Tourist in your Hometown
June 23, 2016
ISEPTAPHILLY
It's summertime, ISEPTAPHILLYers, and the living is easy.
Summertime, in all it's sunshine and humidity and high-temp glory, is a time for wandering. And for those of you sticking around the city, take advantage of the emptier streets (for the shoobies are gone for the season). It's the perfect time to become a tourist in your own town.
Which is exactly what we did yesterday. Our ISEPTAPHILLY team has a new intern, who is familiar with the Broad Street Line, but hasn't explored the modes SEPTA offers outside of Center City. So we took him! And why not, ISEPTAPHILLYers? It was a warm, sunny afternoon, the perfect climate for exploring.
Our first stop would be Manayunk, but we had to get there from Center City, and we were in between Regional Rail trains. So instead, we caught the Route 27 bus from 15th and JFK, getting off at Manayunk Ave and Roxborough Ave. From there, we headed down the hill towards Main Street.
Regional Rail tracks in the distance.
It was to be our biggest gap between lifts, but we still only had 20 minutes to wait for the train. Which was okay, because we got to view some of the surrounding street art of Manayunk, as well as glance at the shops that lined our walk towards the station.
Street art underneath the train tracks, Cresson Street.
The train arrived at 3:01p, and we headed outbound, away from the city. The ride out of Manayunk is beautiful too, we went through the woods and along the abandoned canal towards Ivy Ridge. That same view flanked us as the train skated into Spring Mill, before the tracks widened out at Conshohocken. Norristown is just a shade past there, and an impressive Transportation Center.
There is a childlike excitement that comes with riding a new mode of transportation, and that excitement remains even for riding an atypical mode, or one that you just don't use frequently. We experienced that yesterday, watching the Norristown High Speed Line, or the "old P&W" (as it has been nicknamed by locals) come speeding through the trees in the distance. The Norristown High Speed Line (NHSL) is a 13.4 miles interurban rapid transit line running between Upper Darby and Norristown. The rail line runs entirely on its own right-of-way.
The Old P&W
On board, we relaxed on the vinyl seats, getting comfortable in the air conditioning for the high speed trip that would take us to 69th Street Transportation Center.
Once we reached 69th Street, we were back in familiar territory. Which is never a bad thing. We had just successfully transferred to and from 3 different modes of public transportation, and we still needed to cover 56 blocks on the Market-Frankford Line, which was simple, as always. We boarded an El train that was already waiting for us on the tracks, and within a minute, we were off, heading back east, towards SEPTA Headquarters.
We even got the best seat on the train.
So go forth, ISEPTAPHILLYers! Be a tourist in your own town. Plot out your itinerary, plan your connections, start your journey!
