2015 Papal visit

Special one day $10 SEPTA Regional Rail Papal Visit passes to go on sale on July 20th:

http://www.septa.org/media/releases/2015/07-13.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From this information ONLY these special passes will be accepted for transportation on RRD trains for the
Papal Visit weekend of September 26th and 27th and they will be station specific...

I expect to eventually find these being sold on EBay and related sites after SEPTA sells them out - note the
limits of sales for each of the two days of the Papal Visit...

MACTRAXX

SEPTA listed station changes too

SEPTA has made some minor adjustments to the Regional Rail Papal Visit operations plan first announced in June. The Levittown Station has been added on the Trenton Line, and the Pennbrook Station has replaced the Lansdale Station on the Lansdale/Doylestown Line. Event drop-off locations in Center City have also been added. SEPTA will operate to/from Jefferson, 30th Street and University City Stations during the two-day Papal Visit. Riders will then have to walk to the events. Afterwards, riders must board at the same Center City Station where they were dropped off for return service to their outlying station.

replacing Lansdale station with Pennbrook station

It still stinks that SEPTA will require existing pass-holders to buy an additional pass for that weekend. Not all riders will be going to the city to see Pope Francis; anyone who takes SEPTA to get to work is going to be double-dipped. I understand and support the need to limit sales to prevent another Live Aid, but why punish riders who have no alternative? Couldn't there at least be a future-purchase credit for any existing pass-holder who has to buy the weekend pass as well? Or does that fall into SEPTA's "we can't leak even a dollar" mindset?

I'm also wondering what happens to airline passengers who come in and need to go to e.g. 30th Street. Presumably everyone arriving by air to see the Pope will have come in before the weekend but there'll still be a lot of regular airline passengers. Anyone who's from out of the area (especially from overseas) and doesn't have the special pass will end up in a cab or van, I guess.

They may be better off with a cab straight from the airport anyway. The Inquirer reports this morning that the only Center City stations in service will be Jefferson, 30th St., and University City. This seems to mean that all Reading-side trains will come no farther than Jefferson, while Paoli, CHW, and Trenton (i.e., Levittown) will terminate at 30th St., and Airport, Wilmington, and Media trains will terminate at University City; good luck getting a cab there. It was also stated that there will be two waves inbound: half-hourly from 5.30 to 8.30 am, and 8.30 to 11.30 am, I think it is, with all ticket purchasers having to state which station and inbound period they want, and all outbounds will operate after the ceremonies on 15-minute headways on each line, presumably on a load-up-and-go basis; apparently all other moves will be deadheads to cover those moves. That being the case, it would seem that there will be no inbound service from the airport after 11.30 am. (Incidental point: I haven't yet seen an answer to MACTRAXX's question awhile back: who do they think is going to get on at Eastwick? -- particularly if the train is only going to University City anyway.)

By the way, I don't know how close photographers will be able to get to the trunk between North Broad and the tunnel portal, but for the evening outbounds I wouldn't be surprised to see SEPTA pull a Grand Central for the moves out of Jefferson, putting Norristown outbound on 4, CHE on 3, Pennbrook and Warminster on 2, and Woodbourne and Fox Chase on 1. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for video, if you can get near it.

Read the link, trains from the airport to jefferson, and airport service will run on a different schedule than usual but with bidirectional service throughout the day.

I skipped the link because I thought it was the Inquirer story, which I had read--I see it left out a few things. The release seems to say that the airport trains will skip 30th St. on the way to Jefferson but will make University City. I guess the whole thing is still a work in progress.

JeffK wrote:It still stinks that SEPTA will require existing pass-holders to buy an additional pass for that weekend. Not all riders will be going to the city to see Pope Francis; anyone who takes SEPTA to get to work is going to be double-dipped. I understand and support the need to limit sales to prevent another Live Aid, but why punish riders who have no alternative? Couldn't there at least be a future-purchase credit for any existing pass-holder who has to buy the weekend pass as well? Or does that fall into SEPTA's "we can't leak even a dollar" mindset?

I'm also wondering what happens to airline passengers who come in and need to go to e.g. 30th Street. Presumably everyone arriving by air to see the Pope will have come in before the weekend but there'll still be a lot of regular airline passengers. Anyone who's from out of the area (especially from overseas) and doesn't have the special pass will end up in a cab or van, I guess.

Your best bet is to take off that weekend if you're working. SEPTA is only going to be available for people going to see the Pope and that's it. They've stressed this many a time now. Requiring the Pope pass is a byproduct of this. The whole thing is more security/crowd control driven than anything else. If you let regular pass holders ride when they aren't going to see the Pope you're just asking for issues.

ekt8750 wrote:Your best bet is to take off that weekend if you're working.

True IF you have that option, but people in critical positions like hospital workers don't have a choice. Ditto for people in parts of the region outside center city. Stores in NE Philly or at K of P aren't going to let hourly workers just take the day off. And white-collar jobs are affected too - my daughter's a federal employee who HAS to be present that weekend. Yes, in part it's because of the Pope's visit, but everyone in her department has been told they have to show up unless they're ill. That's an unusual case but it can't be unique. She's lucky that her department has the resources to arrange for alternate travel, but not everyone is so fortunate.

