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More accurately, it demonstrates the tremendous fall (1955-1958) the continued fall (1977 to 1992) and the slight rise (2024) of the Philadelphia streetcar system. Nice, but nothing to crow about. Route 15 was just a token gesture. Restoring Route 23 would be much more meaningful.

The slow loop through North Philly is really the Achilles’ Heel of the AC Line. Feels like you spend half an hour in Philly trying to get to Philly.

The NJ Zone exists because those stops are located an area (cough cough New Jersey cough cough) that contributes $0 to Septa through other funding mechanisms. This is notably different from the Delaware side, which subsidizes the Septa service. Hence Delaware gets to be in Zone 4, while Nee Jersey gets its own unlabeled zone of shame.

I will say the Norristown line is a modern suburban line but i completely understand why you grouped it. Although is more like the subway surface lines technically speaking, its not looked like that from the public or most fans ive noticed. 5” 2.5’ isnt PA trolley gauge, Its PA Standard gauge. WMTA 7ks are Kawasaki built. Great video tho! Even i, learned something 😂

High Speed Rail should be operated in the range of One hour travel to six hours travel time. Less than one hour, one can drive. Over six hours to your destination, then fly.

Used to commute from Lancaster to Philly on Amtrak and then take the last leg from 30th st to Suburban on SEPTA which is free with an Amtrak ticket!

bunch of dreamers on this page. including the author of the video.

I ran West Chester trains in the 80's. The DuPont family shut it down after an accident at Cheney Woods Rd crossing that killed two Dupont family members..

I hope BSL and NHSL also get new Hitachi cars similar to the MFL, similar to how the MBTA Red and Orange lines have new cars similar to each other

The SEPTA Key card doesn't work on PATCO, but you can get a version of the PATCO Freedom card that works on most of SEPTA (it doesn't work on SEPTA regional rail). Make it make sense.

Finally! A thorough and understandable explanation! Regards from Baltimore.

It has been “really happening” for 50 years and it will be “really happening” for another 50 years.

*the COMET V cab cars on the NJT ACRL were built by ALSTOM

642 at 27:48 ftw 💪🏾💪🏾

*Liberty Place did not replace Broad St Station was it's at 16th and Market. BSS was at 15th and Market and was partially replaced by Suburban Station in 1930 and then completely by it in 1953 after BSS closed.

*PATCO east of Broadway was originally part of the Penn-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL) line from Camden to AC and Cape May. When PATCO opened, DRPA rebuilt the line and separated the former line from the PRSL line to Philly via the Delair Bridge (now NJT AC Rail Line) in 1966-1968 and opening in early 1969.

The KOP was not stupid at all and definitely would've helped take passengers off the slow expressway buses and would allow folks that live in West Philly and Delco to access King of Prussia way faster than going all the way into the city to catch a bus back up to KOP or catching the 123 bus up the Blue Route. Plus, all the buses tend to get delayed with traffic as well. Offering the Manayunk line as an alternative does nothing good for people out west who would have to go all the way downtown to get to it. Plus, the fares are more expensive, the line is only 2 tracks with a ton of stops along the way (vs the few stops on the NHSL that are mainly flag stops), and is subject to flooding along its river routing. So no, the KOP extension was not a bad idea at all. What made it not work were the NIMBYs along the route who opposed it despite not even being riders of the line yet they frequent the mall whose workers would use the line to get there. Very bad take.

*Express tracks run to just south of Walnut-Locust station where the local tracks swing to the east side of Broad St for a 2-track setup to NRG. This last part was because the city didn't think Express service was warranted when the extension was built in the 30s, yet they left the west side of Broad St empty in case the tracks were ever extended southward.

*BSL opened between Olney and City Hall on Sept 1, 1928. It was extended to: Walnut-Locust in 1930 Lombard-South in 1932 8th-Market in 1932 Snyder in 1938 NRG (fmr Pattison) in 1973

PATCO is the best riding experience, but the BSL is the most useful day-day as a center city Philadelphian. But when we all can agree, they all really need extra funding, care and extension

A horse drawn trolly doesn't make any sense!!!! Who would install an electrical transport system and use horses???

Septic.

Another great video. My only negative comment would be that when you put you put up a in-video comment card, you don’t leave enough time for it to be read. Like the one right after your Tim Hortons comment.

idk when the el became worse than the sub but it’s like horrible at this point.

Nothing is ever as bad as Philadelphians say it is...hence the billboards in the 1970's.

In the early 80s, one aunt and uncle lived in the Langhorne area (minutes from Sesame Place… like halfway between Oxford Valley Mall and Neshaminy Mall). They’d come to my grandparents (who lived next door to us) in SJ for Thanksgiving. and on Broke Friday we’d hop in their van and drive to the PATCO Lindenwold station. I remember the weird magnetic ticket system where you’d insert it at one end and then when you go through the turnstile the ticket would pop out the other end. We’d take the PATCO to 8th & Market and shop at Strawbridge’s and the Gallery. Then walk a block or so to Wanamaker for the light show set to their massive organ. Nutcracker themed , right? PATCO, Atari VCS/2600 and video games in general, Grecian Forumula commercials, Rubik’s cube, E.T. , TRON , CBS Special Presentations. Those were the days!

The BSL terminus being called NRG Station and similar sponsored naming will forever anger me. Stations are not stadiums. They should be named in accordance to what they serve. If you are going to offer sponsorships for station names, it should be a requirement that there at least be a physical presence of the sponsor within walking distance of the station. This is why I don't mind Jefferson Station so much, that at least indicates Jefferson Hospital is nearby. But there's no "NRG" to go to. Even more annoying if you have tourists who are in town for a game.

