2015 Papal visit

I've read in a few places that in preparation for the bicentennial in 1976, SEPTA re-opened the Valley Forge train station on the then-Reading branch to accommodate the overflow of visitors that year. New Hope and Ivyland ran shuttle trains from New Hope to Warminster. I don't know what other expansion initiatives were made, but I'm curious if any measures will be taken to expand service/capacity for next fall when up to 1 million visitors will visit the city during the Pope's visit. We know we won't see dead lines resurrected, but have any measures been discussed?

Given that the hotels in Center City will be crushed, a few other locations that are heavy on hotels include: King of Prussia, Quakertown, Bensalem, Cherry Hill, Willow Grove, Oxford Valley, Newtown, Montgomeryville, Pottstown, Reading, Exton and Wilmington. Most of these areas are within reach of existing service, and a few in reach of dormant service.

If anyone's heard anything and would like to share, please feel free to do so.

I'm afraid that not even Papal intercession will bring back the Newtown Line.
In fact, the Lord Himself may have to drive to Warminster or Yardley.

BNT: Valley Forge was served by regular train service that ran to Pottstown,Reading and Pottsville back in 1975 and 1976 and for the Bicentennial
Penndot sponsored the renovation of the station for the extra trains and tourists that would use it to access Valley Forge State Park primarily...
The Reading Railroad ran these trains and in April 1976 Conrail would take over and this became their Reading Division...

As most here know that train service ended in the Summer of 1981...The Bicentennial year of 1976 was a prime year for visiting Philadelphia and
the historic sites such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell and in anticipation a good example that is still in use today is the 5th Street station
that was extensively renovated by SEPTA on the Market-Frankford Line with its porcelain enamel paneling standing out...

The 2015 Papal Visit and Catholic Conference should give SEPTA a huge incentive to promote transit services to the venues that will be used and
show off the SEPTA System in a positive light...Fare media could include special commemorative passes that could help visitors to Philadelphia
use the system for easy access to any site that the Catholic Conference plans to use...

I think that SEPTA will keep visitors informed about service additions during this very special 2015 event and it could be remembered as the 1976
Bicentennial was as it related to Philadelphia...I remember this slogan from 1976 "Bicentennial Pennsylvania: So Your Children Can Tell Their Children"
The 2015 Catholic Conference along with the Papal Visit has the potential to be remembered by visitors and residents in the same manner...

MACTRAXX

By then, NPT should be fully implemented on transit, but probably not on regional rail, so they could do a special pass. The New Hope and Ivyland could run shuttle trains, and so could the West Chester, though I'm not sure how likely that would be.

jackintosh11 wrote:By then, NPT should be fully implemented on transit, but probably not on regional rail, so they could do a special pass. The New Hope and Ivyland could run shuttle trains, and so could the West Chester, though I'm not sure how likely that would be.

17 miles at 10 mph, plus connection time, plus train travel time from Warminster to Suburban Station = NOT PRACTICAL,!!!

Nobody wants to sit on a train for almost 3 hours with no bathroom when their car can go the same distance in less than an hour.

How many buffs can they get to fill out a train from New Hope to go see the pope and make it economically viable?

The point about New Hope was that it was done before, why not again? If running regular trains isn't practical, there are operational RDCs sitting in Cape May....There is a bathrooom in Warminster. SEPTA should open it up so the many passengers could use it before continuing their journey.
West Chester would be another good example, if the WCRR could run trains to Elwyn.

I'm not saying it can't be done, kiddo. I'm just saying where is the benefit in travel time savings, or passenger economy riding 2 trains almost 3 hours to go one-way into the city from New Hope when an automobile can accomplish the same feat in less than an hour?

If you got your heart set on some holy extra train service for the pope, how about from out in Harrisburg? Lot of God-fearing folks the farther west you go from the city.

You could run a couple Lordy Limiteds from Harrisburg to Suburban Station.

But New Hope? West Chester??! Don't let fantasy get in the way with legitimate business decisions. People who are traveling from point A to B for work or a personal engagement want (1) speed (2) reliability (3) economy over all other transportation options

No doubt the auto will always be faster.
However, for whatever reason, it was done in 76 from New Hope.

Now---The point is, 1 million new people are descending on Philly next September. If they have cars, where will they park? Most of these stations are already full. So having additional locations for riders to board, especially closer to their hotels will be a plus.

