A day on SEPTA’s 31 bus, one of dozens that may soon be cut

The 31 bus moves through Philadelphia accompanied by its own soundtrack.

A harsh buzz when the fare reader rejects someone’s card. The chirp of a successful transaction. Ding! “Stop requested.” Cell phone conversations. “Back door!”

Soon that music may fall silent. If SEPTA doesn’t get the state money it needs to avoid cuts, 32 bus routes, including this one, will be eliminated soon.

Route 31 covers 8.9 miles between Overbrook Park and City Hall in a continuous circuit of up to 10 buses. They run from 4:56 a.m. to 1:17 a.m. on weekdays, connecting several West Philly neighborhoods. The last outbound gets to Overbrook Park at 2:07 a.m.

One day last week, as regular 31 bus riders went about their routine trips, some had no idea their route could soon be cut.

Others were more than aware, worried about how they would get to work or visit their pharmacy or go shopping.

Here’s what they had to say.

Around 7:15 a.m., the bus sets off on an eastbound journey from its starting point at 76th Street and City Avenue.

Carolyn Kelly, 57, is heading to work in Center City. Kelly has been riding the 31 bus for at least 36 years and feels “horrible” that it could be cut.

“I’m just trying to figure out what my next plans are going to be, because it’s convenient for me,” Kelly says. “Since I’ve been riding, it’s been trustworthy, so I’m safe with it.”

Maria Mixon, a 21-year-old Drexel University student, is also on her way to work. She has a car but chooses to take the 31 bus to her legal internship because parking can be expensive.

She checks the SEPTA website about every other day to see if a firm stop date has been set for her bus route.

Mixon typically hops on at 37th and Fairmount. Depending on the day, the 31 can be really early or really late.

“Sometimes I’ll be walking to the bus and they drive past me, or sometimes I’ll walk there and I’ll be there for who knows?” says Mixon, who rides to the 30th Street Station area. One day in May it was 25 minutes behind, she recalls.

“That day, luckily, it wasn’t as hot outside, so I just walked,” she says, noting it took her roughly 30 minutes.

At 9:13 a.m., an empty westbound bus from Broad Street and Penn Square starts filling up near the Municipal Services Building.

After taking Regional Rail from Delaware to 30th Street Station, Danny McFarland, 65, boards the 31 on his way to see his mom.

McFarland says cutting the route would be an “inconvenience” in the area where his mom lives, near the 40th and Aspen stop. A lot of older folks live there, he says, and the 31 bus goes right past their houses. If it’s cut, they’ll have to go out of their way or even take an Uber, he says.

“Everybody can’t afford that,” he says.

At the end of the line is the City Avenue Shopping Center, where Lucy Calbert, 22, works at T.J. Maxx. She wasn’t aware that the bus line could be cut, but it doesn’t surprise her. Since she started riding it in September, she has noticed delays and detours. As a result, she says, she’s had to cut back her work hours and now has shorter shifts.

If the bus is cut altogether, “I won’t have a way to work,” she says.

Jean Clay, 66, picks up medicine at the end of the bus line in Overbrook Park, where there’s a CVS, and gets groceries at the Aldi there. Clay, who lives about 13 stops away, is waiting to catch the eastbound bus after grocery shopping.

“To cut out this route — that’s a long walk from 63rd and Lansdowne all the way up here. … I don’t think they should cut it out,” Clay says. “There’s no other way you can get up here unless you walk.”

Dimaya Dandy, 18, hops on the bus on the way home from a doctor’s office. They ride the 31 “literally every day” and didn’t know it was in jeopardy, adding that losing it would be “very unfortunate.”

“The route — it’s chill,” Dandy says. “It doesn’t go through any terrible areas, and I found myself being able to relax and be comfortable on this bus.”

The bus is also taking Adrena Anderson, 65, who does in-home care, between two client homes. Anderson remembers taking the 31 bus to church as a child.

If it’s cut, Anderson wonders, “how are people going to get to home — to and from?”

The 31 starts to get crowded in the afternoon rush.

A bus reads “SEPTA OFF DUTY” on its marquee, but it’s a 31. The operator pulls up to a crowded stop for several routes at 20th and Market, where a few dozen people are clustered in the shade of Two Commerce Square, and yells: “31, 31, 31.”

Substitute buses are sent from other routes or the depot to fill in gaps. They display the “off duty” sign because of a technical problem loading the correct sign or because the operator pressed into duty forgot to reset it.

Many riders know what to do, though some are uncertain and ask the operator.

About 4:15 p.m., a young office worker gets on. He says it’s his first time ever on the bus. He usually takes the trolley everywhere, but the trolley tunnel between Center City and West Philly is shut down for annual maintenance.

Later, at 52nd and Market, a skinny man in shorts and a T-shirt boards through the rear door, holding a half-full bottle of Heineken.

He plops down in a seat and starts talking passionately about current events, gesturing for emphasis with the bottle. He offers life lessons to passengers: “God is good. Treat yourselves like the kings and queens you are!”

When he’s ready to leave, he stands at the back door and yells “Coming up!” toward the bus operator.

Shay Shay Tyson, 27, is waiting for the 31 bus a little after 7 p.m. at 15th and Ranstead across from Dilworth Plaza. It’s about 16 minutes late.

“I take it almost every day,” says Tyson, who attends Community College of Philadelphia. “Sometimes it’s right on time, but a lot of times it’s really slow getting through traffic.”

She knows SEPTA has financial problems, but she is surprised — and alarmed — to learn the 31 bus might stop running altogether next month.

If it does, Tyson would take the Market-Frankford El into Center City, but she would have to walk seven blocks from her house at 44th and Aspen to catch the train at 46th and Market.

“The bus drops me right at the front door,” she says.

Adean Johnson thought she had plenty of time.

She was checking out at Aldi around 8:40 p.m. and figured she would catch the 9 p.m. bus home at 76th Street and City Avenue across the street.

Then the clerk told her it only runs hourly after 7:30 p.m. The usual frequency is 30 minutes.

So Johnson, 74, is stranded at the bus shelter until 9:30 p.m. “I’m hot and have mosquito bites all over,” she says.

Johnson scored some beautiful pineapples to make juice, and baba ganoush, a Middle Eastern eggplant dip that Aldi sometimes carries.

“I can get things here I can’t get anywhere else,” Johnson says.

The eastbound bus is late. It leaves the stop about 9:50 p.m.

Despite the hour, the crowd is robust on the 31, perhaps because fewer buses are running at this hour. About 25 people are on board. Three men file out at Haverford Avenue and Sherwood Road, one of them a letter carrier with his empty mailbag slung over his shoulder.

It’s slow going because people are requesting stops every couple of blocks.

Around 10:25 p.m., the 31 pulls up to the Clothespin at 15th and Market, the end of the line. The operator climbs down to stretch his legs before starting the journey back to Overbrook Park.

An advisory on SEPTA’s real-time app warns: “Service will be eliminated on Route 31 on Aug. 24, 2025, if new state funding is not approved.”