for free. Riders cannot apply on their own. 90% of them will be selected randomly based on age and income, and the remaining 10% will be enrolled through a number of community organizations.

Payment methods
SEPTA stations and vehicles are equipped with turnstiles, scanners, and fare boxes that accept various types of payment methods depending on the mode of transit: SEPTA Key, Key Tix (transit only), Quick Trips (transit station turnstiles, from Center City Regional Rail Stations, and the Airport Line), cash (buses, trolleys, and trolleybuses only), and NFC (currently transit only). Fares on Regional Rail can be paid to a conductor onboard the train using cash or a credit card; these fares are more expensive than those purchased using a SEPTA Key card.

SEPTA stations have Fare Kiosks that can be used to purchase Key cards and Quick Trips, and also replenish the Travel Wallet.

SEPTA Key
The SEPTA Key card is a smart card that can be used on SEPTA's transit services and Regional Rail. The card replaced tokens, paper tickets, and paper passes; it is now the preferred method of payment on SEPTA services. In addition to storing passes, the card has a travel wallet that can be reloaded online, at kiosks, SEPTA Sales Offices, and participating retailers. Reduced fare cards issued to the elderly and the disabled are special cards that are printed with photo ID.

Key Tix
In August 2022, SEPTA introduced the ability to pay for transit rides using electronic tickets that can be bought through the SEPTA mobile apps for Android and iOS. Once a ticket is activated, the app displays a QR code that can be read at scanners and turnstiles. In addition to allowing discounted rides and free transfers, multiple passengers can use the same ticket. After a limited pilot program, the feature was released to the general public in December 2022.

Quick Trip
Quick Trips are magnetic strip cards that can be used for a single ride from transit stations with turnstiles, Center City Regional Rail Stations, or the Airport Line. They can be purchased at Fare Kiosks and cost $2.50 for transit and the price varies by zone and time of day on Regional Rail. They do not allow free transfers, except at free interchange stations in Center City at the 13th, 15th, and 30th Street Stations.

NFC Payments
In July 2023, SEPTA launched a limited pilot program to allow passengers to pay for transit trips using contactless credit cards and digital wallets on NFC-enabled phones and smart watches. This feature was made available to the general public for transit rides on September 29, 2023. Availability on Regional Rail is planned for 2024.

PATCO Freedom Card
The Freedom Share Card fare card used by the PATCO Speedline is accepted on all SEPTA services except Regional Rail. The card is read at SEPTA Key card readers.

Paper Tickets
Paper tickets were used on Regional Rail. Sales were discontinued in 2020. Valid tickets were still accepted on trains until April 1, 2021. As of April 2, 2021, previously purchased paper tickets were no longer accepted on Regional Rail.

Tokens
SEPTA tokens could be used on transit services for discounted fares. Each token cost $2, and they could only be purchased in packs of 2, 5, or 10. The usage of tokens predates the formation of SEPTA, having been employed by various transit agencies since the 1880s. Philadelphia was the last major US city to utilize tokens for transit fare payments. Token sales were discontinued on April 30, 2018, and the token vending machines were removed from transit stations. Previously sold tokens could be redeemed at fare kiosks and their value could be loaded onto the Travel Wallet of the SEPTA Key card. Effective January 1, 2024, SEPTA no longer accepts tokens at vehicle fareboxes or fare kiosks.

Transit police
SEPTA established its current Transit Police Department in 1981. It now has about 260 officers operating in seven patrol zones. It maintains a patrol, bicycle, and police dog unit, and a Special Operations Response Team trained to deal with potential hostage situations. In May 2023, Charles Lawson was appointed chief of the Transit Police, after serving as acting chief since July 2022.

Buses
In 1982, SEPTA ordered buses from Neoplan USA, a purchase that was both the largest for Neoplan at the time and SEPTA's largest to date. These buses were used throughout the SEPTA service area. SEPTA changed its specifications on new bus orders each year. The Neoplan AK's (numbered 8285–8410), which was SEPTA's first Neoplan order, had longitudinal seating: all of the seats face towards the aisle. Their suburban counterparts (8411–8434) had longitudinal seating only in the rear of the bus. The back door has a wheelchair ramp, which forced SEPTA officials to limit its use and specify wheelchair lifts in their next order. These buses had a nine-liter 6v92 engine and Allison HT-747 transmission.

In 1983, SEPTA, along with other transit operators in Pennsylvania, ordered 1,000 Neoplan buses of various lengths. SEPTA ultimately received 450 buses from this order: 425 were 40 ft buses (BD 8435–8584 and CD 8601–8875), which came without wheelchair lifts, and 25 35 ft buses (BP 1301–1325).

SEPTA purchased additional Neoplans in 1986. The first two groups (3000–3131 and 3132–3251) came without rear wheelchair lifts; the last two groups, one in late 1987 (3252–3371) and another in 1989 (3372–3491), included them. All Neoplans built between 1986 and 1989 were equipped with a ZF 4HP-590 transmission.

By the early 1990s, SEPTA had 1,092 Neoplan AN440 coaches in active service, making it the largest transit system in North America with a fleet primarily manufactured by Neoplan USA. These buses dominated the streets of Philadelphia through late 1997 when the earlier fleet of AK and BD Neoplans (8285–8581) was replaced by 400 buses built by American Ikarus and – the same company after a 1996 reorganization – North American Bus Industries. The older GMC RTS 35- and 40-foot buses were also replaced in this order, with the sole remaining exception of No. 4462, a 35-foot coach. More replacements occurred when SEPTA received its first low-floor fleet and retired the last AN440 buses on June 20, 2008.

The Neoplan model had not entirely vanished from Philadelphia's streets by the start of the 21st century. In 1998, SEPTA ordered 155 articulated buses from the company. These buses replaced the 1984 Volvo 10BM 60-foot articulated buses. These buses have now been retired since late 2015, replaced by the 2013–2016 NovaBus LFS-A HEV.

The 1998 purchase included 89 29-foot Transmark-29 buses from National-Eldorado (4501–4580, 4581 received later), the first of which began to arrive in late 2000. Most of these buses ran on suburban routes occasionally entering the city, but some are in the "LUCY" service in the University City section of West Philadelphia, in a special paint scheme, and others on lighter lines within Philadelphia. SEPTA had decided to buy from Metrotrans Legacy, SEPTA's first choice in small buses, but the company filed for bankruptcy in 1999.

A fleet of buses known as "cutaways" were purchased. These buses were built on Ford van chassis, with bodies similar to those seen on car rental shuttles at various airports. These buses were retired around 2003 and replaced with slightly larger cutaway buses on a Freightliner truck chassis.

After evaluating sample buses from New Flyer and NovaBus in 1994–96, SEPTA ordered 100 low-floor buses (nos. 5401–5500) from New Flyer in 2001.

Trackless trolley (trolley bus) service was suspended in 2003 and the 110 AM General vehicles that had provided service on SEPTA's five trackless trolley routes never returned to service. In early 2006, SEPTA ordered 38 new low-floor trackless trolleys from New Flyer, which entered service in 2008, restoring trackless service on routes 59, 66 and 75. These buses replaced SEPTA Neoplan EZs, ending Neoplan's 26-year domination.

SEPTA placed an order with delivery starting in 2008 for 400 New Flyer hybrid buses—with options for up to 80 additional buses to replace the NABI Ikarus buses at the end of their 12-year life. These will not be the first hybrid buses, since SEPTA purchased two small groups of hybrids, 5601H–5612H, which arrived in 2003, and 5831H–5850H in 2004.

Prior to the 2008 purchase, SEPTA borrowed an MTA New York City Transit Orion VII hybrid bus # 6365 to evaluate it in service. SEPTA was the first to purchase New Flyer DE40LFs equipped with rooftop HVAC units. SEPTA delivered 525 2017–2022 NFI XDE40 hybrid buses to replace all the diesel buses that were delivered between 2001 and 2004. SEPTA is replacing cloth seats with plastic seats on their buses that were delivered after 2008 in an effort to combat bed bug infestations.

