SEPTA's Regional Rail ridership sets record
Transit agency says total trips are up 2.2 percent from previous year.
SEPTA SAW record ridership on its Regional Rail system last fiscal year with 36 million trips, the agency said yesterday.
Ridership on the transit authority's 13 Regional Rail lines between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013, was up 2.2 percent from the previous year. SEPTA recorded 337.9 million trips on trains, buses and trolleys for the year. That number was down about 2 million trips from the previous year, but includes a two-day shutdown due to Superstorm Sandy.
SEPTA said Regional Rail ridership has increased 50 percent over the last 15 years. The agency attributed some of the recent rise to 120 new Silverliner V rail cars that replaced cars that dated back to the mid-1960s.
The transit authority plans to begin conversion to a smart-card system later this year, although Regional Rail riders are not expected to see the technology until 2014.
- Solomon Leach