SEPTA Will Experiment With All-Night Subway Service

Conrad Benner, take a bow.

We told you in February about Benner’s petition to turn the El and Broad Street lines into a 24-7 service, running all hours of the night to help the city’s bartenders, wait staff, and other creatures of the night get where they’re going safely.  Now SEPTA is on the cusp of adopting just that plan — albeit just for the summer, as an experiment to see if there’s enough of an audience for round-the-clock service.

Benner takes his victory lap in an essay at Newsworks:

My hope is that this test period goes so well that SEPTA extends late-night trains to seven days a week to support the transportation needs of every Philadelphian.

Either way, this is a huge first step for SEPTA and for Philadelphia. As our city’s population continues to grow, and as businesses continue to pop up all around the city, including our ever-growing bar and restaurant scene, investing in our city’s transportation, no matter the time of day, is an investment in the future of this city and in its people. An investment that is long overdue.

If SEPTA’s board approves, the agency will start running nite-owl service between midnight and 5 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays starting in mid-June.