SEPTA's revenue from advertisements on the backs of its buses leads the authority to order mainly buses equipped with a rooftop HVAC, and with their rear route-number sign mounted on the roof, especially on 2008–2009 New Flyer DE40LFs and future orders.

In 2016, SEPTA launched a pilot program that would see battery electric buses replace diesel buses on former trackless trolley routes 29 and 79. Using a $2.6-million Federal Transit Administration grant, the agency ordered 25 such buses from Proterra, Inc. of California, together with two overhead fast-charging stations. They are expected to enter service in 2017, returning electric propulsion to these routes after nearly 15 years of diesel operation. These same busses were sidelined in February, 2020 for an undisclosed reason, but multiple agency sources blamed a defect in the buses' plastic chassis that led to a cracking problem.

In 2021, SEPTA placed an order for 220 New Flyer XDE40 buses with an option for 120 additional buses. These buses replaced the New Flyer D40LF buses that were delivered in 2005 and are currently replacing the New Flyer DE40LF buses that were delivered between 2008-2009.

Subway
The Broad Street Line uses cars built by Kawasaki between 1982 and 1984. These cars, known as B-IV as they are the fourth generation used on the line, are stainless steel and include some cars with operating cabs at both ends, as well as some with only a single cab. These cars use the standard gauge of.

The Market–Frankford Line uses a class of cars known as M-4, as they, like the Broad Street B-IVs, represent the line's fourth generation of cars and were built from 1997 to 1999 by Adtranz. These cars use a broad gauge of, known as "Pennsylvania trolley gauge". In 2017, 90 cars had emergency welding to fix cracking steel beams. Then in 2020 all the cars, including the ones temporarily repaired in 2017, had to have more permanent welding to fix cracking steel beams.

Trolley
The SEPTA trolley fleet has three different types of cars.

The 112 vehicles used on the SEPTA Subway–Surface trolley lines (Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36) were built by Kawasaki beginning in 1981 after a 1980 prototype was delivered and tested. Known as "K-cars", they use the Pennsylvania trolley gauge. Larger than the replaced PCC cars they are 50 feet long and capable of reaching a top speed of 40 mph. They also were the first in North America to have unitized roof-mounted air conditioners and to have electronic control of switches at junctions. The city cars operate out of two depots, Elmwood and Callowhill.

The suburban trolley lines (Routes 101 and 102) use 29 Kawasaki-built vehicles similar to, but slightly larger than, the Subway–Surface trolleys. They use a slightly wider track gauge than the city lines – – but the same wheel gauge. Wheel profiles are different and different gear ratios provide higher speeds. Notably, they are double-ended, unlike the Subway-Surface trolleys, as these lines lack any loops to turn the vehicles at their suburban terminals. Unlike the city cars, which use traditional trolley pole power collectors, the suburban cars use pantographs and are capable of a top speed of 50 mph.

SEPTA Route 15 (Girard Avenue Line) uses PCC cars. These cars were originally built in 1947 by the St. Louis Car Company and were rebuilt by Brookville (and renamed PCC II) for the line's reopening in 2003 to include air conditioning and a wheelchair lift. The Girard line has the same Pennsylvania trolley gauge as the Subway-Surface lines and operates out of Callowhill depot. Since 2020, these cars are once again being rebuilt by SEPTA and when scheduled to return in 2023, they will feature plastic seating.

Currently, SEPTA is ordering new 130 low floor streetcars that will be built and delivered by ALSTOM. These trolley cars are scheduled to enter service between 2027-2030. These cars will operate on the Subway-Surface trolleys, as well as Route 15 and the suburban trolleys.

Regional Rail
SEPTA's regional rail services primarily use a fleet of "Silverliner" electric multiple unit cars. During rush-hour service they are supplemented by a small fleet of unpowered passenger cars, based on the "Comet" family of railcars, hauled by 15 Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotives.

Interurban
The Norristown High Speed Line uses a unique class of 26 cars known as N-5s. They were delivered in 1993 by ABB after significant production difficulties and a change of assembly locations. These cars are powered by a nominally 600 volt top-contact third rail. They run on a standard gauge track. They are the first fleet of cars in North America to have Alternating Current (AC) traction motors.

They have running gear (trucks) incorporating design elements used on the Swedish High-Speed trains. Axle suspensions provide flexibility that allows axles to steer themselves around curves as small as 5 degrees. While the vehicles were designed for a top speed of 80 mph, the signal system allows operations at up to 70 mph.

Accessibility
All of SEPTA's buses are fully accessible under the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As of February 2022, about 46% of its subway and commuter rail stations combined are ADA-compliant, which is the second-lowest accessibility rate for rail stops in the country. The New York City Subway, at 28% as of September 2021, has the lowest in the nation.

The trolley vehicles are fully inaccessible, meaning that no trolley stop can possibly be compliant with the ADA. SEPTA was sued successfully over its lack of accessibility back in 2009.

Maintenance facilities

 * Transit Divisions
 * 69th Street Yard (City Transit Division/ Market–Frankford Line in Delaware County
 * Allegheny Depot (City Transit Division/ articulated and standard size buses; formerly housed Nearside, double-ended, and PCC streetcars)
 * Berridge Shops (formerly Wyoming Shops, bus maintenance, and overhauls)
 * Bridge Street Yard (City Transit Division/ Market–Frankford Line)
 * Callowhill Depot (City Transit Division/ bus and streetcar; formerly housed Nearside, Peter Witt, double-ended, and PCC streetcars)
 * Comly Depot (City Transit Division/ articulated and standard size buses)
 * Elmwood Depot (City Transit Division/ streetcar, also used as a station. Replaced former Woodland Depot)
 * Fern Rock Yard (City Transit Division/ Broad Street Line)
 * Frankford Depot (City Transit Division/ bus and trackless trolley; formerly housed Nearside, double-ended, and PCC streetcars)
 * Frontier Depot (Suburban Transit Division/ bus)
 * Germantown Brakes Maintenance Facility (Germantown Depot, City Transit Division/ bus maintenance)
 * Midvale Depot (City Transit Division/ articulated, standard size, and formerly housed 30 ft buses. Replaced former Luzerne Depot)
 * Southern Depot (City Transit Division/ articulated and standard size buses: SEPTA board voted to not have trackless trolleys return to South Philly; formerly housed Nearside, double-ended and Peter Witt streetcars)
 * Victory Depot (69th Street, Suburban Transit Division/ bus and light rail)
 * Woodland Maintenance Facility (streetcar overhaul and repairs. Site of former Woodland Depot, which formerly housed Nearside, double-ended, and PCC streetcars)

 * Regional Rail

Local services
The PATCO Speedline is a rapid transit line that runs from Center City Philadelphia to Camden, New Jersey and terminates in Lindenwold, New Jersey. At the 8th Street station, passengers can transfer to the Market–Frankford Line and Broad–Ridge Spur with an additional transfer fare. Paid transfers are also available at PATCO's 12th–13th Street station and 15th–16th Street station with SEPTA's Broad Street Line Walnut–Locust station. The PATCO Speedline crosses over the Delaware River via the Ben Franklin Bridge. It is owned by the Delaware River Port Authority.

In the western Philadelphia suburbs, Krapf's Transit runs regularly scheduled buses for the TMACC between Coatesville and Parkesburg and between West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester and Oxford. Krapf's also provides contract services to SEPTA on route 204. They also operate a free express shuttle bus from Center City to the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia as well as a free shuttle bus loop within the Navy Yard itself.

In King of Prussia, the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association runs a community shuttle, the Rambler, which connects with SEPTA at the King of Prussia Transit Center.

In the northwestern Philadelphia suburbs, Pottstown Area Rapid Transit (PART) operates five bus routes in Pottstown and the neighboring townships of Douglass, Limerick, Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove, and West Pottsgrove in Montgomery County and North Coventry Township in Chester County. PART and SEPTA have an agreement allowing transfers between PART service and SEPTA Route 93 buses in Pottstown.

