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  • SEPTA Santa Express on Black Friday

  • 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

 #1585224  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone: With Black Friday just one week away SEPTA has posted the information about the 2021 Santa Express:
www.iseptaphilly.com/santaexpress
There will just be ONE Broad Street Line train northbound from NRG/Pattison Avenue Station at 10:45 AM to
City Hall arriving at 11:00 AM making local stops enroute in South Philadelphia. The destination is to the
Holiday Market at Dilworth Plaza on the west side of City Hall.

Running just ONE Santa train this year after they were fully cancelled in 2020 shows that there is a recovery
of sorts under way - but remembering how multiple trains were once run this looks to be quite different.
It will be interesting to see the ridership and interest for this one Santa train this time around...MACTRAXX
 #1597167  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone - There was just ONE video of the 11/26/2021 Santa Train posted:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=WAW5Eujj-Xw
(See 3:30 and 8:15 and thereabouts for brief views of the outside of the BSL train-total video 13:04)
From Chuchubob's pictures posted May 6, 2022 there is one of the five car Santa Train set that
still has its Holiday or Winter-themed wrap still in use spotted on the Broad-Ridge Spur...
MACTRAXX
 #1610705  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone - For the second consecutive year there will be just ONE Santa Express train to Center City Philadelphia:
Beginning at 10 AM there will be festivities at NRG/Pattison Station - the BSL special leaves at 10:45 AM north to
City Hall with scheduled arrival at 11 AM - with the Santa welcome event at the Dilworth Park Wintergarden.
https://iseptaphilly.com/santaexpress
The BSL train along with free entrance at NRG/Pattison is sponsored by Penn Medicine.
The train serves all intermediate South Philadelphia BSL stations Oregon through Walnut-Locust.

The era of having multiple Santa Trains from Regional Rail, MFSE and BSL looks to have ended w/ "The Problem".
Going back to what SEPTA once ran on Black Friday 2019 and before was not going to be - hence the one BSL train
now for a second year encore - high demand for Center City shopping seemingly no longer existent...MACTRAXX
 #1610826  by Bill R.
 
MACTRAXX wrote:Everyone - For the second consecutive year there will be just ONE Santa Express train to Center City Philadelphia:

The train serves all intermediate South Philadelphia BSL stations Oregon through Walnut-Locust.

The era of having multiple Santa Trains from Regional Rail, MFSE and BSL looks to have ended w/ "The Problem".
Come on, it's SEPTA, dude. All they've done is jettison responsibility since 2019. They claim that they can't provide On-Time Performance figures thanks to the server hack. They can't get Key to do what they promised a decade ago. They no longer provide online files for the Board meeting minutes, meeting transcripts or the General Manager's report. They can't even seem to hire the number of police they need to keep the system safe.

I never used the RRD trains, but the Santa Express MFL train from Frankford was always packed when I rode it. Given the fact that the BSL version will stop at all intermediate stations, it's probably a regularly scheduled northbound local train that SEPTA will just happen to half-heartedly decorate.

SEPTA making a genuine attempt to engender good will is no longer a thing. It probably doesn't matter because the current public perception of the system, and certainly from a personal security standpoint, is probably the worst it's been since the late '70s or early '80s. And that's saying something.
 #1611074  by nomis