It's Our City is a project that uses TV, Radio and Web
to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.How crowded is your bus or train? It’s Our City wants to know
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 11:27 am - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Transportation.
High gas prices over the summer boosted public transporation ridership nationwide. In Philadelphia, the regional commuter train service SEPTA has been trying to adapt to the higher numbers by adding more buses and more frequent train service. But apparently it’s not enough. A new AP Story says the trains are so crowded that Philadelphia’s regional rail conductors sometimes can’t collect all the tickets. We want to know what your experience has been riding SEPTA. How crowded was your ride in this morning? Did you have difficultly finding a parking spot? Did the conductor both checking for train tickets?
FYI: Septawatch is a great blog on all things SEPTA and it’s independent of the agency
September 16th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I take the R3 West Trenton Local (first train out in the morning). The train seems to be a little more crowed than usual but plenty of seats and plenty of parking. The issue is more in the afternoons. But I have never seen it so crowed that tickets were not collected, but to honest I think if you can’t get a seat for what those tickets cost you should not have to pay. Since we are discussing crowding on public transit, the other thing is people (passengers) should think of is they only pay for one seat, so when someone asks them to move their belongings so they can sit down, maybe they should loose the ‘tude.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:21 am
After gas prices went up, the EL was really crowded. I used to be able to sit down but that quickly ended. At the Berks stop you could never find a place to sit. Girard was even worse because A/B trains stopped there as well.
However, crowded trains have gone down. As far as the regional rail lines go, my tickets have been collected. I sometimes take the R7 to Trenton and they seem to be good about it.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am
I take the R3 West Trenton line and I have to agree with Bette that it doesn’t seem as crowded as I expected it would be. I thought as Fall began, that my train station parking was going to jammed with every black Chevy Tahoe SUV with Septa newbies who were all paying in cash with $50 bills. Thanks for the feedback.
September 19th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I take the R7 Chestnut Hill to and from work daily. The trains are more crowded than they were when I first started in July - I used to be able to sit by myself, or with only 1 other person in the 3 seat spots. Now most mornings every seat is taken.
The other day there was 1 less car than usual and I had to stand the whole ride into the city, and there are still 6 more stops after mine before we get into the city, it was very crowded that morning.