Regional services
NJ Transit runs buses from Philadelphia to various New Jersey points. Many NJT buses stop at the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal, which is immediately north of Jefferson Station or at other locations in Center City Philadelphia. NJT also operates the River Line light rail line between Camden and Trenton, the Northeast Corridor Line between Trenton and New York, and the Atlantic City Line between 30th Street Station and Atlantic City. Both the Northeast Corridor Line and River Line connect with SEPTA's Regional Rail Trenton Line at the Trenton Transit Center. SEPTA Route 127 connects with NJT bus and rail services here also.

DART First State provides bus service in Delaware. This service connects with SEPTA's Wilmington/Newark Line Regional Rail service in Wilmington, Delaware, and Newark, Delaware. In 2007, SEPTA bus Route 306 began service, connecting the Great Valley Corporate Center and West Chester with the Brandywine Town Center; service between West Chester and Brandywine Town Center was discontinued in 2010 due to low ridership. In February 2009, SEPTA bus Route 113 commenced connecting bus service with DART at the Tri-State Mall, allowing service between Delaware County and Delaware, and connecting with DART First State's #13 and #61 bus at the Tri-State Mall. The transfer point at the Tri-State Mall was moved in 2023 to the Claymont Transportation Center.

National and international services
Amtrak provides rail service between 30th Street Station and Lancaster, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Chicago to the west, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. to the southwest, and New York City, Boston, and Montreal to the northeast. SEPTA's Wilmington/Newark Line and Trenton Line run along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale Line runs along the far eastern leg of Amtrak's Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line and Keystone Corridor.

All Regional Rail routes stop at 30th Street Station's upper platform. It is a short walk down a ramp to Amtrak's gates. Other shared Amtrak/Regional Rail stations include Wilmington and Newark on the Wilmington/Newark Line, Ardmore, Paoli, Exton, and Downingtown on the Paoli/Thorndale Line, and Trenton on the Trenton Line. Amtrak also offers limited service from North Philadelphia and Cornwells Heights, which are also on Trenton Line. Amtrak is faster than SEPTA, but significantly more expensive, particularly for services along the Northeast Corridor.

Greyhound and a variety of interregional bus operators, most of which are part of the Trailways system, stop at the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal. In addition to being adjacent to Jefferson Station, the terminal is one block from the Market–Frankford Line's 11th Street station and various SEPTA bus routes. Major destinations served with one-seat rides to and from the terminal include Allentown, Atlantic City, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Newark, New York City, Pittsburgh, Reading, Scranton, Washington, D.C., and Wilmington. Six NJ Transit bus routes (313, 315, 316, 317, 318, and 551) originate and terminate from this terminal.

SEPTA serves Philadelphia International Airport with local bus service and with the Airport Line from Center City.

20th century
SEPTA's 50-year history has often been tumultuous because the agency is governed at a county level rather than state level. Railpace Newsmagazine contributor Gerry Williams observed that SEPTA regularly staggers from crisis to crisis, with little support or oversight originating at the state level in Harrisburg. It has a long history of being at odds with the riding public and both county and state officials. SEPTA has had more labor strikes than any other transit agency in the U.S., occurring in 1977, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1995, 1998, 2005, 2009, 2014, and 2016.

Williams commented that there is a notable lack of "any group... influential enough to bring shame on SEPTA," adding that SEPTA's chronic ills "merely reflect the broader problems of local provincialism and petty political squabbles which are so rampant within the (Delaware Valley) region." The five counties it serves regularly have various hidden agendas working in the background, often at cross purposes with one another than as a unified region, a problem that has resulted in many services being severed mid-route without regard to the affected counties. This factor is regularly influenced by the changing political winds at the state capital in Harrisburg.

21st century
SEPTA made improvements in the 21st century that helped reverse the downward trend. $191 million of funds made available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 were utilized to make over 30 major improvements to the system, including renovations of the Spring Garden and Girard Avenue subway stations and building the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) station at Fox Chase terminal in 2010. SEPTA also inaugurated a consolidated, multi-modal control center that helps manage all aspects of the system.

SEPTA was voted the best large transit agency in North America by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) in July 2012. The award was criticized by Next City columnist Diana Lind, stating that despite some outward appearances of improvement, SEPTA still largely operates under a cloud of non-transparency and continues to lack a system-wide expansion program for the future. This is most notable in the regional rail division, which suffered severe cutbacks in the 1980s and whose affected routes have been converted into rail trails, preventing a restoration of those services for the foreseeable future. When asked to produce data pertaining to SEPTA's repeated attempts to consolidate bus stops, Lind observed "the report on the project barely elaborates on the information. SEPTA's trials deserve public attention and input. The public deserves the data—show us the average times before and after the pilot. Give reader surveys. Tell us why you haven't tried another pilot on another bus line."

Between 2009 and 2013, SEPTA was criticised for its use of sex identification markers on the SEPTA-issued monthly transit passes, as some transgender and gender-queer people had experienced discrimination related to the markers. These markers, SEPTA said, were an anti-fraud measure designed to prevent people in the same household sharing a monthly pass. However, the lobby group SEPTA Riders Against Gender Exclusion (SEPTA R.A.G.E) said that the sex identification markers had resulted in harassment, violence, and discrimination for those who did not physically match the stated sex on the pass. The markers on the monthly passes were stopped in June 2013.

In October 2020, SEPTA trialled the use of lean benches instead of traditional seating at some of its stations. This was criticized by some as lean benches are widely considered to be hostile architecture, designed to stop homeless populations using the stations to sleep. SEPTA stated that the use of the lean benches was to encourage social distancing to prevent the spread the COVID-19. These trials concluded in September 2021 with the removal of the lean benches.

title: SEPTA


text:
Elliott Bay

Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s and has since grown to encompass it completely. The waterway it provides to the Pacific Ocean has served as a key element of the city's economy, enabling the Port of Seattle to become one of the busiest ports in the United States.

History
The Duwamish people have lived in the vicinity of Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River for thousands of years and had established at least 17 settlements by the time white settlers came in the 1850s. Among the earliest white settlements was by the Denny Party at New York Alki, which is in the present-day neighborhood of Alki in West Seattle, however after a hard winter they shifted across Elliott Bay near the present-day Pioneer Square, which became Seattle. Over the years the city expanded to cover all of the waterfront on Elliott Bay and codified it as one of its fairways (a navigable waterway).

The bay was named during the Wilkes expedition in 1841, after an uncertain namesake. Candidates include members of the expedition: ship's chaplain Jared Elliott, ship's boy George Elliott, and midshipman Samuel Elliott. The last has been deemed the most likely namesake. Commodore Jesse Elliott has also been proposed as a possible source of the name. The bay has been referred to as Duwamish Bay and Seattle Harbor, especially before the US Board on Geographic Names officially settled on the name "Elliott Bay" in 1895.

A local legend says that the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, which peaked in the early 20th century, was so-named by a Seattleite who looked out over Elliott Bay and remarked that the activity resembled that of mosquitoes. Two notable sinkings related to the Mosquito Fleet occurred in the bay: the Dix in 1906, taking with it dozens of lives, and the Multnomah in 1911. Eventually these commercial passenger services faded as automobiles and ferries rose in popularity.

The last remaining model of the Boeing 307 Stratoliner ditched into Elliott Bay in 2002 during a final test flight from Boeing Field to Everett. The craft, named the Flying Cloud, had been the subject of an eight-year restoration project meant to ready it for display at the National Air and Space Museum. Despite the incident, the aircraft was again restored, flew to the Smithsonian, and was put on display.

Seattle's Crystal Pool Natatorium used water pumped in from the Bay.

Features
West Point and Alki Point are the headlands into Puget Sound recognized as the northern and southern entrances of Elliott Bay respectively. A line drawn between these two points demarcates the bay to the east from the open sound to the west. More precisely, the bay has been defined as being east from a line drawn from Duwamish Head north to Magnolia Bluff. The Duwamish River empties into the southeastern part of the bay. This area was extensively modified by human development in the 20th century to channelize the river and fill in tideflats to create Harbor Island, which was once the world's largest artificial island. West of the river delta the land juts north into the bay at Duwamish Head. To the east running north and northwest is the heart of Seattle, the Alaskan Way Seawall, the Central Waterfront, and Smith Cove.

