SEPTA Prepping For Crowded Pope Weekend Despite Low 'Papal Pass' Sales
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - With two weeks before Pope Francis arrives, SEPTA has sold only about one-third of its available Regional Rail passes. But the transit agency is preparing for extraordinary volume at the 18 rail stations being used for the Pope's visit.
SEPTA has sold about 110,000 of the 350,000 available papal regional rail passes. But if you look beyond those numbers, the 18 stations open for the Papal visit are going to see ridership in many cases that is significantly higher than normal weekdays.
In Paoli, for example -- five times an average weekday. In Radnor, more than ten times the usual.
So riders should know there could be new traffic patterns and parking arrangements at those stations, says SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams:
"We don't want them getting up that morning and using their normal routine, thinking they're just going to go to the station and park in their favorite park, and walk in their favorite entrance. Everything will change."
SEPTA today will post interactive maps on its website, showing road closures and offsite parking at the 18 rail stations being used for the papal visit.
On PATCO, today is also the last day you can buy special papal Freedom fare cards online. They'll continue to be sold in person at the Broadway and Woodcrest stations.
PATCO has sold 12,000 of 75,000 available papal Freedom cards. That's not an accurate indicator of Papal weekend ridership, though, because riders who already have Freedom cards can use them. PATCO is not accepting paper tickets for the Pope's visit.
