I recently had the rather disappointing experience riding the SEPTA Broad Street Line in Philadelphia. At all the stations I visited, it was raining *inside* the stations.
My questions concern the Walnut-Locust Street station. Why is the underground concourse/mezzanine level above the platforms so long (like blocks long)? It is far longer than the platforms are, and the best I can figure it has to do with transfers to and from the relatively newer PATCO system, but I couldn't tell if it connected with City Hall and/or the new Commuter Tunnel built in the 1980s.
Also, why is this enormously long concourse completely empty of any vendors? And, a pet peeve, why are there no turnstyles on the Locust Street side requiring excessively long walks and doubling-back from Locust Street?
Would U want to work 8-12 hours in that station with it being damp and bad air
Seems like the station badly needs renovation. Possibly you ought to contact SEPTA. They have something plalnned.
The air was excellent. If nothing else, the Broad Street Line has ample ventilation vaults everywhere, and it's a very shallow cut-and-cover subway.
The line was recently renovated and is bright and has fresh air, but rains inside, but I'm wondering why the concourse at Locust Street is so excessively long and empty? I realize budget cuts mean I have to walk a block north to pay my token since the other entrances are high-wheel exits, but this blocks-long concourse has to have had a purpose.
Hey! I was in Philly around the same time you were (Jan 15-17) and used that station to leave Philly (took Broad Street subway to that station, then took PATCO to the transit center, then River Line to Trenton and NJ Transit to Newark). Yes it has everything to do with a connection to PATCO.
Actually, prior to Patco, there was a bridge line that used ro run on what became PATCO trackage. It ran from 16th and Walnut St. across the Ben Franklin Bridge into Camden The concourse provided a connection between City Hall and that line which avoided a transfer at 8th Street. The concourse also provided shelter from inclement weather for passengers who left the Market Frankford Elevated or Broad Street Subway and worked in a number of buildings or intersections along the way including the old Bellevue Stratford hotel.
That concourse is at least sixty years old. The good news is officially, the transit agency( SEPTA) has now assumed control of it. Things should get better.
Locust St, not Walnut.
Patrick Boylan
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Wow, and to think I assumed it was a mistake from the PATCO connection renovations. They really did make it for shelter for folks doing business near City Hall and for the formerly free bridge line connection (which isn't free under PATCO). How interesting!
Metro Red Line Hey! I was in Philly around the same time you were (Jan 15-17) and used that station to leave Philly (took Broad Street subway to that station, then took PATCO to the transit center, then River Line to Trenton and NJ Transit to Newark). Yes it has everything to do with a connection to PATCO.
Yeah we were there for YAGP 2015. My first time in Philly as an adult--the city is completely different now, I didn't recognize anything except City Hall.
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