Elliott Bay is home to the Port of Seattle, which, in 2002, was the 9th busiest port in the United States by TEUs of container traffic and the 46th busiest in the world. Cruise ship business, serving Alaskan cruises, became increasingly important in the 2000s. The bay is also home to Colman Dock, the main Seattle terminal of the state's ferry system, the largest in the country. Sailings regularly depart from Seattle to Bainbridge Island and Bremerton. The Seattle–Winslow (Bainbridge Island) route is the most heavily used in the state ferry system in terms of number of vehicles and passengers transported. The King County Water Taxi, a passenger ferry, runs across the bay, connecting Downtown Seattle with West Seattle (Seacrest Dock) and Vashon Island.

Two marinas are in Elliott Bay. The larger of them is the privately owned Elliott Bay Marina, in the Magnolia/Interbay neighborhoods at Smith Cove, with 1,200 slips. Bell Harbor Marina, operated by the Port of Seattle, is in the Central Waterfront along Belltown. Up to 70 vessels can be moored there.

Numerous piers extend into the bay, especially along Seattle's Central Waterfront. Piers 57 and 59 house tourist destinations, including the Seattle Great Wheel and the Seattle Aquarium. On Pier 67 is The Edgewater Hotel. Pier 86 is a major grain shipping terminal operated by the Louis Dreyfus Group. Grain is carried to docked cargo ships by passing over Elliott Bay Trail and a narrow shoreline park, which also features a public fishing pier near Smith Cove. In the cove is Terminal 91, which has served a variety of purposes over the years, including storage for imported automobiles and fish, and most recently became a dock for Alaskan cruise ships. To the south, in West Seattle's Seacrest Park, is another public fishing pier and a dive site.

As a prominent aspect of Seattle's geography, the bay has frequently been referenced in media. The Real World: Seattle, the 1998 season of the MTV reality television series, was filmed on Pier 70 on the bay. The fictional Elliott Bay Towers, home of Frasier Crane on the TV series Frasier, are named after the bay. In "Grey's Anatomy", there is an episode arc in an early season in the series where intern Dr. Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo, almost dies following a near-drowning when she falls into the bay after being kicked by a patient she is tending to at the scene of a passenger ferry and freight container ship collision; she is rescued just in time by Dr. Derek Shepherd, her friend and the hospital's neurosurgery chief. In Season 3 of the Seattle-set crime drama The Killing, suspect Ray Seward is incarcerated in the fictional Elliott Bay Penitentiary. A simplified map of Elliott Bay is used as the "Maps" icon in Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Smartphone Operating System. Microsoft has its headquarters in the Seattle metropolitan area.

Ecology
Elliott Bay has been a focus for environmental concern. Urban and industrial development along its shores, and on the banks of the Duwamish River that leads into it, have caused concern over the levels of contaminants entering the water. On the southern shoreline are two Superfund cleanup sites: Harbor Island and the former location of Lockheed West Seattle. Several other sites have been designated for cleanup, including the Pacific Sound Resources site, and others along the lower Duwamish.

The downtown waterfront offers a poor habitat for the juvenile salmon that migrate from the Duwamish River, due to the darkness under the piers and the lack of food along the vertical Alaskan Way Seawall. The seawall redevelopment project aims to improve the habitat by installing underwater structures to create shallows where salmon can find food and glass blocks in the sidewalk (cantilevered over the bay) so that sunlight can illuminate the shallows even at the piers. Another issue that is currently prevalent in Elliott Bay is noise pollution. The level of noise that is currently present in Elliott Bay is legally considered to be harassment of marine mammals (Van, 2016; Welch, 2013; Wilson, 2015).

Marine vehicles enter and exit the port twenty-four hours a day. This noise is continuous, and this can cause distress to marine mammals (Van, 2016; Welch, 2013; Wilson, 2015).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Elliott Bay


text:
Raglan, New Zealand

Raglan (Whāingaroa or Rakarana) is a small beachside town located 48 km west of Hamilton, New Zealand on State Highway 23. It is known for its surfing, and volcanic black sand beaches.

History
The Ngāti Māhanga iwi occupied the area around Raglan in the late 18th century. There are at least 81 archaeological sites in the area, mainly near the coast. Limited radiocarbon dating puts the earliest sites at about 1400AD. The Māori people named the site Whaingaroa ("the long pursuit"). One tradition says that Tainui priest, Rakataura, crossed Whāingaroa on his way to Kāwhia. Another says it was among the places the early Te Arawa explorer, Kahumatamomoe, with his nephew Īhenga, visited on their expedition from Maketū.

The first Europeans to settle in the area, the Rev James and Mary Wallis, Wesleyan missionaries, were embraced and welcomed by local Māori in 1835. European settlement, including large scale conversion of land to pasture, began in the mid-1850s after a large sale of land by Chief Wiremu Neera Te Awaitaia.

The name "Raglan", adopted in 1858, honours Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan (1788–1855), who had commanded the British forces in the Crimean War of 1853–1856.

The Raglan economy initially featured flax and timber exports, followed by farming which remains the mainstay of the area.

Raglan's first coach link to Hamilton began in 1880 and a telegraph wire was put up beside the road in 1884. In 1904 Raglan was linked to Hamilton telephone exchange. Mains electricity came in 1935 and a sewage scheme in 1977.

Tourism and the arts are significant contributors to the current economy. Raglan and District Museum/ Te Whare Taonga o Whāingaroa contains historic artefacts and archives from the region. A new museum building was built in 2011. Additionally, the Raglan and District Museum's online collection can be accessed here.

Wharves
The town has had four jetties, or wharves.

Traffic
A government subsidy was given in 1878, to promote the start of regular steamer services from Manukau Harbour, which took about 8 hours. Until the main road was metalled in 1921, most goods travelled by sea. The wharf remained important until the 1950s, peaking in 1954, with 15,462 tons, handled by 38 ships. One of the problems was the shallow bar at the entrance to the harbour. For example, the Holmburn was stuck there for 26 hours in 1962. However, like other small ports, the main problem was the introduction of the inter-island roll-on roll-off ferries in 1962, with 40 Watersiders Union members made redundant in 1972, though cement volumes increased to a peak of 41,351 tons in 1974. Again the bar was a problem for the larger cement ships and, since John Wilson (1961-85 246 ft long, 42 ft wide, 18.5 ft deep, 1679 Grt) made the last call on 7 July 1982, the only goods landed at the harbour have been fish from the fishing boats.

Four public wharves
Until 1874 goods were transferred off the beach below Cliff Street and small boats moored in a boat harbour, cut off from the harbour by construction of a sluice-gate under Wallis Street causeway in about 1918. The new road gave access to a new dairy factory and the wharf opened in 1921. A small wooden jetty and storage shed beside Cliff Street was built in 1874. That was replaced by a stone jetty about 1 ch to the west in 1881, which remains in place at the foot of the main street. A 250yd wooden pier was built in 1889 to the east at the end of James Street, enabling the larger Northern Steamship vessels to moor in deep water, beside a larger storage shed. Two totara piles remain from that Long Wharf, which was replaced by the current concrete wharf, opened in 1921. The wharf was enlarged for construction of a cement silo for Golden Bay Cement in 1967 and a further silo was built in 1973. Cement was supplied for the construction of Huntly power station and the Kaimai tunnel. A fire destroyed the 1921 shed in 2010. A pontoon was added to the east side of the wharf in 2023 as part of a $2.5m Provincial Growth scheme and steps on the other side, with an additional $3.2m of Better Off funding.

Airfield
The town became the scene of public civil disobedience campaigns in the 1970s. In 1941, during World War II (1939–1945), the New Zealand Government took local ancestral land from indigenous Māori owners to construct a military airfield. When no longer required for defence purposes, part of the land, a 62 acre block, was not returned to the owners, but instead was transferred to Raglan County Council in 1953 and became the public Raglan golf-course in 1968.

