Late Night Rail Service

What do you think the chances are of Septa providing late night rail service? Personally, I think it would encourage more people to go out in the city if they knew that they could stay at a bar/club late and still catch a train home. I see this as benefiting both the city and Septa as it stands to attract a segment of people who may not use Septa or go to the City at all. The consists would have to be no longer than 2 Silverliners.

Slim to none, and slim just left town.

Hec, right now we can't even get subway service past 12:30am (or 12:02am if you're in Frankford), and those MFO/BSO shuttles are standing room only till about 2am. So forget it.

Overnight subway and regional rail service would be a definite plus for the SEPTA riders. I think it would boost revenue in the Olde City and South Street districts. Maybe the Gallery Mall would stay open past sunset. Now there's a thought. Don't think the SEPTA board will go for it though, they're already crying about deficient manpower with what they've got, if you can believe that.

capuzfu wrote:What do you think the chances are of Septa providing late night rail service? Personally, I think it would encourage more people to go out in the city if they knew that they could stay at a bar/club late and still catch a train home.

That is a very small market, compared to the other types of travel markets SEPTA serves.

Maybe Septa could buy a bar car????

Metro-North announced new late-night trains specifically for theater and restaurant patrons recently... but then NY is the city that never sleeps.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia falls asleep a 2am.

whovian wrote:Unfortunately, Philadelphia falls asleep a 2am.

But SEPTA falls asleep at Midnight.

capuzfu wrote:But SEPTA falls asleep at Midnight.

... and most of the rest of the time SEPTA wanders around in a fog...

Patco runs its service 24 hours according to a timetable I recently perused. Septal should follow suit and its run subway and rail lines 24 hours, too.

what SEPTA should do and what SEPTA won't do are two entirely different things.

ewonder wrote:Patco runs its service 24 hours according to a timetable I recently perused. Septal should follow suit and its run subway and rail lines 24 hours, too.

The SEPTA subways used to run 24 hours, but costs and CRIME changed the environment. Until 1991 [when the BSS and MFSE ran all night] much of the crime occurrred after midnight. When the subways closed down after midnight, the crime rate in the subways went down about 66%. It also made it easier for routine maintenance, and cleaning.

As far as the reigional rail lines, the suburban market it serves are notoriously early in the roll up of the sidewalks. The trains will never get more late night service.

PATCO could do the 24/7 routine because if its highly automated operation, combined with its extensive use of closed-circuit TV for monitoring and protection. SEPTA does not have that automation, in fact it's old fashioned labor intensive operation puts it at a distinct disadvantage cost-wise.

New York certainly has all night service. Why? Maybe if SEPTA deployed their police manpower more efficiently, crime wouldn't be such an issue. Instead, they chose the easy way by just eliminating the service all together after midnight. Those subway night owl shuttles are crowded, and no matter what riders are still boarding them at the subway stops any way. One should go to Suburban Staion at lunch time and observe the SEPTA police hard at work trying to pull phone numbers from women ( no doubt because they're concerned for passenger safety), or when they are standing at the top of the steps with a slice of pizza and Dunkin Donuts coffee in each hand. Have any of you been on a train that has called for police assistance? SEPTA police are usually the last to arrive on scene, and the local authorities have to brief the transit police on the situation that occurred and was resolved a half an hour ago. SEPTA gets capital money for every project under the sun, and they can't get money to sure up their security and police manpower? Give me a break! Maybe if they cut some of the salaries at 1234, starting with Mrs. Moore or Mr. Nowakowski, or even that Rich Baloney PR person they have who easily makes six figures for nothing; they could cut their overhead and put it to more productive use. I'll be holding my breath. I think downtown would be more lively at nighttime if public transit were more passenger friendly. Why does the last outbound train to Norristown leave Suburban Station at 11:25pm on the weekend? Many of the Regional Rail lines are similiar. Most of the system shuts down at midnight, and this is supposed to be the 5th largest transit agency in the USA. How laughable is that?

greg19051 wrote:Maybe Septa could buy a bar car????

Wouldn't be a bad idea. Personally I love eing able to grab a drink before the commute home on Metro North. Take a look at this article http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18005

SEPTA did not cite crime as a reason for shutting down the subways in the owl hours (when they did so c.1990)--they said it was to facilitate cleaning and maintenance, but it was well understood that cost was an issue to. The crime issue (not that there was a serious crime issue) was probably a wash, since the crime moved to the stations to the streets.