Workers took a break from operating buses, trains and trolleys to put the finishing touches on their holiday toy drive at the transit agency's Center City headquarters.
Employees themselves have been donating toys to the drive for more than two decades. They grabbed bags of games, dolls, play sets, a guitar and a few bikes and loaded them onto - what else - a SEPTA bus.
SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey tells us, "What you see is our front line employees. They see the poverty out there, they see families struggling, and they just reach into their heart and give back."
And this may be the best part: SEPTA's general manager joins everyone for a ride through town on the decorated SEPTA bus, which features a mini Christmas tree with a choo-choo train.
Yes, mass-transit can be festive, too.
SEPTA spent the rest of the day playing Santa, dropping off all the toys to a number of charities across the city of Philadelphia, including one on North Broad Street, which specializes with children with disabilities.
The JFK Community Center now has a bunch of toys to give to children, who would otherwise would not be opening anything on Christmas morning.
Fari Thompson of the JFK Community Center explains, "The kids get very excited, and it's very wonderful to be able to give them the toys because a lot of them do not have toys, other than what we can give them here."
And then the most festive SEPTA bus in town was off again.
It will deliver an estimated 10,000 gifts to the city charities, plus a few more in the suburbs.