There ensued widespread protest and attempts to reoccupy the land; in 1978, 20 Māori protesters were arrested on the ninth hole of the golf course. The land was eventually returned to the owners. 150 people were involved in the protest. It became a focus for local job-training and employment programs, as well as for the Māori sovereignty movement. In 2021 the council suggested return of the rest of the land could still "take a number of years". Fencing of the airfield in 2021 halved its width and resulted in a petition to close it.

On August 21, 2022, local councillors unanimously voted to begin the process of returning the airfield land to its original Māori owners.

Local government
Raglan Highway Board existed from 1868 and merged with the Karioi Board between 1888 and 1892. Raglan Town Board started in 1878 and merged with the highways boards into Raglan County Council in 1889. It was re-inaugurated as Raglan Town Board in 1906 and continued until 1938, when the Board again merged into the County Council. In 1954 Raglan became a county township, administered by a committee of 7 under the jurisdiction of the county council. On 26 March 1957 Raglan Town Committee resigned due to the unsympathetic attitude of the council. Within a month more than 100 ratepayers had petitioned the Governor-General to establish a town board. The Local Government Act 1974 brought about Raglan Community Council, which was replaced by Raglan Community Board in 1989, when Waikato District Council was formed.

Demographics
In 1859 the local magistrate, F. D. Fenton, reported the population of Whāingaroa as 424. That was the number shown in the 1858 census for the Ngāti Mahanga population of Raglan. That accords with Ferdinand von Hochstetter's account of his 1859 tour, when he said that the Māori population was estimated at 400 and said that he had been told there were 122 Europeans, including 20 farmer-families. Hochstetter said there were six or eight houses, with a tavern and a store in Raglan and a Māori village and an old pā at Horea on the north shore. Many of the Europeans were evacuated in 1860 and again in 1863, when war threatened and it was said 95 inhabitants remained.

After that, as the graph below shows, Raglan's population recovered slowly until the main road from Hamilton was completely metalled in 1921 and then grew again after completion of tar-sealing in 1961.

The population of the Raglan ward (covering most of the harbour catchment area) was 4680 in 2006. It had increased to 4920 in 2013. {	"version": 2, "width": 850, "height": 200, "padding": "auto", "data": [ {			"name": "table", "values": [ {					"year": 1878, "population": 68 },				{					"year": 1881, "population": 70 },				{					"year": 1886, "population": 56 },				{					"year": 1891, "population": 83 },				{					"year": 1896, "population": 137 },				{					"year": 1901, "population": 114 },				{					"year": 1906, "population": 154 },				{					"year": 1911, "population": 246 },				{					"year": 1916, "population": 217 },				{					"year": 1921, "population": 302 },				{					"year": 1931, "population": 350 },				{					"year": 1936, "population": 377 },				{					"year": 1945, "population": 518 },				{					"year": 1951, "population": 895 },				{					"year": 1961, "population": 1013 },				{					"year": 1971, "population": 1058 },				{					"year": 1981, "population": 1414 },				{					"year": 1991, "population": 2316 },				{					"year": 1996, "population": 2634 },				{					"year": 2001, "population": 2667 },				{					"year": 2006, "population": 2637 },				{					"year": 2013, "population": 2736 },				{					"year": 2018, "population": 3279 }			]		},		{			"name": "annotation", "values": [ {					"start": 2000, "end": 2000, "text": "" },				{					"start": 2000, "end": 2000, "text": "" }			]		}	],	"scales": [ {			"name": "x", "type": "ordinal", "range": "width", "zero": false, "domain": { "data": "table", "field": "year" }		},		{			"name": "y", "type": "linear", "range": "height", "nice": true, "domain": { "data": "table", "field": "population" }		},		{			"name": "color", "type": "ordinal", "domain": { "data": "annotation", "field": "text" },			"range": [ "#ddd", "#ffc0cb" ]		}	],	"axes": [ {			"type": "x", "scale": "x", "format": "d", "title": "Year", "ticks": 15 },		{			"type": "y", "scale": "y", "title": "population", "grid": true }	],	"marks": [ {			"type": "rect", "from": { "data": "annotation" },			"properties": { "enter": { "x": { "scale": "x", "field": "start" },					"x2": { "scale": "x", "field": "end" },					"y": { "value": 0 },					"y2": { "signal": "height" },					"fill": { "scale": "color", "field": "text", "value": "steelblue" },					"width": { "scale": "x", "band": "true", "offset": -1 }				}			}		},		{			"type": "line", "from": { "data": "table" },			"properties": { "enter": { "interpolate": { "value": "monotone" },					"x": { "scale": "x", "field": "year" },					"y": { "scale": "y", "field": "population" },					"stroke": { "value": "steelblue" },					"strokeWidth": { "value": 3 }				}			}		},		{			"type": "symbol", "from": { "data": "table" },			"properties": { "enter": { "x": { "scale": "x", "field": "year" },					"y": { "scale": "y", "field": "population" },					"stroke": { "value": "steelblue" },					"fill": { "value": "white" },					"size": { "value": 30 }				}			}		},		{			"type": "text", "properties": { "enter": { "x": { "signal": "width", "mult": 0.5 },					"y": { "value": -10 },					"text": { "value": "population" },					"fill": { "value": "black" },					"fontSize": { "value": 16 },					"align": { "value": "center" },					"fontWeight": { "value": "bold" }				}			}		}	],	"legends": [ {			"fill": "color", "title": "", "properties": { "symbols": { "strokeWidth": { "value": 0 }				},				"legend": { "": {						"value": 5 },					"fill": { "value": "white" }				}			}		}	] }

The figures and sources are:

Raglan covers 7.22 km2 and had an estimated population of as of  with a population density of  people per km2.

Before the 2023 census, the town had a smaller boundary, covering 4.90 km2. Using that boundary, Raglan had a population of 3,279 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 573 people (21.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 651 people (24.8%) since the 2006 census. There were 1,251 households, comprising 1,602 males and 1,677 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.96 males per female. The median age was 39.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 672 people (20.5%) aged under 15 years, 477 (14.5%) aged 15 to 29, 1,620 (49.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 507 (15.5%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 82.9% European/Pākehā, 26.5% Māori, 2.9% Pacific peoples, 2.5% Asian, and 2.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

The percentage of people born overseas was 21.4, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 61.8% had no religion, 25.1% were Christian, 1.3% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.3% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.8% were Buddhist and 2.4% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 732 (28.1%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 402 (15.4%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $27,200, compared with $31,800 nationally. 426 people (16.3%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 1,173 (45.0%) people were employed full-time, 522 (20.0%) were part-time, and 87 (3.3%) were unemployed.

Growth by about 500 households is expected by 2045 and to 12,500 by 2070, with several new suburbs.

Property prices have risen sharply since 2000, for example by 49.6% from 2014 to 2017 and a further 42% to 2020. That coincides with a decline in the Māori proportion of the population – By 2018 there were 6 fewer unoccupied private dwellings at 471, but those occupied had increased to 1,275. Employment and commuting increased between 2006 and 2013, as shown in this table.

Marae
Raglan has several marae within 25 km, affiliated with hapū of Waikato Tainui:
 * Poihākena Marae and Tainui a Whiro meeting house is a meeting place for Ngāti Tāhinga and Tainui hapū
 * Te Kōpua Marae is a meeting place of Tainui hapū and does not have a meeting house, as it was destroyed on 12 August 1941 to create the airfield
 * Te Kaharoa or Aramiro Marae and Te Kaharoa meeting house is a meeting place of Ngāti Māhanga and Ngāti Tamainupō, near the head of the Waitetuna valley

The hapū of Ngāti Tamainupō also have a meeting place, Mai Uenuku ki te Whenua Marae, in the inner harbour, between Te Uku and Waingaro.

In 2018, it produced a local history book about prominent Waikato chief Ngaere and how Ngāruawāhia and the Hakarimata Ranges were named in the late 1600s.

