History UsefulNotes / PhiladelphiaSubways

More generally, there is occasional talk in Philadelphia's transit community of increasing the frequency and operating hours of regional rail trains such that they effectively become a second rapid-transit system for the city (on the model of a German S-Bahn). These modifications would require significant infrastructure upgrades--most importantly building high-level platforms (which would allow trains to run with about four times fewer conductors and therefore run three or four times more frequently).[[labelnote:Technical aside]]Under Federal Railroad Administration regulations, passenger trains serving low-level platforms need to have one conductor per car to operate the stairs down to the platform. By contrast, a train serving only high-level platforms need only have one conductor for the whole train (this is essentially what [[UsefulNotes/PortAuthorityTransHudson PATH]] does--yes, PATH is for complicated reasons an FRA railroad). Since SEPTA trains generally run as 4-to-6 car sets, they run with 4-6 conductors. Since the most expensive part of running an extra train on a route is paying the onboard staff, reducing the number of conductors per train from 4-6 to 1 would greatly increase SEPTA's ability to run trains frequently. Since SEPTA already runs most lines fairly frequently even off-peak (hourly trains is typical), high-platforming the lines would increase frequency to rapid-transit or near-rapid-transit levels (every 10-15 minutes).[[/labelnote]] This plan is therefore unlikely in the immediate future (SEPTA and Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation received massive infusions of cash in the mid-2010s, but these funds were devoted to repairing crumbling infrastructure, like rebuilding about-to-collapse bridges and renovating decrepit train stations, rather than building much in the way of new capacity). That being said, Philadelphia's network already has the primary feature of a German S-Bahn--a rail tunnel through the city center--in place, and the regional rail system is fully electrified, so unlike some other American cities, the project is at least conceivably on the list of workable projects if the country ever gets serious about transit.

More generally, there is occasional talk in Philadelphia's transit community of increasing the frequency and operating hours of regional rail trains such that they effectively become a second rapid-transit system for the city (on the model of a German S-Bahn). These modifications would require significant infrastructure upgrades--most importantly building high-level platforms (which would allow trains to run with about four times fewer conductors and therefore run three or four times more frequently).[[labelnote|Technical aside]]Under Federal Railroad Administration regulations, passenger trains serving low-level platforms need to have one conductor per car to operate the stairs down to the platform. By contrast, a train serving only high-level platforms need only have one conductor for the whole train (this is essentially what [[UsefulNotes/PortAuthorityTransHudson PATH]] does--yes, PATH is for complicated reasons an FRA railroad). Since SEPTA trains generally run as 4-to-6 car sets, they run with 4-6 conductors. Since the most expensive part of running an extra train on a route is paying the onboard staff, reducing the number of conductors per train from 4-6 to 1 would greatly increase SEPTA's ability to run trains frequently. Since SEPTA already runs most lines fairly frequently even off-peak (hourly trains is typical), high-platforming the lines would increase frequency to rapid-transit or near-rapid-transit levels (every 10-15 minutes).[[/labelnote]] This plan is therefore unlikely in the immediate future (SEPTA and Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation received massive infusions of cash in the mid-2010s, but these funds were devoted to repairing crumbling infrastructure, like rebuilding about-to-collapse bridges and renovating decrepit train stations, rather than building much in the way of new capacity). That being said, Philadelphia's network already has the primary feature of a German S-Bahn--a rail tunnel through the city center--in place, and the regional rail system is fully electrified, so unlike some other American cities, the project is at least conceivably on the list of workable projects if the country ever gets serious about transit.

More generally, there is occasional talk in Philadelphia's transit community of increasing the frequency and operating hours of regional rail trains such that they effectively become a second rapid-transit system for the city (on the model of a German S-Bahn). These modifications would require significant infrastructure upgrades, so they are unlikely in the immediate future (SEPTA and Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation received massive infusions of cash in the mid-2010s, but these funds were devoted to repairing crumbling infrastructure, like rebuilding about-to-collapse bridges and renovating decrepit train stations, rather than building much in the way of new capacity). That being said, Philadelphia's network already has the primary feature of a German S-Bahn--a rail tunnel through the city center--in place, and the regional rail system is fully electrified, so unlike some other American cities, the project is at least conceivably on the list of workable projects if the country ever gets serious about transit.

