SEPTA partners with Lumin-Air to add MERV-13 equivalent filtration

Lumin-Air has been selected by the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) to outfit the agency’s bus fleet with MERV-13 equivalent filtration.  

MERV-13 filters are part of the recent improvements made at the Wells Fargo Center to improve indoor air quality. MERV-13 filters are recommended by experts because they remove small particles and at least 85 percent of the droplet nuclei people exhale that contain virus cells, notes Lumin-Air.  

These filters will help catch and remove contaminants from recirculated air inside the bus, improving the air quality for both riders and bus operators. 

"Removing airborne contaminants inside our fleet is another strategy in our layered approach to keep riders, coach operators and SEPTA team members safe," said Bruce Kramer, senior project designer, SEPTA. 

Lumin-Air's Dan Fillenwarth added, "The key to our solution is increasing filtration efficiency without reducing airflow. Our filters last three times as long as standard bus filters, so our solution is a very economical way to improve the health and safety of riders and bus operators. SEPTA continues to be an industry leader in prioritizing safety and will be the first transit system on the east coast to retrofit their fleet with filters that are this efficient." 

"When exploring available technologies, we felt strongly about the need to remove contaminants and not add anything (chemicals, ions, or gases) into the air people breathe,” concluded Desmond Cole, senior project engineer, SEPTA. 

SEPTA has already received the first shipment of filters and will complete the filtration upgrade over the next several months.