Southeastern Pa. Transportation Guide For The Historic Pope Visit

The preliminary transportation plan for the Pope’s historic visit to Philadelphia has been announced by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

The World Meeting of Families and the papal visit, taking place from September 22 through September 27, is expected to attract over 1.5 million visitors to the Philadelphia metropolitan area and will impose a gridlock on travel throughout much of the region.

In anticipation of the event, Nutter and other city officials are making changes to public transportation services that affect many portions of Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties.

“At this point, we are about three months away from hosting the largest event in this City’s history,” Nutter said in a press release. “We wanted to begin sharing information with residents and business owners as soon as possible so that they can begin making arrangements for this week, whether they plan to attend any of the World Meeting of Families events or just need to go about their daily routines.”

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“Make no mistake, the City of Philadelphia will have the world’s attention, and we are doing our part to be as prepared and coordinated as possible.”

The Mayor’s office released a list of the following things which travelers need to keep in mind:

• Be prepared to walk to your destination after debarking transit—up to a couple of miles
• Private vehicles will not be a viable transportation option
• Public transportation routes and schedules will be vastly altered for efficiency and capacity
• Continue to check WorldMeeting2015.org for transportation updates and sign up to receive the Papal Visit Playbook, a guide for residents and visitors to navigate Center City neighborhoods during the event.

SEPTA service will be “truncated drastically” to help ensure maximal operational efficiency.

Officials also are warning regular SEPTA riders that their commutes will be “severely impacted” by the events of that week.

From the Mayor’s statement:

A special $10, three-day SEPTA transit pass, valid from Saturday, September 26 through Monday, September 28, will be sold for travel on subways, buses and trolleys. Standard SEPTA passes and tokens can also be used on these transit modes. For Regional Rail, a one-day special event pass valid for Saturday, and another valid for Sunday, will be sold for $10 each in advance.

SEPTA is planning pick-up only service at these specific stations:

• Paoli/Thorndale Line - Paoli and Radnor Stations
• Norristown/Manayunk Line - Norristown Transportation Center
• Chesnut Hill West Line - Chestnut Hill West Station
• Lansdale/Doylestown Line - Lansdale and Fort Washington Stations
• Warminster Line - Warminster Station
• West Trenton Line - Woodbourne Station
• Fox Chase Line - Fox Chase Station
• Trenton Line - Croydon and Cornwells Heights Stations
• Media/Elywn Line - Media and Primos Stations
• Wilmington/Newark Line - Wilmington and Marcus Hook Stations
• Airport Line - Terminals C & D, Terminal B and Eastwick Station

Amtrak, the Philadelphia Airport, NJ Transit, and PATCO are all working alongside SEPTA to ensure efficient travel.

Where applicable, officials are urging visitors to purchase tickets as far ahead of time as possible.

To see the full press release from Mayor Nutter’s office and for more information, click here.

Photo credit: Vatican.va.