PSA: ‘We’re getting there’ isn’t SEPTA’s slogan, people

Over on MOTU’s blog they run a feature called MOTUnes Monday and usually it’s a song about transit – think Last of the Steam-Powered Trains or Charlie on the MTA – but today’s is especially close to home. It’s all about SEPTA.

Today’s MOTUne, by Philly local Michal Pearl Waldfogel, is called “We’re Getting There.” And while I call attention to this fun little song, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that SEPTA’s slogan is no longer We’re Getting There. 

This tired, old slogan is almost too easy to poke fun at, and even in retirement it is referred to so often that I wanted to know just how dead it is. When I put the question to SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch recently he wrote: We’re definitely done with “We’re Getting There” as a slogan (although you’re right, once in a while you will run into a stray sign). I’m not sure exactly when it ended, but in asking around to some long-timers here, the consensus is that it was retired around 10 years ago, maybe longer. We didn’t replace it with another slogan, and we don’t have anything formal in place now. So there you have it. What you think SEPTA’s slogan should be? Was We’re Getting There actually pretty good (and is that why we cling to it) or is its optimism too limp? Thoughts?

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal