A new city, a whole new transit system! From my home base at the University of Pennsylvania, I’ll be reviewing every bus route and train station on the sprawling SEPTA.
*Full Disclosure: I volunteer on the SEPTA Youth Advisory Council, but all opinions on this blog are my own.
Recent Posts from Miles on SEPTA
Spring Garden (MFL)
Ah...that part of the El where it runs along the highway for a bit. And it stops at quite possibly my least favorite station on the line, Spring Garden. Ugh, I can hear the rushing cars just thinking about it... Yup, and even more so when I look at this picture. Right...
VIDEO: The Pretzel Pilgrimage
A public transit odyssey to Hanover, PA to visit the factory of my favorite pretzel company! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nszWurDtngI
Warminster
Man...Warminster is just a really sprawly town, huh? I guess it's no surprise that its station has a giant parking lot, with just a bunch of blech around it. Yet it's still one of the busiest stations on Regional Rail! Speaking of parking lots... We've got a ton of...
10 (13th-Market to 63rd-Malvern)
Over a year of doing SEPTA reviews and it's taken me this long to do a trolley? Shame on me. The 10 is the one I use the least, too, since it's the only one that doesn't go to Penn! Although it is the one I've taken to the end the most times - that 10-minute walk to...
Service Change: A Day in Virginia (Richmond and Hampton Roads)
So you can take Greyhound from Philly to the Hampton Roads area for a little over 30 bucks one-way? And you can do overnight buses each way so you don't have to spend the night anywhere? And one itinerary involves a five-and-a-half hour layover in Richmond, allowing...
46 (58th-Baltimore to 63rd-Malvern)
I rode the 46 on a weekday and loved it. Hopefully the weekend frequency won't drag it down in the end... Coming into the stop at 58th-Baltimore. The 46 is a really short, simple crosstown that runs pretty much straight up 60th Street in West Philadelphia. It does...
VIDEO: The $16 Greyhound Bus From New York to Brooklyn
The things I do for this blog. Seems like the economical choice to me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkS9QVl4AdE
L (Erdenheim or Plymouth Meeting Mall to Olney Transportation Center)
SEPTA. Why do you have an El train and an L bus? This is very confusing! If it's any consolation, they don't go anywhere near each other, but the amount of times I've gotten double takes when talking about the L bus has gotten to insane levels! Although it would be...
Service Change: Scotland, Part 3 – The Highlands
Click here for Part 1, click here for Part 2. Our final part of the Scotland series takes us to the northern tip of Great Britain...and beyond. But we first begin in Inverness, the largest city in the Highlands (with slightly under 47,000 residents) and one with a...
150 (Parx Casino to Plymouth Meeting Mall)
Welcome to SEPTA's least-used route. The 150 looks absolutely bizarre at first glance: it's a nonstop suburban crosstown express from Parx Casino (in the northeast) to Plymouth Meeting Mall (in the northwest). I was all set to write this thing off as a 1/10 that makes...
VIDEO: What’s the Cheapest Way to Long Island?
Answer: local buses. Lots of them. You can also see the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKQmp0spxhs
1 (Parx Casino to 54th-City)
It's always interesting to see what transit agencies choose for their route 1. The MBTA's 1, for example, is one of the busiest bus routes on the system, running frequently down a major urban corridor. What does SEPTA's 1 do? It runs hourly service, six days a week,...
Levittown
SEPTA! Stop opening up new Regional Rail platforms! Let me get through my backlog without having to schlep up to random stations every couple of days! And you picked a real good place for me this time: Levittown. One of the first master-planned suburbs, and one with a...
Paoli
Yes, I know I'm late here - Paoli's new platform opened over a week ago, and this one is a much bigger deal than Secane. I go through these phases where I'm really busy and don't have time to write, so...well, anyway: Paoli! Being SEPTA's 11th-busiest Regional Rail...
Service Change: Scotland, Part 2 – To the Isle of Skye
After our adventures in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the urban part of my family's Scotland trip was essentially over. It was time to take a train way up into the Scottish Highlands, and on the eponymous (West) Highland Line, no less - widely considered to be one of the...