Railroad Forums 

  • Philadelphia Eagles Vs. Kansas City Chiefs - Super Bowl Transit

  • Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.
Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.

Moderator: AlexC

 #1460470  by GooStats
 
Looking at the map, I think that University City should be a “discharge only” Station in the morning. Plenty of people could hop off there and walk on South Street towards the parade route.
University City should absolutely stay closed in the afternoon.
 #1460478  by Disney Guy
 
Those using station parking lots (or any parking lots anywhere) should back into spaces that are 90 degree angled if there are no spaces or parallel parking spaces on the other side of the aisle.

Head in 90 degree parking is much more likely to be hemmed in by illegally parked cars on the other side of the aisle behind you,
 #1460534  by MACTRAXX
 
dcipjr wrote:Talked to SEPTA, no 10-trips or regular tickets will be honored on the Regional Rail tomorrow. Passes only.
...if you can get them. There have been reports of stations selling out of their I-Pass allocations.
At least there has been mention where they have remained available...

On a related matter are these $10 passes regular Independence Passes or special type Eagles
commemorative championship passes? If they are indeed the regular type it surprises me that
SEPTA is selling them for $3 less then their regular price of $13.

This time around SEPTA RRD will honor regular monthly and weekly passes instead of requiring
all riders to have special passes such as during the Papal Visit.

GS and NPL:
Traveling from Trenton is going to be interesting tomorrow...After the AM Peak RRD trains leave
there will be no further service from TRE for the rest of the day. The NJT alternative will be the
River Line connecting to PATCO in Camden which will go to 9/10 Locust only until at least 8PM.

There will be only three scheduled AM Peak trains from TRE: 5:25; 6:15 and 7:14.
Extra trains may be operated as needed...

This is no doubt going to affect riders transferring from NJT that have not been informed of the
significant Thursday service changes concerning SEPTA RRD service. I am thinking of folks that
are not sports fans in particular...

Amtrak Regional trains MAY be available...$62 is almost $2/mile for a 33 mile ride TRE-PHL.

Even with all these service changes there are RRD riders that have to get places tomorrow
for work and other important reasons being that it is a weekday...MACTRAXX
Last edited by MACTRAXX on Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.
 #1460538  by Flyer78
 
The SEPTA parade pages have been updated, and are much clearer now (actual departure times for the stations.)

Based on other sources (philly.com/OTA media) standard Independence Passes will be honored; and even the parade $10 pass will be valid for a full year after purchase (if not used).

It has also been mentioned, buying a pass will not ensure a ride.
 #1460547  by MACTRAXX
 
F78 and Everyone:

Yes-SEPTA better clarifies what trains will actually be run on each route. There may be added
additional extra runs and stops at open stations if there are passengers waiting and capacity
available on board. As example Trenton trains may stop at Croydon and/or Cornwells Heights.

After checking an NJT NEC schedule I discovered that to get to Trenton in time to use two of
the three scheduled RRD trains one will have to use the first three NJT AM trains to TRE:
#3809 Lv NYP 4:17; Lv NWK 4:37 ar TRE at 5:54 - for 6:15 RRD train
#3811 Lv NYP 4:51; Lv NWK 5:09 ar TRE at 6:23 -
#3813 Lv NYP 5:07; Lv NWK 5:25 ar TRE at 6:42 - for 7:14 RRD train

As I previously mentioned there will be uninformed riders that will no doubt be surprised by
tomorrow's schedule changes - hopefully the River Line will be able to handle added ridership.

http://www.septa.org/eagles/regional-rail.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MACTRAXX
 #1460554  by Launcher
 
MichaelBug wrote:
NorthPennLimited wrote:Looks like another viable option is drive to the Airport, Park, and hop a train into center city. That looks like the only line maintaining inbound and outbound service.

Option 2 is drive to Trenton or Exton and take Amtrak
I also thought about taking the Airport Line, but SEPTA is only running hourly service on that line on Parade Day, & only to 30th St. (Not the most practical for me since my office is literally on top of the 13th St El stop.) Also, it would involve a bus ride from the parking area ($11 to park) to the train stop as well.
The plans being discussed are the economics of going to a once in a lifetime parade, not a day at the office.

