Abordo SEPTA is a new partnership between AL DÍA and SEPTA, which will talk to Philly residents about the role SEPTA plays in their everyday lives. Whether it be a daily commute, going to see family, discovering a new part of the city or something else, public transportation like SEPTA plays a vital role in what takes a place like Philadelphia from being a city of neighborhoods, to one as a whole cohesive community.

Abordo SEPTA, set to be released in the coming months, will be written, but also incorporate multimedia aspects to bolster the storytelling, and a community arts film project directed by Alba Martinez, whose story is an inspiration for the series. 

Martinez first came to Philadelphia from law school in Washington D.C. in 1985. She came to be a part of Community Legal Services, still one of the best public interest law firms in the country. The other, more important reason she came to Philadelphia was for the Latino community she heard so much about and wanted to connect with.

When she got here, the community was initially hidden, but a call Martinez placed to Taller Puertorriqueño, after finding it in a phone book, put her on SEPTA Route 47 bus north from Center City to 5th and Lehigh. When she got off, Martinez was at the center of the Latino community in North Philadelphia, full of its vibrant colors, music, and commerce.

More than 30 years later, Martinez would write a song as a salsa ode to Route 47 bus and the ride she went on to discover a new world within Philadelphia. The song, “La Guagua 47,” is the first story in AL DÍA’s Abordo SEPTA series, and it will also get a community film project at the culmination of the series towards the end of the year in partnership with Martinez’s Ritmo Lab.

Be on the lookout for Abordo SEPTA throughout the rest of 2022 from AL DÍA.

For more Abordo SEPTA stories and content, click the banner below.

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