SEPTA roll call for Saturday

Discussion in 'The River End' started by G-Ho Blue, Mar 22, 2011.

  1. bluetooner

    bluetooner Member

    Nov 7, 2008
    Carteret NJ
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    The club lays on free shuttles, so you only need to find the shuttle buses. What you could do instead, is head to Camden NJ at 9am - help us do stuff there, and then i'll be able to show you exactly where you get the train from/shuttle etc etc ;) ;)
     
  2. KnightofNi

    KnightofNi Member

    Jan 24, 2008
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    but to get to camden i would have to cross the river.


    wait, will there be drinking in camden for the "stuff" you need to do there?
     
  3. bluetooner

    bluetooner Member

    Nov 7, 2008
    Carteret NJ
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland

    Of water - yes there will......

    unfortunately not of alcohol until we are inside PPL park (especially with it being a "tight" squeeze time wise to get onto the train in time).

    Of course - the "doing things for the good of the community" trumps alcohol consumption, right?
     
  4. KnightofNi

    KnightofNi Member

    Jan 24, 2008
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union

    haha, camden is not my community...:p
    and i'm not wearing the kilt to do community service in camden. i have enough trouble in philly.
     
  5. bluetooner

    bluetooner Member

    Nov 7, 2008
    Carteret NJ
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland

    Ah well - worth a try.

    You wouldn't have to wear a kilt - who would wear a kilt to a game? :eek:
     
  6. DickyDunn

    DickyDunn Member

    Jan 22, 2010
    Philadelphia, PA
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    That pitch is only gonna get worse, unfortunately. Too bad the NJ folks won't have a nice day to promote the game.
     
  7. bluetooner

    bluetooner Member

    Nov 7, 2008
    Carteret NJ
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    Yeah. For the last year, we haven't had to think about cancelling, and looking at the weather, we could for 3 weeks in a row.

    However, looking at weather.com - there is a decent chance that this weeks will go ahead. Next weeks changes dailly.

    As for the pitch itself - i don't know how much you know about it - but apparently a lot of money is going to be put into that park (and waterfront area) over the next year....
     
  8. stpaulinyc

    stpaulinyc New Member

    Apr 13, 2011
    Club:
    FC Sankt Pauli
    I've got a question about using mass transit to get to the stadium. From what I've found, there's only 1 train per hour going from city center to the stadium? Do they run more on gamedays? Is there an easier way from downtown?
     
  9. bluetooner

    bluetooner Member

    Nov 7, 2008
    Carteret NJ
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland

    No, they don't run more, so you really need to make sure you get the train. There is a bus to get in to Chester Transportation Centre (Don't know where from), and you can get the shuttle from there. Otherwise, Brauhaus Schmidt does a "tailgate bus", but apparently that sells out quickly.
     
  10. unholyunion

    unholyunion Member

    Jan 21, 2011
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The quickest way is by train and that's from center city, obviously, and is only once an hour (wonder why the city's dead and doesn't do things on the weekend, this is why).

    Alternate ways would include at least 1 transfer (google maps directions has a public trans function and is used in lieu of Septa actually giving a damn and helping you). Of course this all depends on where you are coming from, buses are more frequent, but take longer...and usually equal the same amount of time as waiting for the train.

    69th Street Terminal
    - Light rail 102 (or trolley) to Sharon hill station, walk to Chester Pike and Brainard Blvd, Bus 114 towards granite run mall, get off at 9th street and Yarnall, walk to PPL

    or

    Bus 113, get off at Flower and Seaport Drive, walk to PPL.

    Both take about 1 hour and 20 minutes (give or take).


    From South Philly there's

    - Bus 37 from Broad and Snyder, get off at Harrah's Chester, get on Bus 113, Flower and Seaport Drive, walk.
    - Takes the better part of 2 hours, not worth it

    - Another one is 3 transfers, not worth it.


    There's the bus situations, and what it comes down to that from the city, the quickest way pending on time will always be the train, so I would advise only bothering with that unless you are near to and can catch the 113 bus, but you'd probably be living in Delco for that.
     