** The '''Broad Street Subway''',more usually "the Subway," the Broad St. Line, "the Sub" as street slang, sometimes called the Orange Line (which would mark one as new to Philadelphia), the BSS or BSL for short, is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin subway line running almost entirely under Broad Street]], Philadelphia's main north-south thoroughfare, from Fern Rock Transportation Center in North Philadelphia to the sports complex in South Philadelphia. Predictably, ridership spikes on game days. This line was originally built and owned by the City of Philadelphia, and the track and trains are still owned by the city; SEPTA operates the line under lease from the city.
*** The '''Broad-Ridge Spur''' is a short spur of the line running from Fairmount to 8th & Market via Chinatown. Spur trains start at Fern Rock or Olney Station at the north end of the line and then run as expresses until Fairmount, when they turn onto the spur towards 8th & Market. It features one of only two "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_station ghost stations]]" on the Philadelphia rapid transit network (at Spring Garden), and the only one on the SEPTA system. It's definitely seen better days...

** The '''Market-Frankford Line''', or "the El". It's sometimes referred to as the Blue Line, or abbreviated to "MFL" for short. It is a line [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin largely running as an elevated train along Frankford Avenue and as a subway under most of Market Street (specifically all stations from 2nd to 40th Streets)]], Philadelphia's main east-west thoroughfare. The MFL runs from 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby to Frankford Transportation Center in the Frankford neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia. This train's history is rather odd, and has a number of quirks (e.g.: it's built to Pennsylvania Trolley Gauge, a broad gauge invented in the 19th century to keep railroads from competing with streetcars). It meets the BSS at 15th Street/City Hall (Broad and Market never truly meet, just turn into Penn Square, a giant traffic circle around City Hall; also, Broad is 14th Street), and there's free transfer between them there.
** The '''PATCO High-Speedline''', or simply PATCO (the Speedline by those in the know), is not run by SEPTA, but rather by the Delaware River Port Authority; PATCO stands for "Port Authority Transit Corporation." This line is akin to the UsefulNotes/PortAuthorityTransHudson in that it is basically a rapid transit system but it also operates a bit like a commuter rail system (indeed, both run on old Pennsylvania Railroad track: the PATH on the former Hudson and Manhattan, and the PATCO on the former Camden and Atlantic City), stopping at various towns in Philadelphia's [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey South Jersey]] suburbs--including [[{{Gangsterland}} Camden]]--much as the PATH goes to New York's North Jersey ones (including [[{{Gangsterland}} Newark]]). It features the other "ghost station" in Philly, at Franklin Square. (There's been some talk of restoring it; a plan was floated in 2012, dropped, and then suddenly taken up again in late 2014, but no action has of yet been taken.) It also hasn't seen an upgrade in its rolling stock in years; the trains were mostly built in TheSixties, and you can tell from everything from the exterior styling to the interior decor (if that's the right word),[[note]]It's not ''quite'' so bad as all that, though; the actual motors get repaired or upgraded with reasonable frequency[[/note]] although they've begun complete refurbishment and modernization of the interiors (refurbished cars entered service in spring 2015, and most cars were refurbished by year end 2018). In the city, it goes under Vine Street from the Ben Franklin Bridge and then under 8th Street before turning west at Locust Street and terminating at 16th Street. It meets the MFL and Broad-Ridge Spur at 8th & Market and the BSS via a pedestrian tunnel that connects the BSS Walnut-Locust Station to 15th/16th and 12/13th Stations, but since the payment systems are totally separate there is no free transfer (there is talk of free or reduced-fare transfer after SEPTA fully implements the new "SEPTA Key" contactless fare system, but as of now it's just talk--although it ''is'' more or less certain that the SEPTA Key will work to pay fares on PATCO).

