PHILADELPHIA — It’s a dark time for mass transit in Pennsylvania. The commonwealth’s largest city and metropolitan area is dealing with a loss of funding and rail car restrictions¹. I got to see some of that first hand.

SEPTA Commuter Rail

I’ve gone to the Philly Bike Ride twice now and both times I’ve stayed near the airport. This is cheaper on both hotel room and parking than staying in Center City. SEPTA’s Airport line is quick into 30^th Street station with a train every 30 minutes. The Eastwick station also has free parking – it’s worked out fairly well.

On the Friday evening, I was disappointed to learn that bicycles were now restricted during rush hour. That wasn’t an issue in 2023. As a result, I had to wait until after 6:30 p.m. to catch a train to Center City for packet pickup.² The train only had two cars.

Thankfully, in the morning, there were no issues and I got right into 30^th Street station with time to spare before the race.

On Saturday, leaving Center City to go home though, was a different story. The train I had hoped to catch was outright cancelled leading to a 1 hour gap between trains. That was also only 2 cars.

The SEPTA staff were professional though.

SEPTA Subway

This time around, following my ride across the Ben Franklin Bridge, I figured I’d take the Market Street Subway (now called the L line) back to 30^th Street. Since the No Kings march was in progress, I decided to give myself a better shot getting on the train by going up to Spring Garden Street station.

That worked, but the train got crowded quickly and stayed that way.

As for the station, Spring Garden is no garden, har har. It’s well integrated at street level, but at platform level it’s in the middle of Interstate 95. The station is not like WMATA Metro stations in the medians of I-66 and Dulles Toll Road either or Chicago’s Red Line on the Southside. It’s tightly packed in with the lanes yards away and a fence, not a wall.

Since the train was crowded and I wanted to see the epic skyline view from the L, I stayed on past 30^th Street. I managed to stay on until the end, 69^th Street in fact. There, I turned around.

I wasn’t sure which station had the classic SEPTA skyline view and didn’t have time to stick my head out at some of the last elevated stops. It’s just as well – my phone camera wouldn’t have done it justice. I wound up getting off at the last stop before going back underground, 46^th. That, it turns out, is not the amazing shot – it’s a few stations back. Perhaps on another visit, I’ll get a long lens for my DSLR and figure out which one has the great view.

Either way, I added to my lifetime SEPTA Metro³ stations entered, exited or transferred at three: Spring Garden Street, 69^th Street Transit Center (technically in Upper Darby) and 46^th Street.

PATCO Speedline

Like last time, I took the PATCO Speedline over to Jersey so that I could ride across the Ben Franklin Bridge. As with SEPTA, I ran into some friction.

My plans were to enter the system at the reopened Franklin Square station which opened to great fanfare in April 2025.⁴ However, the ticketing kiosk was only offering a full-day fare which is a lot more than I wanted to pay. So, I biked over to the 8^th & Market station. That wasn’t big deal, but since the No King protest⁵ was going down Market Street, I had to wait until I could find a gap to get to the other side. The elevator on the eastern side of Market Street was not operational.

Once in, I was able to buy my old-school cardstock ticket to City Hall station in Camden. After a bit of a wait, it was a quick pleasant ride over the Ben Fraknlin Bridge to Jersey. It was easy enough to get on and off before I biked back over to Philly.

I’ve now added two more PATCO stations to my total too – I’m up to 4.

The bones are good

SEPTA’s funding crisis must be maddening to residents of the Greater Philadelphia region. The infrastructure is solid, though it could use some power-washing, among other things. The rolling stock is a problem though with several fires over the years.

This is a mediocre system that should be a good system. The commuter rail lines are extensive and there is potential to better utilize the subway. There is even talk of building a new line to Northeast Philadephia – Roosevelt Blvd Subway. I wish them luck, it’s been a goal for over a century now.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the metropolitan – rural divide is holding this up. The Philly region is the economic engine of Pennsylvania and it’s not getting its share. Sound familiar? Now, SEPTA is dipping into maintanence funds to keep to the trains running. It’s a vicious cycle. Hopefully, a way out can be found someday, it just won’t be soon.

Footnotes

1. after i published this, I learned it’s gotten even worse: Packed cars, cancellations, and delay headaches: Regional Rail riders should brace for a rough week (WHYY) ↩︎
2. Officially, I was late, but there were still a couple of volunteers, so it worked out. ↩︎
3. Is anybody actually calling the subway/elevated lines “Metro” yet? ↩︎
4. The foamers were out for that one: Miles in Transit | Trains Are Awesome | Classy Whale ↩︎
5. A noble movement ↩︎