In October 2020, the Government committed $414,300 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Mai Uenuku ki te Whenua Marae, creating 8 jobs.

Geography
Raglan is associated with Whāingaroa Harbour (also known as Raglan Harbour) on the west coast of the Waikato region in New Zealand's North Island. The harbour catchment extends as far north as Glen Afton, covers 525 km2 and the harbour covers 35 km2 and has 133 km, 137.32 km, or 220 km, of coastline. It runs 12 km inland from the entrance, for the most part is less than 2 km wide, has a high-tide area of 32.96 km2, a low-tide area of 9.01 km2, 2–4 m tidal range, with a spring-tide range of 2.8 m and neap 1.8 m, spring tide flow around 46 x 106 m3 and neap 29 x 106 m3. A 2005 survey said on average water stays in the harbour 1.1 days at spring-tides, but a 2015 study showed a median residence time for whole estuary of 39.4 days with median river flows, ranging between 18 and 45 days. It is the northernmost of three large inlets in the Waikato coast (the others, also drowned river valleys, are Aotea Harbour and Kawhia Harbour). 15 significant rivers and streams run into the harbour, including the largest, Waingaro and Waitetuna, accounting for 60% of catchment area, and the smaller Opotoru and Tawatahi rivers. Total length of the streams is 826 km.

A study for Regional Council said, "Whāingaroa Harbour began to fill with sediment at least 8000 years before present (B.P.) and before the sea had reached its present level 6500 years B.P. Rapid sedimentation in the harbour before 6500 years B.P. is attributed to the formation of now relict intertidal shore platforms up to 700-m wide and ≤10 m below present-day mean high water level. These coastal landforms were rapidly formed 8000-6500 years B.P. by physical weathering of soft mudstone cliffs and wave action. Consequently, all but the upper two metres of the present day sediment column was deposited before 6000 years B.P. and thousands of years before the arrival of Maori some 700 years ago. Today, the harbour has largely infilled with catchment sediment up to ~8-m thick, with 70% of its high tide surface area being intertidal." It concluded that most sediment is now swept up to 20 km out to sea.

70% of the land in the harbour catchment is used for farming, 20% of it is under native vegetation, 14% under forestry, 7% mānuka/kānuka and 0.3% wetlands. 68% of land has slopes greater than 1 in 4.

Southwest of the township stands the extinct volcano of Mt Karioi. According to Māori legend Karioi was a jilted Māori Princess who, upon discovering that love was lost, lay down and rests.

North of the harbour mouth there are extensive dunes and dune-dammed lakes. Like the beaches, the dunes are rich in ironsand and have been considered for mining several times. Threats of seabed mining following passage of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 resulted in formation of the opposition group KASM, based in Raglan (see also Mining in New Zealand and Sand mining).

The area is also home to the popular tourist destination, Bridal Veil Falls, which is located 20 kilometres southeast of the township and the unusual Lake Disappear 4 km further on.

Raglan East
Raglan East was Raglan's first suburb. It was formed after Henry Chamberlin sold his estate in 1863.

Raglan West
Raglan West developed after the farm containing the site of the Wesleyan Nihinihi mission station (see History above) was surveyed between 1940 and 1952.

Rangitahi
Rangitahi was the name of a farm. A concrete bridge from Raglan West replaced a tidal causeway in 2019 and work started on developing 259 residential lots. Over 550 houses are being built in stages on 117 ha.

Climate
Average annual rainfall at Raglan 1984–2004 was 1.354m a year. Average temperature and rainfall graphs show an average high of 24C in February and an average low of 8C in July. Raglan usually has no more than a degree of frost and then only for a few hours on occasional winter mornings.

Education
Raglan Area School is a co-educational state composite school covering years 1 to 13, with a roll of  as of  There have been schools at Raglan since 1866. The current school opened as Raglan District High School in 1937.

There are also primary schools in the nearby settlements of Te Mata, Te Uku and Waitetuna, it is very common in recent years for students to move from the Te Mata, Te Uku and Waitetuna primary schools to RAS when they reach high school due to it being a nearby, bicultural and accepting school full of students that have often already met their contemporaries from Te Mata, Te Uku and Waitetuna.

Surf breaks
Raglan is best known for its surf. Eight kilometres from the Raglan township is a series of surf breaks including Indicators, Whale Bay, Manu Bay, Vortex Bay. Manu Bay was featured in the 1966 movie The Endless Summer and in the 2010 movie Last Paradise. The traditional name for Manu Bay is 'Waikeri', meaning surging or swirling waters. The former native reserve was bought for a recreation reserve in 1971.

Indicators is a left hand point break that breaks for up to 600m, from 2 to 10 feet+ (Hawaiian scale). It is a long-walled, fast wave with occasional barrels, particularly on the low tide. It picks up a lot of swell and is very consistent. On big days the wave can link up with the next break called Whale Bay.

Whale Bay is a left hand point break that breaks up to 200m in length, from about 2 to 8 feet+. It has two sections, an inside hollow section up to about 4 feet that breaks very close to the rocks, and an outside, slower section from 4 feet up. It has been rumoured by locals to link up with the next break further down-Manu Point-but only on very large swells, making a potential ride of up to 2 km from the top of Indicators, which locals say has only been achieved once.

Manu Bay is a left hand point break which works from 2 to 10 feet+, breaking over 300m. It has alternate hollow and wall sections, occasional barrels, and is usually about 2/3 the size of Indicators.

Vortex Bay is a soft peak east of the boat ramp that sometimes breaks on low tide when the swell is too large for the main three points.

There is also a beach break further down from Manu Point. Ruapuke is another beach break well to the west around the point.

Raglan has hosted a world championship surfing event at Manu Bay in 1998. Raglan is also home to New Zealand's first sanctioned surf school, the Raglan Surfing School which was established in 1999.

Arts
Visual artists hold regular exhibitions at the Raglan Old School Art Centre. Fabric artists show their creations in the biennial ArtoWear competition. There is also a Raglan Arts Trail Guide with an Open Studio Weekend in late January. For Matariki there are displays of Māori art. Local art is on display in the Show Off Gallery, Kanuka Design, Matapihi Gallery, local cafes and the Raglan Old School Arts Centre. The Arts Centre is in a 19th-century heritage building, the former Raglan School.

Markets
There is a regular market on the second Sunday of every month at the Raglan Old School Arts Centre in Stewart Street. This Raglan Creative Market specialises in local crafts, food and art.

Music
There's a live music scene in Raglan. The International Soundsplash Eco Reggae Festival ran yearly in summer on the Wainui Reserve, between 2001 and 2008 and more recently, and attracted some of the biggest names in roots, reggae and dub, as well as local acts.

The main venue in Raglan for live music is the Yot Club, a regular stop for NZ musicians on national tours. There is also live music at the Orca Restaurant and Bar, the Harbour View Hotel, the Raglan Club and The Old School.

The New Zealand reggae bands Cornerstone Roots and Zionhill were formed in Raglan.

Walking
Whāingaroa has a variety of walks, from an easy stroll over the footbridge to the more strenuous Mount Karioi tracks. Walking has been a popular activity here since at least 1915, when the guidebook said, "An hour's walk brings one to the harbour entrance and to the sea coast. Here there is a wide sandy beach with a background of bush-covered cliffs, and the picturesque Mount Karioi close at hand" and went on, "Many suitable landing places are to be found where parties may leave the launch for a ramble ashore or may picnic ‘neath the shade of the kowhai trees". (see also Walking trip resources below)

Cycling
Several sections of a Town2Surf cycle lane have been built, which will link the town with Ngarunui Beach, and Te Ara Kākāriki Ocean Trails opened on 3 December 2016, providing about 4 km of mountain bike trails in a pine forest on Wainui Reserve. A 43 km to 85 km bike race, mainly on gravel roads around Mt Karioi, took place each July, from 2009 to 2021. About 21 km from Raglan, Pipiwharauroa Way has 9 km of cycle/walking track, which links to a very difficult 7 km paper road to Waitetuna.