*** There is repeated talk of a Roosevelt Boulevard branch of the Subway, which would split north of Hunting Park station onto an elevated track on Roosevelt Boulevard up through Northeast Philadelphia. This route was actually about to be built in the 1970s, but local opposition from (predominantly white working- and middle-class) Northeast Philadelphia kiboshed the plan, essentially because they associated public transportation with "criminals" (by which they meant "poor black people"), and the money was spent building the Regional Rail commuter tunnel in Center City instead. Since then, [[DevelopmentHell the plan has languished for lack of funds]], even as people in Northeast Philadelphia have come around to the idea again. To this day, it remains the highest-potential-ridership transit proposal in the United States outside New York City, but the only inkling of any interest is improved bus service along the Boulevard, with SEPTA promising to "look into higher-capacity options" if the buses see high enough ridership.

*** There is repeated talk of a Roosevelt Boulevard branch of the Subway, which would split north of Hunting Park station onto an elevated track on Roosevelt Boulevard up through Northeast Philadelphia. This route was actually about to be built in the 1970s, but local opposition from (predominantly white working- and middle-class) Northeast Philadelphia kiboshed the plan, essentially because they associated public transportation with "criminals" (by which they meant "poor black people"), and the money was spent building the Regional Rail commuter tunnel in Center City instead. Since then, [[DevelopmentHell the plan has languished for lack of funds]], even as people in Northeast Philadelphia have come around to the idea again. To this day, it remains the highest-potential-ridership transit proposal in the United States outside New York City, but the only inkling of any interest is improved bus service along Roosevelt, with SEPTA promising to "look into higher-capacity options" if the buses see high enough ridership.

** The '''Broad Street Subway''', sometimes called the Orange Line, more usually "the Subway," the Broad Line, or the BSS for short, is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin subway line running almost entirely under Broad Street]], Philadelphia's main north-south thoroughfare, from Fern Rock Transportation Center in North Philadelphia to the sports complex in South Philadelphia. Predictably, ridership spikes on game days. This line was originally built and owned by the City of Philadelphia, and the track and trains are still owned by the city; SEPTA operates the line under lease from the city.

** The '''PATCO High-Speedline''', or simply the PATCO, is not run by SEPTA, but rather by the Delaware River Port Authority; PATCO stands for "Port Authority Transit Corporation." This line is akin to the UsefulNotes/PortAuthorityTransHudson in that it is basically a rapid transit system but it also operates a bit like a commuter rail system (indeed, both run on old Pennsylvania Railroad track: the PATH on the former Hudson and Manhattan, and the PATCO on the former Camden and Atlantic City), stopping at various towns in Philadelphia's [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey South Jersey]] suburbs--including [[{{Gangsterland}} Camden]]--much as the PATH goes to New York's North Jersey ones (including [[{{Gangsterland}} Newark]]). It features the other "ghost station" in Philly, at Franklin Square. (There's been some talk of restoring it; a plan was floated in 2012, dropped, and then suddenly taken up again in late 2014, but no action has of yet been taken.) It also hasn't seen an upgrade in its rolling stock in years; the trains were mostly built in TheSixties, and you can tell from everything from the exterior styling to the interior decor (if that's the right word),[[note]]It's not ''quite'' so bad as all that, though; the actual motors get repaired or upgraded with reasonable frequency[[/note]] although they've begun complete refurbishment and modernization of the interiors (refurbished cars entered service in spring 2015, and most cars were refurbished by year end 2018). In the city, it goes under Vine Street from the Ben Franklin Bridge and then under 8th Street before turning west at Locust Street and terminating at 16th Street. It meets the MFL and Broad-Ridge Spur at 8th & Market and the BSS via a pedestrian tunnel that connects the BSS Walnut-Locust Station to 15th/16th and 12/13th Stations, but since the payment systems are totally separate there is no free transfer (there is talk of free or reduced-fare transfer after SEPTA fully implements the new "SEPTA Key" contactless fare system, but as of now it's just talk--although it ''is'' more or less certain that the SEPTA Key will work to pay fares on PATCO).