  11. G-Ho Blue

    G-Ho Blue Member

    Feb 21, 2008
    Philadelphia
    It's less than ideal, but the train is still the fastest way to the stadium. It's actually not so bad after the game- I use the time to hang out by the tunnel and cheer for the players.
     
  12. G-Ho Blue

    G-Ho Blue Member

    Feb 21, 2008
    Philadelphia
    Anybody else have to go for a post-game jog last night? I ended up running to Highland Ave to make sure I caught the train. I appreciate that the team has shuttles for us, but having to wait for a bus, and then in traffic on a bus somewhat defeats the purpose of taking the train in the first place.

    How about this for a solution: what if SEPTA re-opened Lamokin Station? It's .6 miles away from the stadium (walking distance, and shorter than Pattison to the Linc), and apparently only closed in 2003 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamokin_Street_(SEPTA_station)). Following ATT's lead, I say that this should be rechristened PPL station, using sponsor money to make the necessary repairs.
     
  13. bluetooner

    bluetooner Member

    Nov 7, 2008
    Carteret NJ
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    Nope - i got the bus and had no problem catching the train - no need for exercise lol.

    I agree about the opening the train station. Would make much more sense on game days. Never going to happen though - SEPTA seems like they couldn't care less about us.
     
  14. hykos1045

    hykos1045 Member

    May 10, 2010
    Club:
    Philadelphia Independence
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I would say I was pretty furious when only 2 busses were running for hundreds of people waiting. they made 2 trips at least, and only because SEPTA held the 10:04 for about 15 minutes, we were able to get most everyone aboard.

    Questions:
    Yes, my friend and I did that too, because sticking around in Chester for the 11th hour train, plus transfer once we ever reached center city, was out of the question. We heard the train coming as we were less than 3 blocks away and might have made the train, barely. Fortunately they held the train about 15 minutes for another bus load of people.

    -Did anyone try to use the shuttle and miss the 10:04? Did the second trip of shuttle busses accommodate everyone that was still waiting? I didn't want to wait and find out, so I did the jog.

    -Last season were there more shuttles, fewer people using them, or both? Did anyone get stuck like this last year?

    - The parking lot attendants took a long time to let the first two busses, which had filled up very quickly with standees, to merge with car traffic. I seem to remember last season the busses sat parallel to traffic as they loaded. Perhaps it was deemed either unsafe or hurting the regular traffic flow, and that's why they moved the busses onto a perpendicular angle with traffic in order to load? Well, what they made up for in load times, they lost in trying to get the busses to move back into the lane. Perhaps there can be a private road/entrance blocked off by cones where the busses can avoid the main traffic line that is Seaport Drive?

    -The gravel and otherwise unpaved areas along Seaport drive at the stadium where the busses load, as well as along the "parking area" at Chester RR where the busses load going to the game, are rocky/delapidated/ and should be repaired. This is not a question, it's a safety fact.

    -In addition to reopening Lamokin/PPL PARK station as more than one sane person suggests, could we also have an EXPRESS from Lamokin to the following stops: University City, 30th, Suburban, Mkt East, Temple, and end there, eventually perhaps go local to either Jenkintown, Chestnut Hill, or Norristown depending on where most fans would transfer? When you have 3 train cars full of people taking the train, and it could be more if it didn't take so long, I do think an express would generate substantial revenue, attendance, and convenience for those involved.



    IN SUMMARY,
    for out of the area residents who aren't driving, buying season ticket plan, or even attending the occasional match, should NOT be so difficult or discouraging. The UNION should not be discouraging its fans from attending. charging $20 to park, or the aggravation to ride SEPTA, is not a good game plan. It is in the UNION's best interest to improve the shuttle situation. SEPTA takes their time to improve stations and this one is probably not even on their list. I am glad SEPTA cooperates with the UNION by usually adding capacity (more cars) on the UNION runs, and by adding Wilmington trains during times of the day/week in which regular revenue service does not normally operate. SEPTA is doing a good job with the situation. The Union office? Thanks for the shuttles, but it's kind of still a work in progress. and last night was not a fluke just because nobody was prepared for a sold out game. I'd like to see improvement.
     
