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    • SEPTA
    The dedicated SEPTA employees who moved the crowds through Walnut-Locust station.
    The dedicated SEPTA employees who moved the crowds through Walnut-Locust station. 
     

    SEPTA is proud to have implemented throughout the weekend a successful transportation plan for carrying its regular rider, and thousands of visitors from around the country and around the world to and from Papal Visit events.

    As you are aware, in order to increase passenger capacity on Regional Rail during the Papal Visit weekend, SEPTA only operated from 18 outlying stations and required for travel the purchase of a special Papal Pass. Although actual ridership counts for both days were lower than Papal Pass sales projected, on Sept. 26, 28,575 passengers boarded at the opened Regional Rail stations and on Sept. 27, approximately 34,000 passengers rode trains into Philadelphia to attend events. Service went extremely well on both days, with no issues or problems other than a few delays. Passengers returning home from Papal events  experienced wait times that averaged around an hour. Queue lines at Jefferson and 30th  Street were cleared by 8:30.

    It should be noted that SEPTA moved an extraordinary number of passengers on the Broad Street Line over the weekend. The World Meeting of Families arranged for 500 charter buses carrying approximately 25,000 passengers to park at the Sports Complex on Saturday and more than 1,000 tour buses and 70 vans with approximately 55,000 riders to park at the stadium on Sunday. These passengers were dropped off at AT&T Station throughout the morning. Subway service into Center City was steady and efficient. After the Papal mass, more than 40,000 passengers, at approximately 15,000 people per hour, were moved from Walnut-Locust Station in Center City to AT&T within a 2 ½ hour period.  As a comparison, on the Eagles home opening game on September 20, SEPTA boarded a record 17,000 passengers at AT&T. An additional 8,500 people were shuttled from Walnut-Locust to AT&T using 32 buses to supplement subway service on Sunday night. An undetermined but small number of people chose to walk the four mile distance back to the sports complex.

    Passengers indicated that the logistics, convenience and ease of travel were fantastic and were very appreciative of the hundreds of SEPTA employees who provided assistance.