More generally, there is occasional talk in Philadelphia's transit community of increasing the frequency and operating hours of regional rail trains such that they effectively become a second rapid-transit system for the city (on the model of a German S-Bahn). These modifications would require significant infrastructure upgrades, so they are unlikely in the immediate future (SEPTA and Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation received massive infusions of cash in the mid-2010s, but these funds were devoted to repairing crumbling infrastructure, like rebuilding about-to-collapse bridges and renovating decrepit train stations, rather than building much in the way of new capacity). That being said, Philadelphia's network already has the primary feature of a German S-Bahn--a rail tunnel through the city center--in place, so unlike some other American cities, the project is at least conceivably on the list of workable projects if the country ever gets serious about transit.

** The '''PATCO High-Speedline''', or simply the PATCO, is not run by SEPTA, but rather by the Delaware River Port Authority; PATCO stands for "Port Authority Transit Corporation." This line is akin to the UsefulNotes/PortAuthorityTransHudson in that it is basically a rapid transit system but it also operates a bit like a commuter rail system (indeed, both run on old Pennsylvania Railroad track: the PATH on the former Hudson and Manhattan, and the PATCO on the former Camden and Atlantic City), stopping at various towns in Philadelphia's [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey South Jersey]] suburbs--including [[{{Gangsterland}} Camden]]--much as the PATH goes to New York's North Jersey ones (including [[{{Gangsterland}} Newark]]). It features the other "ghost station" in Philly, at Franklin Square. (There's been some talk of restoring it; a plan was floated in 2012, dropped, and then suddenly taken up again in late 2014, but no action has of yet been taken.) It also hasn't seen an upgrade in its rolling stock in years; the trains were mostly built in TheSixties, and you can tell from everything from the exterior styling to the interior decor (if that's the right word),[[note]]It's not ''quite'' so bad as all that, though; the actual motors get repaired or upgraded with reasonable frequency[[/note]] although they've begun complete refurbishment and modernization of the interiors (refurbished cars entered service in spring 2015 and all trains are set to be refurbished by year end 2017). In the city, it goes under Vine Street from the Ben Franklin Bridge and then under 8th Street before turning west at Locust Street and terminating at 16th Street. It meets the MFL and Broad-Ridge Spur at 8th & Market and the BSS via a pedestrian tunnel that connects the BSS Walnut-Locust Station to 15th/16th and 12/13th Stations, but since the payment systems are totally separate there is no free transfer (there is talk of free or reduced-fare transfer after SEPTA fully implements the new "SEPTA Key" contactless fare system, but as of now it's just talk--although it ''is'' more or less certain that the SEPTA Key will work to pay fares on PATCO).

As to the experience of riding: SEPTA stations are oddly variable. Some stations (e.g. 13th Street on the MFL) are quite decent (although nowhere near as antiseptic as the UsefulNotes/WashingtonMetro), while others (e.g. 8th Street and 2nd Street on the MFL) are mediocre, and still others (e.g. 15th Street on the MFL and many stations on the Broad Street Line) give New York a run for its money on the "vaguely squalid" front. Broad Street Line stations also have floors that get alarmingly slick and dirty when the weather gets wet or snowy. The underground PATCO stations in the city and in [[WretchedHive Camden]] vary from "moderately dirty" to "hobo piss," while the elevated stations further east in the South Jersey {{Suburbia}} are in "quite clean, but a bit old and worn-down" territory.[[note]]Exception: Haddonfield--yes, ''[[Franchise/{{Halloween}} that]]'' Haddonfield, never mind the movie being set in Illinois--where the station is actually quite nice. Aggressively nice, in fact.[[/note]]