  15. unholyunion

    unholyunion Member

    Jan 21, 2011
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Can we all message septa about this? There's no other way it's going to get done otherwise...

    Draft email to send to GM Joe Casey

    Dear Joe Casey, or whom it may concern,

    With the opening of PPL Park and the popularity of the Philadelphia Union, we appreciate the attempt to accomodate travelers who find both the personal travel, price, and parking situation unnecessary to find a purpose to drive their car to the events in Chester. This the brings the use of your transit capabilities, be it train or bus. I have just recently become aware of the fact that there once was a station, Lamokin Station, in Chester that had been closed in 2003 due to infrequency. This station, being only about a mile away, would be beneficial to those who utilize SEPTA for convenience in travel - to make the train on time when leaving the game, and to feel safe when traveling through Chester - but would more than likely increase the number of riders because of the closer proximity and ease this station would make for travel. This would bring about
    1) Better use of the SEPTA shuttles for post game due to parking lot traffic
    2) Create more ridership to and from PPL Park, as the station being closer to the stadium would present a feeling of traveling safer, without having to drive a car
    3) Create less traffic pre and post game around the stadium, helping PPL park and attendees together.



    Or something of the like, couldn't completely work on it (at work)... tell me what you think..but we gotta let septa know about what we'd want.
     
  16. G-Ho Blue

    G-Ho Blue Member

    Feb 21, 2008
    Philadelphia
    I plan to write to both the team and SEPTA. If we all do the same, maybe someone will notice. This is just me eyeballing it, but it does seem that there are more people taking the train this year, and while last year I was the only one at Ucity, there are at least a dozen people at my stop for every game now. Of course, the U didn't have any games in Chester until the summer in 2010, so maybe that will stop once Upenn and Drexel are done. The busing situation is worse than last year- it's closer to the stadium, but it takes forever to get the buses to CTC and back this way. Additionally, using buses from the station makes it impossible to actually spend any money in Chester. Another benefit to having us walk to Lamokin would be that vendors and eventually restaurants and bars could spring up along the route. Wasn't the stadium supposed to be good for the city?

    EDIT: It took me 1 hour to get from my door to the stadium via SEPTA; that's actually pretty good, but an express train to Lamokin would cut that nearly in half. It took 90 minutes to get back after the game. This was due to the busing situation, both directly and indirectly, by causing people to be late and necessitating holding the train.
     
  17. unholyunion

    unholyunion Member

    Jan 21, 2011
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    anyone know the contact info for septa? or are they serious that we would want to actually physically mail them?

    i have an open letter... who's ready to tweet the hell out of @septa
     
  18. unholyunion

    unholyunion Member

    Jan 21, 2011
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here is my official letter to septa i sent as an inquiry, please go to my blog or twitter (@unholyunionblog) copy, resend, reformat, and so forth, or create your own.

    To Whom It May Concern:

    I am a season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Union. I also travel SEPTA on a regular basis, as I live in, and work in the city – being a non-licensed driver aside. I have been lucky enough to be able to find fans of the team who drive to join me in attending games at PPL Park to be able to attend on a regular basis. The reason why I am writing is this -

    I and many others have recently come to the attention of what used to be a Train station not a 15 minutes walk from PPL Park. As SEPTA and PPL have both been working on helping those attempting to use public transportation to and from the game, there is still the issue of frequency and timing, yet alone safety in Chester. I for one have only been to Chester Transportation Center once, and needless to say, it was not a fun or safe feeling experience for me – which has swayed me from not attempting to travel to PPL using SEPTA at any time with or without shuttles.

    The finding of this previously used station – Lamokin – which had only been closed in 2003 due to infrequency, bares the question to be asked – would there be any plans in the near future to reinstate this station for business, specifically for PPL Park.