If you're essential, hopefully your employer sees you as such and lets you submit an expense report for the parking and transportation.
 #1460613  by bikentransit
 
It seems like SEPTA won't be maximizing use of the entire fleet for this one day. Instead they are maxing out stations based on parking capacity and then shutting down and idling the equipment and facilities. While the trains will be packed from the stations that will be open, this is very ineffective use of the railroad. If ridership at each station will fill a single train, why not have more trains making single stop trips? Or timed tickets (i.e. reserved trains)?
 #1460637  by Launcher
 
bikentransit wrote:It seems like SEPTA won't be maximizing use of the entire fleet for this one day. Instead they are maxing out stations based on parking capacity and then shutting down and idling the equipment and facilities. While the trains will be packed from the stations that will be open, this is very ineffective use of the railroad. If ridership at each station will fill a single train, why not have more trains making single stop trips? Or timed tickets (i.e. reserved trains)?
This is all speculative, but it probably has to do with personnel as much as it does parking availability. If they have to staff additional trains, it would take its toll and there may be a lot of cancelled trains the subsequent day if they can't get everyone their time to recuperate. For every train load you bring in, you have to find a way to get these same people home before midnight and so that issue plays into it as well. And will they validate the daypass tickets so that they can't be used again? Otherwise, they'd lose a whole lot of revenue. It will take time to manage the crowd and appropriately staff all of the stations.
 #1460649  by Patrick Boylan
 
septa.org now redirects to http://www.septa.org/eagles/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, so it's impossible to use the website to get any info except for that specific to today's eagles celebration.
 #1460666  by MichaelBug
 
Rode to work (13th & Market Sts - Wanamaker Building) from DeKalb St. (King Manor) on the NHSL (P&W). At 6:50 am, about 40 people on inbound platform, we were passed by 2 (2-car) trains going to 69th. Most of us crossed over to outbound platform & rode back to Norristown TC. We had to get off & get into line, but didn't have to wait more than a few minutes. 2 SEPTA Ambassadors attempting to collect fares - the Independence Passes were not being punched. Got back on train which nearly completely filled up leaving NTC. Train did make all normal stops (fares collected en route) & as far as I could tell, very few people if any were left behind. I did notice that there were still limited parking still available at Gulph Mills & Ardmore Jct. as of 7:30a. Many riders seemed unfamiliar with system & some didn't realize that NHSL only runs to 69th St (not into Center City).

At 69th St. there was a taped partition herding everyone into the main hall & then we just walked through the turnstiles to the El platform. Crowded but no huge backup of people. Lots of SEPTA people directing things. Seemed to be fewer people than usual at the West Philly stops that were open (60th, 52nd, 46th, 40th, 30th).

At 30th St, there seemed to be lots of room on inbound subway-surface cars for 22nd or 19th Sts (for Parkway access).

It appeared that with 15th St/City Hall closed, many people were trying to get to the southbound Broad St. Line directly from the 13th St. MFL stop (not a normal connecting point) & weren't familiar with the layout of the underground concourses.
 #1460674  by bikentransit
 
Philly.com is reporting that the later morning trains came in half full. Events like these highlight how inadequate, or how poorly managed the railroad is. It also demonstrates SEPTA's desire to run a small system with ridership concentrated at large mega stations rather than a larger system with smaller stations.
With only a few days to plan perhaps not much more could have been done, but given the scope of the rail network in the area, the system is capable of moving more and more frequently. Here are a few examples of extra measures that could have been taken:
- Charter specials by Amtrak from Reading to Norristown
- New Hope Ivyland charter from New Hope to Warminster
- SEPTA extra from Telford to Lansdale
- Amtrak extra service from Harrisburg to 30th Street (or perhaps extend to Market East)

Is the Atlantic City line running a normal schedule today?
 #1460690  by South Jersey Budd
 
It looks like SEPTA really shortchanged the public today and took the safe route on Regional Rail.

On a daily day the railroad carries approx 130,750 riders. My numbers are a few years old so it’s approximate. If we assume 75% are carried during peak hours, that number is 98,000 peak hour riders.

Today SEPTA advertised on their website 72,500 passengers would be handled. I added up all the station totals they provided.

That's about 25,500 less than a normal peak period. The daily peak period is split into a morning and evening rush. Today SEPTA split the day into two periods.

Is my math wrong or did they handle less than they normallly do during a typical morning and evening rush ?