As to the experience of riding: SEPTA stations are oddly variable. Some stations (e.g. 13th Street on the MFL) are quite decent (although nowhere near as antiseptic as the UsefulNotes/WashingtonMetro), while others (e.g. 8th Street and 2nd Street on the MFL) are mediocre, and still others (e.g. 15th Street on the MFL and many stations on the Broad Street Line) give New York a run for its money on the "vaguely squalid" front. The underground PATCO stations in the city and in [[WretchedHive Camden]] vary from "moderately dirty" to "hobo piss," while the elevated stations further east in the South Jersey {{Suburbia}} are in "quite clean, but a bit old and worn-down" territory.[[note]]Exception: Haddonfield--yes, ''[[Franchise/{{Halloween}} that]]'' Haddonfield, never mind the movie being set in Illinois--where the station is actually quite nice. Aggressively nice, in fact.[[/note]]

** The '''Market-Frankford Line''', or "the El". It's sometimes referred to as the Blue Line, or abbreviated to "MFL" for short. It is a line [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin largely running as an elevated train along Frankford Avenue and as a subway under most of Market Street]], Philadelphia's main east-west thoroughfare. The MFL runs from 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby to Frankford Transportation Center in the Frankford neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia. This train's history is rather odd, and has a number of quirks (e.g.: it's built to Pennsylvania Trolley Gauge, a broad gauge invented in the 19th century to keep railroads from competing with streetcars). It meets the BSS at 15th Street/City Hall (Broad and Market never truly meet, just turn into Penn Square, a giant traffic circle around City Hall; also, Broad is 14th Street), and there's free transfer between them there.

More generally, there is occasional talk in Philadelphia's transit community of increasing the frequency and operating hours of regional rail trains such that they effectively become a second rapid-transit system for the city (on the model of a German S-Bahn). These modifications would require significant infrastructure upgrades, so they are unlikely in the immediate future (SEPTA and Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation received massive infusions of cash in the mid-2010s, but these funds were devoted to repairing crumbling infrastructure, like rebuilding about-to-collapse bridges and renovating decrepit train stations, rather than building much in the way of new capacity).

-->''*[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1nVhwY6CzM 69th Street train making all stops...Doors are closing]]*''

*** The '''Broad-Ridge Spur''' is a short spur of the line running from Fairmount to 8th & Market via Chinatown. It features one of only two "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_station ghost stations]]" on the Philadelphia rapid transit network (at Spring Garden), and the only one on the SEPTA system. It's definitely seen better days...

All snarking aside, these routes really are probably the best way to get around Philly if you're in an area served by them. The system is relatively safe (major crime on the trains is rare, minor crime is frequent but merely annoying, and you ''will'' be harassed by homeless wherever you go--but that's true of anywhere in Philly anyway), it's actually pretty efficient, and driving in Philadelphia can be a ''nightmare'' (to wit, Philadelphia has: one-way streets, ''narrow'' streets, even a few cobblestone streets--in the Old City--plus Philadelphia drivers--who are scary--and New Jersey drivers--who are ''[[DrivesLikeCrazy terrifying]]''). And of course, if you do drive in Philly, you face something much worse than driving: ''parking''--the Philadelphia Parking Authority are so dogged in their insistence on enforcing the parking laws they put InspectorJavert to shame. Basically (Philly people joke) it's illegal to drive in Philadelphia.

** The '''Broad Street Subway''', sometimes called the Orange Line, more usually "the Subway" or the BSS for short, is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin subway line running almost entirely under Broad Street]], Philadelphia's main north-south thoroughfare, from Fern Rock Transportation Center in North Philadelphia to the sports complex in South Philadelphia. This line was originally built and owned by the City of Philadelphia, and the track and trains are still owned by the city; SEPTA operates the line under lease from the city.

*** There is repeated talk of a Roosevelt Boulevard branch of the Subway, which would split north of Hunting Park station onto an elevated track on Roosevelt Boulevard up through Northeast Philadelphia. This route was actually about to be built in the 1970s, but local opposition from (predominantly white working- and middle-class) Northeast Philadelphia kiboshed the plan, essentially because they associated public transportation with "criminals" (by which they meant "poor black people"), and the money was spent building the Regional Rail commuter tunnel in Center City instead. Since then, [[DevelopmentHell the plan has languished for lack of funds]], even as people in Northeast Philadelphia have come around to the idea again. To this day, it remains the highest-potential-ridership transit proposal in the United States outside New York City.