If you let regular pass holders ride when they aren't going to see the Pope you're just asking for issues.

I wasn't objecting to requiring special passes. Limiting capacity is absolutely necessary. I was just suggesting that existing pass-holders who buy the Papal passes might get a credit against the next month's purchase. The perception of a double-dip against people who HAVE to use SEPTA keeps coming up in TV and newspaper stories. Whether it's a real problem or media over-emphasis isn't clear to me but it wouldn't hurt SEPTA's image to give those people a financial break if nothing else.

Everyone:

Another problem is going to affect Papal Visit attendees that are traveling through New York Penn Station
on Friday September 25th - especially during the afternoon and evening of the NYC Papal Mass at Madison
Square Garden which is currently scheduled for 6:00 PM that evening noting the high security and train service
changes that will probably be implemented - earlier that day there will be a Papal visit to the 9/11 Memorial
that more then likely will affect PATH service from the WTC - in short this looks to be a genuine NYC "Gridlock
Alert" day in the making...

Something that will affect many Philadelphia Papal Visit attedees is the availability of hotel rooms for the week
up to and including the two days of the Papal Visit itself - I would not be surprised to see many staying some
distance away from Philadelphia and that room prices for that weekend have extremely high costs for those in
prime locations - price gouging may occur and should be watched closely by regulatory agencies...

I agree with the thought that shutting down Philadelphia for the two days of the Papal Visit is not the way things
need to be but it looks like the WMOF will literally dominate the City that week and as we note there will be many
thousands of local citizens and visitors that will have to make do of the service changes to be implemented -
SEPTA riders are a prime example...I still think that many regular commuters will take at least some time off -
especially on the Papal Visit weekend - but as we know there are some that can not and are expected to be at
work on this weekend - and they are the people that the City and SEPTA should be at least somewhat aware
of because a substantial percentage of these workers are dependent on mass transit for their livelyhoods...

MACTRAXX

I for one am getting out of Dodge that Friday as I have no interest at all in being in the region for that mess and I live in the suburbs.

Also let's not forget the city/feds are supposedly going to be erecting a chain-linked fence around the security area and are going to be pretty stringent on access so I dunno how anyone in that area that either isn't going to the events or isn't "essential personnel" is going to be permitted access.

It has been reported already that certain employers in Center City, many of them hotels and hospitals, are making arrangements for employees to stay over so they can be there. I'll bet Amtrak is glad they moved CETC to Wilmington.

I haven't yet seen an answer to MACTRAXX's question awhile back: who do they think is going to get on at Eastwick? -- particularly if the train is only going to University City anyway.)

There's a hotel complex down the street from Eastwick station on Bartram Ave: Embassy Suites, Courtyard, etc. Also a couple of hotels off Island Ave which may provide shuttle service.

IMO, all of us regular riders should board the Regional Rail trains with our trans/trailpasses as a form of protest. I didn't invite the pope, so why should I have to shell out another $10.00 for a 2-day pass when I spent $101.00 for a monthly zone 1 trailpass? I really hope hardly anybody shows up for the pope's visit.

Modified Regional Rail service - Special $10 per day Papal Visit passes - September 26 & 27, 2015

At 9:00 AM this morning (7/20) the special Papal Visit RRD day passes will go on sale at this web address:
http://www.septa.org/papalvisitphilly" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
From what I am aware of there will be 10,000 passes available per station and offer two morning boarding time
periods - 5:30 to 8:30 or 8:30 AM to 12:00 Noon with the only exception being Cornwells Heights and Croydon
on the Trenton Line which will only be available for one boarding period each...

See: http://www.septa.org/fares/special-papal-visit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SEPTA should keep close track of these sales and be prompt to notify riders if any one station comes close or
sells out completely of its pass allotment at their web pages to keep all interested informed...

One week from today a special three day Papal transit pass for September 26, 27 and 28 (Saturday-Monday)
will go on sale for $10 offering unlimited use on all operating SEPTA transit services except Regional Rail.
It should be interesting to see how this pass variation sells for this period...

MACTRAXX

BuddCar711 wrote:IMO, all of us regular riders should board the Regional Rail trains with our trans/trailpasses as a form of protest. I didn't invite the pope, so why should I have to shell out another $10.00 for a 2-day pass when I spent $101.00 for a monthly zone 1 trailpass? I really hope hardly anybody shows up for the pope's visit.

BC711:

I understand your grief - remember that the Feds are in charge here and SEPTA has to follow their intentions...

1-A $10 pass is required for both days - totaling $20 if one intends to travel on both weekend Papal Visit days
using Regional Rail - in that regard I think that weekly trailpasses for the week of September 21st should be
priced at a minimum of $10 off since they look to be usable Monday-Friday only and perhaps depending on
how many Monthly passholders are inconvenienced a special discount or incentive can be added for the sale
of October or November 2015 passes...

2-You are basically "preaching to the Railroad.net choir" here and that you should contact Joe Casey and let
him know how you feel about the Papal Visit pass policies - With the added security a pass "protest" as you
mention may well be far more trouble then it is worth...

MACTRAXX