SEPTA Announces Papal Visit Pass Sales and Station Details
Pope Francis | giulio napolitano / Shutterstock.com.
UPDATE [7/20/2015]: The passes are on sale now. Here’s everything you need to know to get one.
ORIGINAL: The special one-day Papal Visit Pass required to ride SEPTA’s streamlined Regional Rail service during Pope Francis’s visit to Philadelphia on September 26th and 27th will go on sale at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 20th, according to a news release SEPTA issued this afternoon.
Everyone who plans on riding Regional Rail into Center City to see the pope — estimated at 180,000 customers each day — must buy one of these passes in order to board a Regional Rail train at one of the 18 Regional Rail stations that will be open.
Trains on all lines save the Airport Line will operate inbound to Center City in the morning and outbound in the afternoon. The Airport Line will operate modified service in both directions throughout the weekend. More details on how Airport Line users can catch their trains will be forthcoming.
Each outlying station will be paired with a Center City station for dropoff. Riders will walk from that station to their final destinations and must return to the same station for the return trip home.
Three Center City stations will be in service on the weekend of the papal visit: Jefferson, 30th Street and University City. Here are the station pairings:
Jefferson: Norristown Transportation Center, Pennbrook, Fort Washington, Warminster, Woodbourne, Fox Chase, Airport Terminals A/B and C/D
30th Street: Paoli, Radnor, Chestnut Hill West, Levittown, Croydon, Cornwells Heights, Wilmington, Marcus Hook
University City: Eastwick, Media, Primos
Inbound service will operate from 5:30 a.m. to noon at all stations except Croydon and Cornwells Heights. Passengers will board in one of two boarding blocks: 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. to noon. Cornwells Heights will be open for the first boarding block only, and Croydon will be open only for the second.
The one-day papal passes will be available online only at a special website set up for the purpose. When passengers purchase a pass, they must indicate which boarding time block and station they want. The time and station will be printed on the back of the pass.
Special three-day Papal Visit Passes, valid for travel on all subways, buses, and trolleys between September 26th and 28th, will be available from the same site starting Monday, July 27th. Riders may also use tokens, transfers, and weekly and monthly passes for travel on these modes.
More details as we learn them from SEPTA.
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Previously: SEPTA and the Pope’s Visit: Everything You Need to Know
SEPTA station map for Pope Francis’ visit.