** The '''Broad Street Subway''', sometimes called the Orange Line, called the BSS for short, is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin subway line running almost entirely under Broad Street]], Philadelphia's main north-south thoroughfare, from Fern Rock Transportation Center in North Philadelphia to the sports complex in South Philadelphia. This line was originally built and owned by the City of Philadelphia, and the track and trains are still owned by the city; SEPTA operates the line under lease from the city.

There's also SEPTA's Regional Rail system. These are too numerous to describe in one go, but suffice it to say that several parts of the City of Philadelphia are served only by the regional rail, particularly the Northwest (which is, to be fair, essentially suburban anyway), and the Northeast (which is less so). Three Regional Rail lines (Chestnut Hill East, Chestnut Hill West, and Fox Chase) run entirely within the city, leading several to wonder why they should continue to be treated as regional rail. (There are good technical reasons, but it's true that with a bit of funding--and by "a bit" we mean "probably more than the city is willing to pay"--they could be converted to branch lines of the BSL or perhaps extensions of PATCO).

There's also SEPTA's Regional Rail system. These are too numerous to describe in one go, but suffice it to say that several parts of the City of Philadelphia are served only by the regional rail, particularly the Northwest (which is, to be fair, essentially suburban anyway), and the Northeast (which is less so). Three Regional Rail lines (Chestnut Hill East, Chestnut Hill West, and Fox Chase) run entirely within the city, leading several to wonder why they should continue to be treated as regional rail. (There are good technical reasons, but it's true that with a bit of funding--and by "a bit" we mean "probably more than the city is willing to pay"--they could be converted to branch lines of the BSL or--in the case of the Chestnut Hill lines--western extensions of PATCO). More generally, there is occasional talk in Philadelphia's transit community of increasing the frequency and operating hours of regional rail trains such that they effectively become a second rapid-transit system for the city (on the model of a German S-Bahn). These modifications would require significant infrastructure upgrades, so they are unlikely in the immediate future (SEPTA and Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation received massive infusions of cash in the mid-2010s, but these funds were devoted to repairing crumbling infrastructure, like rebuilding about-to-collapse bridges and renovating decrepit train stations, rather than building much in the way of new capacity).

There's also SEPTA's Regional Rail system. These are too numerous to describe in one go, but suffice it to say that several parts of the City of Philadelphia are served only by the regional rail, particularly the Northwest (which is, to be fair, essentially suburban anyway), and the Northeast (which is less so). Three Regional Rail lines (Chestnut Hill East, Chestnut Hill West, and Fox Chase) run entirely within the city, leading several to wonder why they should continue to be treated as regional rail. (There are good technical reasons, but it's true that with a bit of funding--and by "a bit" we mean "probably more than the city is willing to pay"--they could be converted to branch lines of the BSL or--in the case of the Chestnut Hill lines--western extensions of PATCO). More generally, there is occasional talk in Philadelphia's transit community of increasing the frequency and operating hours of regional rail trains such that they effectively become a second rapid-transit system for the city (on the model of a German S-Bahn).

There's also SEPTA's Regional Rail system. These are too numerous to describe in one go, but suffice it to say that several parts of the City of Philadelphia are served only by the regional rail, particularly the Northwest (which is, to be fair, essentially suburban anyway), and the Northeast (which is less so). Three Regional Rail lines (Chestnut Hill East, Chestnut Hill West, and Fox Chase) run entirely within the city, leading several to wonder why they should continue to be treated as regional rail. (There are good technical reasons, but the only barrier to those is a little bit of money.)

