Philly News Briefs: 7/14/16

1.) During Pope Francis’ historic visit last September, large parts of Philadelphia were restricted to cars and allowed only pedestrians. What resulted, many believe, was a really cool thing. That’s why this year, on September 24th, the City of Brotherly Love will hold its first Philly Free Streets day. In honor of all the bicyclists and pedestrians who asked for it, swaths of the city will be car-free. The Morning Call quoted city spokesman Mike Dunn as saying that “the day will include events focused on fun and education programming, physical activity, history, arts, culture and sustainability.” It has not yet been announced what streets will be shut down on the 24th, which falls on a Saturday.

Walkers had free rein of the city during Pope Francis’ visit, and foot traffic will rule again on Saturday, September 24th.

2.) After years of operating outside the confines of the law, ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft will be able to legally take passengers in Philadelphia… for right now. Governor Tom Wolf signed a bill that gives a summertime buffer to ride-sharing in advance of an expected vote by state lawmakers this fall deciding the eventual fate of the popular services. The bill allows for legal ride-sharing through September 30th. According to Philly.com: “Ride-sharing services would pay 1 percent of their gross receipts from fares that originate in the city to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, (which oversees transportation businesses in Philadelphia). The cash-strapped School District would get about two-thirds of that money, and the PPA would keep the rest.”

3.) Runners doing the Philadelphia Marathon this year can expect a few changes, the most notable of which will be to the course. The marathon’s official website just posted the new map for the full marathon. The half-marathon will take a new course as well, but a map for that one hasn’t been posted yet. The new route is not very dissimilar to the old one, with the biggest change coming to the segment through West Fairmount Park, where runners will now follow the Avenue of the Republic to States Drive, take States Drive to Belmont Avenue, then down Belmont to Lansdowne Drive. The West Fairmount Park segment of the old marathon route was shorter, and took runners down Black Road hill without running on MLK Drive.