Philly Phans trying to get to the parade Friday were left stranded; some waiting for at least an hour, at regional rail stations across the area.
SEPTA trains were filling up quick at the first stops, which meant riders down the line were left waiting, and waiting, and waiting, taunted as train after train rolled on by.
Just 45 minutes before the parade was set to get on way, people were still waiting.
But, SEPTA wasn’t the only one with problems, PATCO had their share of delays too.
Parking lots were full and trains were jam-packed.
Six car trains were leaving every six minutes and, by the early afternoon, there was a two-hour delay just getting into a station to buy a ticket, according to PATCO spokesman Ed Kasuba.
Oh, and that’s just BEFORE the parade…
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All inbound regional rail trains were suspended by SEPTA from 1-2 pm so that shuttles could get phans out of Center City.
Trains rolling southbound on the Broad Street Subway, starting at 3:30 pm, were forced to empty out at the Race/Vine station, until 6:15 pm. Northbound trains ran their normal route, starting at the Sports Complex up to Fern Rock station.
NJ Transit was forced to stop their bus service around 3:30 pm because they couldn’t get around the streets of Philadelphia.
But, hopefully phans held on to their NJ Transit tickets as they needed them to hitch a ride back over the bridge. PATCO said they would honor all NJ Transit tickets.
Here's some record breaking numbers for the day, according to SEPTA:
- SEPTA had 300,000 passengers on the regional rail lines Friday. On a normal Friday? SEPTA sees about 135, 000 passengers.
- SEPTA had around 400,000 passengers on the subway Friday. Any other Friday they see around 150,000.