** The '''PATCO High-Speedline''', or simply the PATCO, is not run by SEPTA, but rather by the Delaware River Port Authority; PATCO stands for "Port Authority Transit Corporation." This line is akin to the UsefulNotes/PortAuthorityTransHudson in that it is basically a rapid transit system but it also operates a bit like a commuter rail system (indeed, both run on old Pennsylvania Railroad track: the PATH on the former Hudson and Manhattan, and the PATCO on the former Camden and Atlantic City), stopping at various towns in Philadelphia's [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey South Jersey]] suburbs--including [[{{Gangsterland}} Camden]]--much as the PATH goes to New York's North Jersey ones (including [[{{Gangsterland}} Newark]]). It features the other "ghost station" in Philly, at Franklin Square. (There's been some talk of restoring it; a plan was floated in 2012, dropped, and then suddenly taken up again in late 2014, but no action has of yet been taken.) It also hasn't seen an upgrade in its rolling stock in years; the trains were mostly built in TheSixties, and you can tell from everything from the exterior styling to the interior decor (if that's the right word),[[note]]It's not ''quite'' so bad as all that, though; the actual motors get repaired or upgraded with reasonable frequency[[/note]] although they've begun complete refurbishment and modernization of the interiors (refurbished cars entered service in spring 2015 and all trains are set to be refurbished by year end 2016). In the city, it goes under Vine Street from the Ben Franklin Bridge and then under 8th Street before turning west at Locust Street and terminating at 16th Street. It meets the MFL and Broad-Ridge Spur at 8th & Market and the BSS via a pedestrian tunnel that connects the BSS Walnut-Locust Station to 15th/16th and 12/13th Stations, but since the payment systems are totally separate there is no free transfer (there is talk of free or reduced-fare transfer after SEPTA fully implements the new "SEPTA Key" contactless fare system, but as of now it's just talk--although it ''is'' more or less certain that the SEPTA Key will work to pay fares on PATCO).

* SEPTA trains appear in ''Film/TradingPlaces''.

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<<|UsefulNotes/SubwaysOfTheUnitedStates|>>

* '''Underground but not rapid transit''': The '''Subway-Surface Trolley Lines''', sometimes called the '''Green Line(s)''', are single-car tram lines running underground parallel to the MFL under Market Street starting at Juniper Street immediately east of Broad (Juniper is sort of 13 1/2 Street) and then diverging at 36th Street to various points in West and Southwest Philadelphia.

** The '''PATCO High-Speedline''', or simply the PATCO, is not run by SEPTA, but rather by the Delaware River Port Authority; PATCO stands for "Port Authority Transit Corporation." This line is akin to the UsefulNotes/PortAuthorityTransHudson in that it is basically a rapid transit system but it also operates a bit like a commuter rail system (indeed, both run on old Pennsylvania Railroad track: the PATH on the former Hudson and Manhattan, and the PATCO on the former Camden and Atlantic City), stopping at various towns in Philadelphia's [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey South Jersey]] suburbs--including [[{{Gangsterland}} Camden]]--much as the PATH goes to New York's North Jersey ones (including [[{{Gangsterland}} Newark]]). It features the other "ghost station" in Philly, at Franklin Square. (There's been some talk of restoring it; a plan was floated in 2012, dropped, and then suddenly taken up again in late 2014, but no action has of yet been taken.) It also hasn't seen an upgrade in its rolling stock in years; the trains were mostly built in TheSixties, and you can tell from everything from the exterior styling to the interior decor (if that's the right word),[[note]]It's not ''quite'' so bad as all that, though; the actual motors get repaired or upgraded with reasonable frequency[[/note]] although they've begun complete refurbishment and modernization of the interiors (refurbished cars entered service in spring 2015 and all trains are set to be refurbished by year end 2016). In the city, it goes under Vine Street from the Ben Franklin Bridge and then under 8th Street before turning west at Locust Street and terminating at 16th Street. It meets the MFL and Broad-Ridge Spur at 8th & Market and the BSS via a pedestrian tunnel that connects the BSS Walnut-Locust Station to 15th/16th and 12/13th Stations, but since the payment systems are totally separate there is no free transfer.