The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transport Authority is already prepared for the recent liquid explosives terrorism scare. SEPTA has been testing two $300,000 liquid explosive detection devices since February, and is thus the first transit system in the U.S. to use it. The device takes two minutes to complete a scan and doesn't require the opening of the bag. I believe they swab the bag and then test the swab strip, but don't hold me to this. It's really a trade off, since a standard random bag search probably takes less then a minute, but you'll have someone rummaging through your dirty underwear from the gym and all of your dirty magazines (or your stash of weed!). I don't know why anyone would want to attack SEPTA when they have New York's MTA just two hours north and a hellva lot bigger system, its just nice to know that your local agencies are looking out for you.

Labels: philadelphia, subway