    The opening of this station would mean
    1) More ridership to and from PPL Park because of the closer proximity the station is to the stadium
    2) Easier use of the shuttles as they tend to get tied up in parking lot traffic – having a closer destination would create shorter, and therefore more frequent, trips to the station after the game
    3) The shorter walking distance creates an ability for groups of travel to walk through the neighborhood, which for a local entrepreaneur could bring about local businesses to grow (as the stadium is an attempt to help build up the area)
    4) More people taking public transportation would equate to less cars in the parking lot, less traffic after the game, more ridership which would equate to more fares for SEPTA, and a lighter load on our wallets due to the 20 dollar parking fare.

    As the closest station to the stadium is CTC, being close to 2 miles away, this means that fans of the team can not linger at the stadium – but rather are forced to either get onto a shuttle that they hope will make it to CTC in time, or essentially run to the stadium to guarantee they have made their train. The closer distance of a station would be a convenience for those traveling to and from, as this then means that there isn’t a need to rush and possibly risk any injury – be it from over exerting themselves or ignoring any possible traffic.

    Because this station was closed down due to infrequency, the rise of PPL Park being a venue with attendance that currently matches that of the Flyers and Sixers, would mean that this station would have a purpose once again, be it only during game days.

    We ask that you look into the reinstatement of this train stop, as the infrequency would come to an end. Maybe even open the station to be used during game days if it is possible. I understand that SEPTA chooses it’s routes due to demand, and the only way to make that demand aware is to ask, and this is my proposal, as well as others. There is now a use for the station, and we are requesting this stop to be in service for our convenience and safety. I myself would also use the train down to PPL if this station was operable.

    Thank you for your time
     
  19. metsox

    metsox Member

    Jun 11, 2010
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    One of the season ticket holders in my group took the train from Claymont. He took the bus back to CTC and had missed the 10.02 Southbound train.

    Worse: That was the last train of the night going SB passed marcus hook. He had to find a cab in Chester to take him south.

    I know there aren't a ton of SB riders, maybe this is why. If the hold the NB train, why not hold the SB one?
     
  20. unholyunion

    unholyunion Member

    Jan 21, 2011
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Common sense...



    So googling this someone brought it up a year ago... but i am steadfast, once i grasp onto an idea, i'll hold onto it (for about a week)... I hope this makes some headway into conversation with SEPTA and making life easier.
     
  21. hykos1045

    hykos1045 Member

    May 10, 2010
    Club:
    Philadelphia Independence
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And, holding the Chester train also caused missed connections with the train to Lansdale which left right on time but could have met at 30th if it held for just 2 more minutes...

    I think one of the biggest reasons for the bad connection this game were
    1) The busses now park perpendicular to traffic when loading, instead of being able to jump the line
    2) There were only 2 busses last night! Last year I feel like there were always more, right?
    3) The largest crowd in the history of PPL park showed up, and there was no game plan to accommodate for this. This was the excuse I heard from the Union... however, It's not like they didn't know we were coming! It's the Galaxy match. More people to accommodate should equate to more busses, not fewer!
     
  22. UnionFreak1

    UnionFreak1 Member+

    Oct 14, 2009
    Tucson, Baja AZ
    Club:
    FC Tucson
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just an idea, but maybe one of you should document (take pictures) of the PPL station, to show SEPTA how the condition is.
     
  23. G-Ho Blue

    G-Ho Blue Member

    Feb 21, 2008
    Philadelphia
    I'm already thinking about this. It's just a question of fitting in my 8-month old into the plans. I'm actually even thinking bigger now- if we could get SEPTA to reopen a station (that needs work), why not build a new one right by the stadium? It looks like there is vacant land by flower st. and the tracks. How much would it cost to build a wooden platform? Ever been by Eastwick on the Airport line? You could build that in a weekend.
     
  24. unholyunion

    unholyunion Member

    Jan 21, 2011
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If anything, anyone taking the train down should talk to the conductors as a group asking for them to relay the idea of creating a closer station to PPL park... Yea they will probably say "no" but if you harrass them enough they might talk to their management (or shut off from the request completely).

    But ask each time you go down.
     
  25. dangit77

    dangit77 Member

    Aug 2, 2006
    Philadelphia
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I have time today to go down and take some pictures. Could someone please post exactly where this location is?
     

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