Light rail

Form of passenger urban rail transit

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2024 General manager Leslie Richards resigned.
December 2024 SEPTA began a limited pilot program for NFC payments on Regional Rail (excluding Trenton and West Trenton stations), with plans for general availability in 2025.
December 29 2024
VTA light rail
Final day of Holly Trolley service for the 2024 season.
December 29 2024
VTA light rail
Continued operation of Holly Trolley Car 2001 during the 2024 holiday season.
December 28 2024
VTA light rail
Continuation of Holly Trolley service for the 2024 season.
December 22 2024
VTA light rail
Continuation of Holly Trolley service for the 2024 season.
December 21 2024
VTA light rail
Holly Trolley Car 2001 (originally built in 1928 in Milan) begins seasonal operation, marking its first service since 2018.
December 1 2024 SEPTA raised electronic payment fares from $2 to $2.50 to match the cash base rate. Regional Rail fares were also raised to present levels on this date.
November 2024
VTA light rail
Announcement made that Holly Trolley will return for the 2024 season.
September 2024 Special Purpose Vehicle 1027 and support wagon 1028 were offered for sale.
June 8 2024
VTA light rail
Groundbreaking ceremony held for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector light rail extension project.
March 22 2024 South Yorkshire Future Trams Ltd (SYFTL) municipalises the Supertram network, transitioning to public ownership under the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
January 1 2024 SEPTA stopped accepting tokens at vehicle fareboxes and fare kiosks, completing the phase-out of token-based fare payment.
2023 Under Act 89, SEPTA's funding from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was reduced to $50,000,000 for the fiscal year.
2023 The transfer point with DART at the Tri-State Mall was moved to the Claymont Transportation Center.
2023 SEPTA became the sole U.S. transit authority operating all five major types of terrestrial transit vehicles after Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority discontinued trolleybuses, ending their shared unique status.
September 2023 The number of ticket inspectors onboard trams was increased following the Bee Network's launch, with increased penalties for fare evasion.
September 29 2023 SEPTA made contactless NFC payment feature available to the general public for transit rides.
July 2023 SEPTA launched a limited pilot program for contactless payments using NFC-enabled credit cards, digital wallets, phones, and smart watches.
June 2023 SEPTA budgeted $40 million for the SEPTA Metro rebranding and upgraded its website in preparation for the 2024 rollout.
May 2023 Charles Lawson was officially appointed as the chief of the SEPTA Transit Police, following his tenure as acting chief.
January 2023 Special Purpose Vehicles 1027 and 1028 were withdrawn from service.
January 2023
VTA light rail
The project received full funding through a $46 million state grant.
2022 Spain opened the Cádiz TramBahia, a unique light rail system where trams share tracks with commuter and long-distance trains, allowing direct city center access and serving cities without previous railway connections.
2022 Completion of the Two Aspect colour signal removal across most of the Metrolink network, with the Altrincham Line between Timperley and Altrincham remaining under Network Rail control and unable to be fully converted.
2022 DART implemented a comprehensive system redesign, restructuring its route types into three categories: local, express, and shuttle routes, with local routes further categorized by frequency.
2022 SEPTA adds largest batch of New Flyer XDE40 diesel-electric hybrid buses, with 220 buses in fleet series 3525-3744, currently being delivered.
December 2022 After a limited pilot program, SEPTA released the Key Tix mobile ticketing feature to the general public, enabling widespread use of electronic tickets across their transit system.
December 15 2022 The new Siemens S700 vehicles (H4) entered service on the METRORail system.
October 2022 Completed delivery of the 27 additional trams ordered in July 2018.
August 2022 SEPTA introduced Key Tix, a mobile electronic ticketing system allowing riders to purchase and use transit tickets through Android and iOS apps, featuring QR code scanning at turnstiles and supporting multiple passenger use.
July 2022 Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) received initial funding to develop the Pathfinder North tram-train project, including approval to purchase up to seven new tram-train vehicles to connect Oldham, Rochdale, Heywood, and Bury.
July 2022 Charles Lawson began serving as acting chief of the SEPTA Transit Police.
June 2022 A Unimog road-rail vehicle was added to the Metrolink fleet to support infrastructure inspection and maintenance activities.
January 24 2022 To facilitate the transition to the new bus network, DART offered free rides for the first week of the DARTzoom network's operation.
2021 DART discontinued its DART On-Call and FLEX services, fully transitioning to the GoLink service.
2021 SEPTA reported total operating expenses of $1,530,984,000 for the fiscal year, with labor and fringe benefits accounting for 71.1% of the total expenses.
2021 SEPTA placed an order for 220 New Flyer XDE40 buses with an option for 120 additional buses to replace New Flyer D40LF and DE40LF buses.
2021 SEPTA continues bus fleet expansion with 115 New Flyer XDE40 diesel-electric hybrid buses in series 3410-3524.
September 2021 An additional weekly fare cap was introduced for contactless payments.
September 2021 SEPTA proposed rebranding their rail transit services as the 'SEPTA Metro' to improve system navigation.
September 2021 Concluded lean bench trials and removed the benches from stations.
September 18 2021
VTA light rail
Light rail system fully restarts following the May shooting.
September 6 2021 The Shaw and Crompton–East Didsbury enhanced service route resumed after a temporary service interruption.
August 2021
VTA light rail
VTA light rail service began gradually returning after the May 26 shooting, with services being restored in stages throughout August and September.
August 31 2021 Enhanced service route from Altrincham to Bury direct was resumed.
August 30 2021
VTA light rail
Light rail system partially restarts after the May shooting.
July 5 2021 Normal Metrolink service was reintroduced after pandemic-related service reductions.
May 26 2021
VTA light rail
A mass shooting occurred at the VTA light rail yard (Guadalupe Division), resulting in ten fatalities including the gunman. This led to a complete shutdown of the light rail system.
May 26 2021
VTA light rail
A mass shooting occurred at the VTA rail yard in San Jose, California, resulting in ten fatalities, including the gunman. This was the deadliest mass shooting in San Francisco Bay Area history, which led to an indefinite suspension of the light rail system's service.

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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles South Yorkshire Supertram, Light rail, VTA light rail, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Manchester Metrolink, METRORail & SEPTA, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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