Harrisburg is already covered by Amtrak, hopefully they can tack on more cars to accommodate those who may be staying in Exton, Lancaster and Harrisburg. Maybe Amtrak could even swing a deal to run some Keystoners right into Suburban and drop people off a few blocks from the Basilica without having to hop on the El.

Maybe there is no economy here and things should just stay as they are. From a historical perspective, it looks like things were done differently.

bikentransit wrote:...However, for whatever reason, it was done in 76 from New Hope.

Track conditions along the New Hope branch were much better back in '76. If I'm not mistaking, Bucks County paid for some track rehab around that era so it may be that the stars just happened to align properly to allow New Hope-Warminster service for the Bicentennial.

So much rehab would be needed on the New Hope branch - Knowing how PA works, I don't even think it would be completed by the time the Pope visits if it began today.

I think the options need to be a little more nuanced than that. I think the following options makes the most sense:

1. Creative use of A/B, Limit and Express service on regional rail. It's pretty simply, whatever tricks can be used to fill trains to capacity as fast as possible and then get them to Center City should be used. With the caveat that every station needs to actually be able to take passengers at least once a hour. If SEPTA can make that happen during the peak of the event, that someone waiting at a station doesn't have train after train pass by, that would be a huge win.

2. Load balance between 30th St station and and Suburban station. Since the Parkway is pretty close to both of these stations it makes sense to offload passengers at one station or the other. This would help to balance the crush of full trains, filled with people with no familiarity with Philly/transit, from being dropped in the same station at one time.

3. Dedicated circulator buses to help bridge the gap between homes and train stations in the burbs. Perhaps combined with smart express train routing, especially on the main line where the stops are so close together.

4. Borrow rolling stock: probably not likely given the likelihood of Amtrak and NJT also being very busy.

5. Creative Service on the BSL/MFL: I have no idea what this looks like but god knows we need some way to manage the crush loads so people actually can get on trains. Again, i personally favor A/B service if possible...i know that's not an easy ask especially for the MFL...

6. An app for iOS and Android just for the event so that confused folks can understand the differences in service.

Plans are for at least one million people to enter the city to attend the Pope's mass. This will make the 2008 Phillies parade debacle (in which, according to Casey, SEPTA rail carried 300,000 instead of the normal 150,000 passengers) look like a cakewalk. Unless SEPTA can get a lot more cars for a few days, they won't be able to fit everyone, much less stick to a normal outbound rush-hour schedule, much less a schedule that includes extra far-flung stops. Plus, it's a weekend, not a weekday, so transit staff won't be at full force.

People seem to be forgetting the horrific traffic jams we now get thanks to the idiotic "train" of constant housing development approval. Also, no one who is flying or busing in from elsewhere will have "their car". If SEPTA does not do -everything they can- to squeeze every available option to get cars OFF the road & make the served areas fully accessible via transit in this time it will reflect very poorly on this region for a very long time.

25Hz wrote:People seem to be forgetting the horrific traffic jams we now get thanks to the idiotic "train" of constant housing development approval. Also, no one who is flying or busing in from elsewhere will have "their car". If SEPTA does not do -everything they can- to squeeze every available option to get cars OFF the road & make the served areas fully accessible via transit in this time it will reflect very poorly on this region for a very long time.

Well, remember the Phillies parade. They had every available piece of equipment in use, short-turning etc and it was still a nightmare. Current estimates are up to 2 million plus wanting to go to the mass on the parkway.

I heard on KYW today that they are expecting people from as far away as Baltimore and Harrisburg who will be staying in both hotels and private homes (because there aren't enough hotel rooms to accommodate everyone). Given that, there's also going to need to be cooperation between Amtrak, NJT and SEPTA. You can bet the NEC, Keystone and Atlantic City trains will see surges in ridership too. Given how bad this will be, if SEPTA were proactive, they'd be looking to borrow equipment from other carriers during that time, maybe even borrow workers. And maybe Bucks County and Chester County should start investigating how to put those underutilized rail lines to better use to help out given that during that period, parking at SEPTA stations will be nonexistent. It's time to stop making excuses and start making solutions.

Why let un-used infrastructure go to waste? There's plenty of parking here, not to mention the nearby open fields.

This won't be the first time the Pope has visited Philadelphia...remember 1979??? How were things handled then? Would next year's Papal visit be much different than 1979?