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
25 (Columbus Commons to Frankford Transportation Center)
It's the age-old question that's been asked for centuries: what's the best way of getting to the South Philadelphia malls? Scientists generally agree that it's most efficient to hop on a southbound Broad Street Line train armed with an app to figure out when the first...
Elwyn
Media seems like such a natural place to end a Regional Rail line. It's a sizeable, dense town, after all - the county seat of Delco! And yet...the line goes one stop further to a little station in the middle of nowhere called Elwyn. Elwyn is a weird station. Looking...
Every Stop on the 101/102 Trunk
Long story short: I happen to have reviewed all of the 101/102 stations from Fairfield Ave to Drexel Hill Junction. Might as well marathon them! Fairfield Ave. Fairfield Ave is stupidly close to 69th Street. It is a 0.2 mile, 5-minute walk from Fairfield Ave to 69th...
63rd Street (MFL)
I refuse to review the 15 trolley until (if?) the full line gets restored out to Richmond-Westmoreland. However, I still wanted to ride the whole thing as it currently operates just to say I've done it, and from the western end of the line, there's really nowhere to...
Somerton
SEPTA's pass system has some pretty bizarre rules. One of the strangest is with Zone 1 Trailpasses, which you would expect to only be valid within...you know, Zone 1. Not so - on weekdays outside of rush hour, they're valid for travel to any station within the...
Service Change: Transit in Pittsburgh and Morgantown (yes, THAT Morgantown)
A lot of my friends were surprised when I told them that my family and I were willingly going to Pittsburgh over spring break. I guess that just goes to show how underrated this place is - I personally loved it, since it offers some incredibly diverse neighborhoods...
59 (Castor-Bustleton to Arrott Transportation Center)
It's time to gush over another trackless trolley! Man, I love riding these. Can I just give the route a 10/10 now? What? That's unfair? Okay, fine, I'll ride the 59 first... Arrott is a tough place to get photos. Gotta love the arm poking out from the left! Our...
5th Street/Independence Hall (MFL)
See that cracked bell behind glass? That's apparently a giant tourist attraction for some reason! Yeah, I don't know why people love this thing so much when...I mean, it's a bell. Philly has so much more to offer than...a bell! Okay, whatever, I'm not here to review...
Aquarium and Entertainment Center (River LINE)
Welcome to the very small touristy part of Camden! It gets two River LINE stations, each named after their closest tourist attractions, and I figured we'd look at both of them in one post. Why? Because...well, they're both pretty uninteresting. So, let's review...
49 (33rd-Dauphin to 29th-Snyder)
NOTE (12/3/19): This is about ten months late, but it's been on my mind: when this post came out, a number of people expressed concern that I referred to Strawberry Mansion as "one of the most notoriously dangerous neighborhoods in Philadelphia." I'm sorry for saying...
Service Change: Transit in Baltimore
A Service Change??? Yes, I'm actually doing one. My friend and I visited Baltimore a few weekends ago, and I came in knowing I wanted to do a post - I had never been to the Charm City before, and I knew very little about its public transportation network, the MTA...
48 (Front-Market to 27th-Allegheny)
Since the 49 is opening in less than a week, I thought I'd take a look at one of the other routes that winds its way through Brewerytown and Fairmount. I've actually ridden both the 48 and the 7 in full, but since A) the 48 comes before the 7 in my backlog, and B) the...
Riverside (River LINE)
The River LINE's half-hourly headways are really good considering it's basically a commuter rail service. But waiting in Riverside, NJ for half an hour on an early Sunday morning? Lemme tell ya, there's not a lot to do. Yup...this is all there is to it. I get the...
NJT: 419 (Camden – Route 73/Pennsauken Station – Riverside)
Look, I like the River LINE. I know the diesel-powered light rail/commuter rail hybrid from Camden to Trenton is basically there just so NJT can say "Look, we have light rail in South Jersey!", but it's great for what it is. It's reasonably frequent, it has vastly...
15th/16th and Locust Street (PATCO)
Oho, we're getting some PATCO up in here! As much as I love going to New Jersey (I know a lot of people hate it, but you can't deny it's one of the most interesting states in the country), the main thing keeping me away is the fact that, despite having a SEPTA pass, I...