Riding the El was always a fun experience for me. Even now, I prefer taking a bus to Frankford, the El to 69th street, and then taking a trolley as opposed to taking the Media/Wawa line. I'm still rooting for the Roosevelt Blvd Subway as well, but I doubt it will ever be implemented.

Anyone know whatever happened to AllEarth Rail? They had a dozen RDC's that could be run on biofuel, and start running the line today with minimal infrastructure requirements....

Lmao this will NEVER EVER happen.

I purchased a $5 ticket on Amtrak from Philly to Wilmington, and another for $15 , from Wilmington to Washington DC, the trip is 2 months away, but I will use it. Shop early you can get some great fares on Amtrak

Philadelphia reminds me so much of Baltimore, but with better transit and less vacant rowhomes. Baltimore is probably the smallest metro area with true heavy rail/rapid-transit underground through downtown, but the lack of quality connections really holds it back, and that's where SEPTA's/PATCO's RT system really shines. Baltimore has a light rail line in addition to the subway but is was built on the cheap and avoids downtown and a convenient downtown connection to the subway (the Lexington Market connection is as bad as the MFL-Amtrak connection at 30th St). The light rail is really only useful if you already live near the line and are going to a Ravens or O's game, the airport, or connecting between the MARC terminals. Hopefully the East-West Red Line still gets built and gives the city true transit connectivity.

A number of years ago we visited Philly, but did not want to stay on the Pensy side of the Delaware as we were also planning to visit friends in NJ. So we stayed at a hotel a few miles from the PATCO line and drove to a PATCO station to get into Philly. First time using PATCO and I was very impressed. As you said, it's more like a regional rail line than a subway.

Best thing about SEPTA once I turned 65 it was free because part of the Pa lottery profits pay for that. Took lazy foot dragging SEPTA ten weeks to mail my card. Rode it free to work for over two years until retiring. Nogoodnics made my 95 year old mother have two people carry her out of her house to have to go to SEPTA 13 th & Market office to have her picture taken to get a pass to be able to ride para transit to doctors office. She never got to use the card she passed short time later.

Every weekday morning Bob Kelly on local Fox station announces that one to several L trains run along with several bus routes are cancelled due to lack of operators. A monkey could be trained to run the L train.

Rode the L for ten years to get to work and over the years. Ok until after maybe 8 PM then too many nogoodnics show up & carry on. Thieving SPETA is ordering 200 to 230 new L cars while they only run a maximum of 96 cars maybe 36 hours a week during rush hour. So they will have over a 100 cars collecting dust. They do minimum maintenance. New L cars appear will seat at least 20 people each then old ones. Saw pigs from the getto eat a banana then throw the peel on the floor rather then place it in one of the many trash cans they have at every station. Lazy foot dragging SEPTA still has stations with no elevators for handicapped.

SEPTA is a great service!

The Island Ave trolley line used to run all the way to Chester PA. I believe it was the 37 which was replaced by a bus with the same route number. In fact beyond that loop and through the tree line is a section of trolley tracks that once ran in the middle of a street that is still intact more or less. In the winter time you can see them when you cross over the R1 tracks as you head from Bartram Ave towards Lindburgh Blvd if you look to the right among the trees. That bridge is what cut the trolley line off from the Eastwick station to begin with.

I live in the county next to philly I like the bus lines better

15th street needs some MAJOR love from septa

As someone who lives in Philly and relies on SEPTA for work and leisure, I appreciate it for what it is, but am constantly advocating for the city and to dedicate more resources to it. Philly is so poor and many of its politicians and residents are very car-brained, but despite those things it does have a lot going for it.

I can see all the work and thought that has gone into this great review of Philly Rapid transit. It reminded me how much we lost when Budd Company went out of business. Looking forward to your next part of this series!

broad street line is significantly better than the L… no hate to the L but as a young, short woman i have genuinely experienced bad things on the L and i only rly try to take it with other people…

Also I like patco a lot more than any septa routes because its the only route they run so they put more effort into actually making it good and unique

I have ridden all the lines shown in this video. I grew up in southwest Philadelphia so I rode both the subway serface trolleys as well as the el regularly. In college as well as my job in the city I latter rode both the el and the Broad Street Subway as well as using it to get to the Phillies baseball games on many weekends. As mentioned the Market Frankford el had the most problems. There would be a long delay and then three or more trains running right together. I ocassionaly rode the Broad Ridge spur to get to 8th and Market street from the north. As for PATCO I used to ride it back in the day when the Pennsylvania-Reading Railroad had RDC commuter rail service to the various New Jersey shore towns. It Terminated at that time at Lindenwald where you had to change to get to Philadelphia. It was fast and comfortable but you always had to worry about making your connection especially when leaving Philadelphia for your train connection at Lindenwald. Of course you now have that as an option since New Jersey Transit reestablished through train service to 30th street station in Philadelphia. I also got to ride the Norristown high speed line during my college days when I had a job on Lancaster Pike and rode to Villanova to transfer to a bus to get to my job. It was both fast and comfortable and usually was reliable.

Its gonna be really interesting how these new subway cars age considering they literally travel through one of the most dangerous streets in America

Everything that everyone has, philly just does it better.

Philly got a good system for it population. Especially when you compare it to Dallas and Houston, which runs light rail. Any subway or elevated line would always rank higher. And Atlanta MARTA, which is only a subway elevated system that serves fewer stations. Minus the almost none existent light rail line. Than we got Cleveland who tried to create what Philly has with must less success! Even Philadelphia has something NYC doesn't have: Thorough running service on it commuter lines. Philly Septa trains are faster than New York City Subway trains, which are slowest in the Nation. And NJ Transit commuter trains. But the infrastructure around some of Septa lines are very lack. Like certain stations resembling bus stops. But overall, Philly wins hands down.