Environment
Whāingaroa has a high proportion of environmentalists, as evidenced by the existence of several high-profile environmental groups. The proportion of environmentalists in Raglan is indicated by the size of the Green Party vote, which was 28% in 2011 and rose to 30% in 2014 (266 of 867 in the Taranaki-King Country constituency vote and 40 of 152 in Hauraki-Waikato). In 2017 it dropped to 20% (433), but the Labour vote rose from 18% to 40% (872), when Labour also highlighted environmental issues. The environmentalism has been recognised in local government policy as, "passionate about the arts and protecting its environment".

Whāingaroa Harbour Care
Whāingaroa Harbour Care has planted more than 2 million trees since it started in 1995.

After discussions in 1994 with the local MP and Minister for the Environment, Simon Upton, about the poor environmental state of the harbour, a meeting was held on 24 March 1995, leading to the formation of Whāingaroa Harbour Care Incorporated Society in July 1995. A plant nursery was set up on Wainui Reserve to collect eco-sourced (with genes better adapted to local conditions) local seeds, grow them into native trees and plant them densely beside streams, to reduce run-off of nutrients and other pollutants by up to 60%. By 2013 over 40 farmers had fenced and planted about 450 km of riparian areas.

(see also Environmental organisations below)

Recycling
Recycling in Raglan is managed by a non-profit organization called Xtreme Zero Waste. Xtreme's stated goal is to create a waste management system for the Raglan/Whāingaroa community in which none of the waste is stored in landfills. The organization was founded in 2000, after Raglan's landfill closed and the town decided to find an alternative to transporting its waste elsewhere. Xtreme Waste has recycled an increasing volume and percentage of waste every year, and as of 2010, it diverts nearly three-quarters of the town's waste from reaching the landfill. It operates a recycling center, which is open to the public and offers group tours.

Actor Antonio Te Maioha, who lives in Raglan, has publicly spoken about his own involvement and Raglan's leadership in recycling. He mentioned that Raglan is one of the few towns in New Zealand with recycling bins in the main street, and describes how people he knew became involved in recycling because of Xtreme Waste's programs.

Water supply
Raglan's water supply comes from a well and the nearby Waipatukahu (or Riki) Spring between Te Hutewai Rd and Omahina Creek, about 3 km south of Raglan, where water which has sunk into the volcanic rocks, seeps along the contact with the Tertiary beds.

Water is chlorinated, pumped to a 1335 m3 tank and distributed through about 42 km of pipes. Tanks at Bow St (1000 m3) and Cornwall Rd, (1250 m3) maintain pressure. Demand has been forecast at 3606 m3 per day by 2034, based on a Waikato University population prediction assuming consumption of 260 l/person/day. However, in December 2015 use was averaging 1510 m3 a day. The capacity of the spring is 4800 m3 per day. Consent allows up to 3100 m3/day (the remainder maintains a flow in the short stream below the spring) from the spring and 500 m3/day from the well. Despite using less than half the consented water, water meters are planned to be installed and operational by 2017. When last rated Raglan's water got a poor 'Ed' (unsatisfactory level of risk) rating, but work was done in 2014 to upgrade the quality.

History
The spring was long used as a source of fresh water. In 1862 a dam was built and it was used to power an 8 ft waterwheel for a flaxmill. In the early 1950s the spring was again used to power a water-wheel, this time pumping water for use on the farm.

Several residents had bores drilled, but over half (1000) relied on tank water. A 2½ in. bore behind the Harbour View Hotel had 1920 impgal/day rising to about 8 ft below the surface, though rather hard and tinged with iron. Of its 160 ft the first 50 ft. was in clay, 4 ft. in hard blue shingle tightly packed with a minimum of sandy matrix and 106 ft in papa. The 225 ft deep, 3 in. bore for the dairy factory, 70 ft. above sea-level in Rose St, was polluted with ammoniacal nitrogen and chlorides too were high. As early as 1927 the government was being asked for help with water and sewage. In 1938, ratepayers petitioned the council for a water supply and in 1938 DSIR reported on Waipatukahu Spring where, "Beautifully clear water rises in a pool perhaps 6 ft. across on the floor of Omahina Creek at a point some 10 ch up from the south end of the tidal flat and a few chains above sea-level" and flow had been measured at 900000 impgal/day, close to the 4,800 mentioned above.

In 1938 the Council said the annual cost of a loan would be £700 for an estimated total cost of £10,000. Another sewage and water scheme was considered in 1949, but still the cost of a loan was too high. Despite pollution, the Rose St bore was connected to the low areas of town and the camping ground. Council put in a new pump, but it could only pump 24000 impgal/day, so in the 1959 a bore was drilled at Warihi Park, but abandoned in 1962 due to problems with flow and gas in the water. A 1959 £100,000 estimate for Riki springs supply was still considered too expensive. Finally, in 1961 Council got a £62,000 loan to bring water from Riki Springs, for a pump to lift water up the hill to tanks (another large reservoir was added in 1981), from where it ran by gravity to the top of Bow St. In October 1963, 4 weeks of dry weather resulted in council carting water to fill empty tanks. By Christmas 1963 household tanks were being filled by long hoses connected to the half-finished mains. On 8 July 1964, the first householders were invited to apply for a supply. There were problems with Christmas peak supplies and an upgrade was installed in 1972. In 1981 an extra reservoir was built in Cornwall Rd quarry.

In the late 1980s, the Community Arts Council got a mural painted on the water tower. It was restored in 2015.

Sewage
Since 1976 sewage from the town has been pumped to a treatment works to the west, with the treated effluent pumped, mainly on outgoing tides, into the mouth of the harbour. Ultra violet treatment was added in 2008 and aquamats (high surface–area polymer filters) and other upgrades in 2017, but the resource consent conditions for total suspended solids and faecal coliforms are still being breached. A proposal to use subsurface drip field irrigation, rather than disposal to sea is being considered, but may be postponed again.

Notable people

 * Angeline Greensill (born 1948), Māori political rights campaigner and academic
 * Anna Coddington, contemporary musician
 * Antonio Te Maioha (born 1970), actor
 * Dave Currie (born 1945), sports administrator
 * Joan Fear (1932–2022), painter
 * Hallyburton Johnstone (1897–1970), MP and farmer
 * David Pretty (1878–1947), champion axeman and athlete
 * Edward Puttick (1890–1976), retired soldier
 * Eva Rickard (1925–1997), Māori rights campaigner
 * Cort and Annie Jane Schnackenberg, 1860s–1870s missionaries
 * Jordan Riki (2000–2017), Brisbane Broncos, Māori All Stars

Environmental organisations

 * Whāingaroa Harbour Care
 * Whāingaroa Environment Centre
 * Karioi restoration project
 * Te Mauri Tau
 * Whāingaroa Environmental Defence
 * Friends of Wainui Bush Park

Transportation

 * Civil Aviation Authority bulletin on safety at Raglan airfield
 * Public transportation from Raglan to Hamilton

Walking trip resources

 * 1:50,000 map, also with walking access information
 * Walks on Wainui Reserve
 * Department of Conservation brochure for Karioi, Bryant Reserve, Karamu Walkway, Bridal Veil and Pirongia
 * Heritage strolls in Raglan

Webcams

 * Raglan Beach webcams: Raglan A and Raglan B, NIWA

title: Raglan, New Zealand


text:
Caloris Planitia

Caloris Planitia is a plain within a large impact basin on Mercury, informally named Caloris, about 1,550 km in diameter. It is one of the largest impact basins in the Solar System. "Calor" is Latin for "heat" and the basin is so-named because the Sun is almost directly overhead every second time Mercury passes perihelion. The crater, discovered in 1974, is surrounded by the Caloris Montes, a ring of mountains approximately 2 km tall.

