Submitted by RoughRhinos t3_112ywvs in philadelphia
Not sure if there is a new operator but this has been happening often lately. The express going north at Walnut/Locust doesn't hold for 5 seconds when the local arrives and instead closes its doors right as the local opens their doors. How can a system be so unconnected that an operator wouldn't get told hey wait 5 seconds for people to transfer. A small thing to rant about but it's honestly so frustrating.
"Why doesn't the express train go slower"
Wait for the next one and don’t sweat the small stuff.
Because the Express and the 8th & Market trains share the same track and the timing between the two is on a tighter schedule.
If you buy a car you don't have to wait for trains. It's why they became popular.
I think it just depends on a lot of different things. As someone else said, they share tracks with the spur so if they are up against time as-is they may not be able to. Also, if they are bunched up, as I have seen a bit of recently, there could be one already heading down into Walnut Locust to turn around, so they could be trying to make way.
For what its worth I've seen more than a few occasions where the local operator will make an announcement and the two trains will hold for a quick transfer. I've usually seen it at Race-Vine or Spring Garden, though. And again, it's not something that's scheduled it's more so if the two just happen to be aligned to make it happen by coincidence.
I know it's just a snarky reddit comment but it's the start of the train and 5 seconds. It's not saying wait for the local every stop but maybe time it up with the local at the start. Difference between 10 people on the express vs 50 people.
That's a fair point but not sure 5 seconds makes a difference since they aren't running that often.
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Transferring from PATCO to the Riverline is a goddamn nightmare.
Congratulations! You are now stuck in one of the shittiest parts of Camden for a full fucking hour. There are no benches and there is nowhere else to go.
Not sure why the local trains get switched to express sometimes at walnut locust heading south. Called Septa and they claimed it was to get back on schedule, but making hundreds of people get off and cram into the next, even later, train is not the move. There's legitimately only one express stop south of walnut too which makes it even more frustrating
My life is an endless series of arriving to the platform right as the train is pulling away. City living.
Their schedules for it is crazy 👎
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I no longer live in Philly. I live in Boston now, a little bit past the end of one of the subway lines. There are a ton of bus routes that start from this station (16 different routes). The vast majority of the people taking the bus outbound from here are transferring from the subway. And yet, they don’t align the bus departures with the subway arrivals. It feels like every day, I run out from the subway to see my bus pulling away.
They do sometimes. Sometimes not. You just have add extra luck to your Philadelphia Armor Build
honestly that's kinda your fault for crossing the river
Job's a job
¯\(ツ)/¯
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The worst feeling
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i got tired of that bullshit that i started riding my bike from kensington across the bridge. not sure if that is feasible for you going to work though.
Damn I've spent too many points on keeping my trash can. OP, if you missed the train but you still have your trash can, that's where the luck went.
Sorry that happened to you. And people wonder why others don’t want to use public transportation.
There are more people transferring from the local to the express than waiting for the express at walnut/locust. Have you ever held the door open for someone at a store? That's how much time this transfer is making people suffer.
PATCO and the Riverline are fine on weekdays during peak hours. PATCO is five minutes or less, Riverline is every 15 and sometimes a double train.
On the weekends, you can take just PATCO or just the Riverline, and you'll do okay.
But if you need to take both...yeah you're gonna kick a lot of rocks at WRTC.
While we're on the topic of the BSL "express" line... What the fuck Septa. 5 stops in a row in the city and then 3 to the north. There has to be a better way to break these up.
Every line in septa is timed so you can watch your connection leave the station. Has always been this way.
Would never happen but adding double tracks in South Philly with an express stop at Synder, Stadiums, Navy Yard and Airport would be awesome. On realistic things - Cecil B Moore should be an express stop.
Yeah and we certainly don't need 5 stops in a row on the fucking express line. At least have one stop south of walnut locust lol.
Same, but metaphorically instead of actual trains.
Looking at the map, I swear the other comment that mentioned the track sharing with the Spur has to do with it.
The Express is just about lock step with the Spur once they meet up. The Spur makes one stop the Express doesn't.
I'd dig an Express skipping down to Oregon, though.
They do sometimes, but it seems like it's completely up to the operator of the train
I have memories of having to basically teleport across the crossover at Berks station to catch the El to Frankford after getting off the 3
Race-Vine being an express stop never makes sense considering it's a block or two from City Hall
If this is Rozzie I think there's a safety issue where the duct tape holding the entire Orange Line together can't take the shearing forces if they slow down or speed up too fast.
yeah but trains >>>
Haven't had to do the old Walter Rand transfer since my then boyfriend lived in Cinnaminson 8+ years ago and I was cruising the Riverline often but god I do not miss it. Makes Septa look good by comparison.
Every time I go back through WRTC, it has been worse. 5-6 years ago there were benches and people would sleep in front of the exhaust vents for the west headhouse.
They have just been slowly removing more stuff and putting barriers around everything to make it suck even more. It's the single most hostile place I've been to.
Cecil NEEDS to be an express stop.
But then you have own a car: Insurance, parking, gas, and regular maintenance costs, plus state fees like relicensing or renewing your registration.
And, that's if you're lucky enough to not get sideswiped or have shit thrown at your car... or get a ticket.
It made sense when they built it a long time ago and the express stops were major transfer stops. Making Cecil b Moore an express stop wouldn’t be worth the massive amount of money and construction required and almost 0 time savings to CC. It would be nice though to take ridge spur trains from Cecil.
The next 3 stops are exactly the same and up until Girard there is a difference of only 1 stop. They often stop at girard for the transfer where it is quite valuable. No point transferring at Walnut, just slows both trains down.
They should be running Ridge Spur everyday.
There is significant overlap between stops on local and express from walnut/locust until Girard. In my experience, the express and local typically wait at Girard for transfers and don’t worry about it before that point.
Yes considering it has much higher ridership than Girard
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This happens at Trenton on the switch between NJ Transit and SEPTA all the time. The amount of times I’ve sprinted upstairs to switch platforms only to have SEPTA pull away …
Flashback to the time I took the train to Horsham and watched the bus pull away as the train was stopping at the station.
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The riverline is controlled by giants fans, they only care about the Newark and jersey city light rails…riverline is basically Cinderella
From a technical standpoint, I somewhat find your comment ironic, in that the “realistic” part you mentioned is one of the less realistic things you mentioned lol
4 tracks is actually possible in south, if I’m not mistaken they considered it in planning stages and I believe there would be room to expand, especially in the portions between snyder and pattison (pattison is literally a 4 track station, only issue is that the 2 & 3 tracks have a narrow platform that would be a major liability with hoards of drunk eagles fans being herded on and off trains)
Cecil on the other hand would be a bit more difficult to pull off, as it was built as a local station, and thus it (and the entire portion of line between girard and Susquehanna) would need a complete rebuild and realignment, potentially even building demolitions to make way for the wider space needed to support an express station. The only way it might work would be to route all trains to and from the 1 & 4 tracks via the nearest switches to the north and south of cecil, and if I’m not mistaken this would also have to make Susquehanna a stop for expresses too. And this idea would inevitably lead to bottlenecking in both directions, so I think temple will just have to deal with being a local stop lol
don’t get me started
Don’t worry it also happens every other day of the week too!
ActionJawnson t1_j8mwyon wrote
Cause fuck em, that's why.