Appearance

Caloris was discovered on images taken by the Mariner 10 probe in 1974. Its name was suggested by Brian O'Leary, astronaut and member of the Mariner 10 imagery team. It was situated on the terminator—the line dividing the daytime and nighttime hemispheres—at the time the probe passed by, and so half of the crater could not be imaged. Later, on January 15, 2008, one of the first photos of the planet taken by the MESSENGER probe revealed the crater in its entirety.

The basin was initially estimated to be about 810 mi in diameter, though this was increased to 960 mi based on subsequent images taken by MESSENGER. It is ringed by mountains up to 2 km high. Inside the crater walls, the floor of the crater is filled by lava plains, similar to the maria of the Moon. These plains are superposed by explosive vents associated with pyroclastic material. Outside the walls, material ejected in the impact which created the basin extends for 1,000 km, and concentric rings surround the crater.

In the center of the basin is a region containing numerous radial troughs that appear to be extensional faults, with an unrelated 40 km crater, Apollodorus, located near the center of the pattern. The exact cause of this pattern of troughs is not currently known. The feature is named Pantheon Fossae.

Formation
The impacting body is estimated to have been at least 100 km (62 miles) in diameter.

Bodies in the inner Solar System experienced a heavy bombardment of large rocky bodies in the first billion years or so of the Solar System. The impact that created Caloris must have occurred after most of the heavy bombardment had finished, because fewer impact craters are seen on its floor than exist on comparably-sized regions outside the crater. Similar impact basins on the Moon such as the Mare Imbrium and Mare Orientale are believed to have formed at about the same time, possibly indicating that there was a 'spike' of large impacts towards the end of the heavy bombardment phase of the early Solar System. Based on MESSENGER's photographs, Caloris' age has been determined to be between 3.8 and 3.9 billion years.

A gravitational high, also known as a mascon, is centered on Caloris Planitia. Most large impact basins on the moon, such as Mare Imbrium and Mare Crisium, are also the site of mascons.

Antipodal chaotic terrain and global effects

The giant impact believed to have formed Caloris may have had global consequences for the planet. At the exact antipode of the basin is a large area of hilly, grooved terrain, with few small impact craters that are known as chaotic terrain (also "weird terrain"). It is thought by some to have been created as seismic waves from the impact converged on the opposite side of the planet. Alternatively, it has been suggested that this terrain formed as a result of the convergence of ejecta at this basin's antipode. This hypothetical impact is also believed to have triggered volcanic activity on Mercury, resulting in the formation of smooth plains. Surrounding Caloris is a series of geologic formations thought to have been produced by the basin's ejecta, collectively called the Caloris Group.

Emissions of gas
Mercury has a very tenuous and transient atmosphere, containing small amounts of hydrogen and helium captured from the solar wind, as well as heavier elements such as sodium and potassium. These are thought to originate within the planet, being "out-gassed" from beneath its crust. The Caloris basin has been found to be a significant source of sodium and potassium, indicating that the fractures created by the impact facilitate the release of gases from within the planet. The unusual terrain is also a source of these gases.

title: Caloris Planitia


text:
Lake Sammamish

Lake Sammamish  is a freshwater lake 8 mi east of Seattle in King County, Washington, United States. The lake is 7 mi long and 1.5 mi wide, with a maximum depth of 105 ft and a surface area of 8 sqmi. It lies east of Lake Washington and west of the Sammamish Plateau, and stretches from Issaquah in the south to Redmond in the north. At Issaquah it is fed by Issaquah Creek, and at Redmond it drains to Lake Washington via the Sammamish River, named after the native people who once lived along its entire length.

The 98 sqmi Lake Sammamish watershed stretches from Redmond through Bellevue, and Issaquah to Preston and Hobart, and consists of numerous creeks which flow into the lake. Issaquah Creek is the largest tributary, furnishing over 70% of the lake's inflow.

Development
The area surrounding Lake Sammamish has been, in recent times, the most rapidly growing suburban district in the Greater Seattle Metropolitan Area. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the cities of Redmond, Snoqualmie, Fall City, Issaquah and Bellevue have grown substantially. The city of Sammamish was incorporated in 1999 because of suburban growth.

Ecology and conservation
Historically, runoff from the high precipitation in the lake's watershed (nearly twice the 35 inches that Seattle gets each year) was absorbed by the surrounding forests. Loose, sponge-like forest soils virtually eliminated runoff during winter storms and recharged groundwater aquifers which then released fresh water to streams in the dry summer months. With rapid urbanization the forests have been replaced by impervious surfaces—roofs, roads, parking lots—and stormwater runoffs have increased flooding. The stormwater runoff carries sediment loads and toxic pollutants into streams and ultimately the lake, which generally has a negative impact on lake water clarity as well as fishes and wildlife.

In May, 2010 the federal government asked the town of Sammamish to restrict development within 250 ft from the lakeshore to protect local salmon and steelhead (Oncorhyncus mykiss) species. The report did not include Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon (Oncorhyncus nerka) among the species in trouble, although environmentalists and scientists said development along Lake Sammamish and tributary creeks have pushed the fish to the brink of extirpation. Despite resistance to the report by the city of Sammamish, Issaquah already limits development within 200 ft of the lake, Issaquah Creek and the East Fork of Issaquah Creek under the Shoreline Management Program. It is estimated that fewer than 100 Kokanee salmon remain in Lake Sammamish.

Beavers
The recent return of beaver (Castor canadensis) to Lake Sammamish worries City of Issaquah and Lake Sammamish State Park officials who state that the mammals will cause flooding and burrow under roadways. These officials are recommending relocation of the beaver families. On July 6, 2010, officials of the City of Issaquah asked Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to tear out a beaver dam on Tibbetts Creek in Lake Sammamish State Park because of concerns about potential flooding and barriers to salmon migration.

In contrast, research on watersheds in the Northern United States and Canada shows that beavers provide ecological benefits by creating ponds that increase fish and bird abundance and diversity. Research in the Stillaguamish River basin, approximately 50 mi north of Lake Sammamish, found that extensive loss of beaver ponds resulted in an 89% reduction in coho salmon smolt summer production and an almost equally detrimental 86% reduction in critical winter habitat carrying capacity.

Recreation and parks
Lake Sammamish is bordered by Marymoor Park at the lake's north end, Lake Sammamish State Park at its south end, and the East Lake Sammamish Trail. Lake Sammamish State Park provides nine public boat launches that can be accessed through a separate park entrance, for a fee, with parking and restroom facilities on site.

The public can access the lake's west shores at Redmond's Idylwood Park. The privately owned Vasa Park Resort, located in Bellevue, provides access from the west for a fee. Vasa Park offers one ramp for launching watercraft. Several housing developments own small, private parks that provide lake access for their residents.

The main leisure activities include rowing, fishing, waterskiing, wakeboarding, wakesurfing, tubing, and jet skiing.

There is a public slalom course for waterskiing at the far north end of the lake, running from the west to the east. In the mid-1980s, local radio personality Pat O'Day proposed that the Seafair Cup hydroplane races be moved to Lake Sammamish from Lake Washington, an effort that was unsuccessful.

Lake Sammamish offers fishing enthusiasts a variety of species to pursue, including perch, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, cutthroat trout, salmon, and steelhead trout, among others.

Events

 * Serial killer Ted Bundy abducted two women in broad daylight from the beach at Lake Sammamish State Park on July 14, 1974, by faking an injury and asking for their help.
 * Wife killer Randy Roth drowned his fourth wife Cynthia at Lake Sammamish in 1991 after taking off in a raft from Redmond's Idylwood Park.

title: Lake Sammamish


text:
Crater (disambiguation)

A crater is a landform appearing as a depression.

Crater may also refer to:

Music

 * Crater (Daniel Menche and Mamiffer album), 2016
 * Crater (Fission album), 2004

Places

 * Crati or Crater, a river in southern Italy
 * Crater, California, United States
 * Crater (Aden), a district in Yemen

Film

 * Crater, a 2023 film

Other uses

 * Crater (constellation), in astronomy
 * The Crater (novel), 1847, by James Fenimore Cooper
 * Joseph Force Crater, New York judge who disappeared

title: Crater (disambiguation)