PATCO to add trains for peak-service times
Ridership is up over last year. The additional service is scheduled to begin Saturday.
To cope with increasing ridership, the PATCO commuter rail line will add trains during rush hours, beginning Saturday, officials said yesterday.
PATCO will add one six-car train to its current 13-train fleet between 7 and 9 a.m. and one during the 5-to-6 p.m. commute, general manager Robert Box said. Each train can seat 500 passengers, and each will make two trips, Box said.
Annual ridership on the 14-mile PATCO commuter rail line, which operates between Center City and Lindenwold, is on pace to be the highest since 2000, at about 36,000 passengers a day, compared with 32,000 a day last year.
"Some days it's close to 40,000," Box said. "Ridership has really ramped up since we hit the $4 mark with gas."
The increases, though, could be tempered by a 10 percent hike in fares that is to take effect Sept. 14.
PATCO riders waiting at the Haddonfield station yesterday generally praised the additional service.
Matt McGrath, 45, of Haddonfield, who uses PATCO daily to get to work in the utility industry, said the added trains were needed because of standing-room-only crowds during peak periods.
"I definitely think they should add trains," McGrath said.
He added, "My biggest gripe is they raise the fares and then put an adjusted time schedule up on the board for maintenance work. You might end up standing there a half-hour, not knowing when the train will get here."
David Singleton, 51, a plastics technician from Woodbury, also applauded the new service. "But what they need to do is expand the line into the Woodbury area. They were going to do this but it hasn't happened. Trains add to the economy; they raise property values because people want to use the trains," he said.
Singleton said he takes a train and two buses to get to work each day in Mount Laurel.
Barbara Grimes, 52, of Philadelphia, says she uses PATCO twice a week to visit her daughter. She said the new trains would help because a lot more people are bringing bicycles aboard, crowding the space.
"More trains would make it easier," she said.
William Haines, 42, of Pine Hill, said he welcomed the additional service and said the trains "generally run pretty well. Sometimes they come late, but they do pretty well. It would be nice if the trains were a little cleaner. Floors are dirty, and the upholstery looks like it should be better maintained."
At current ridership levels, PATCO is expected to carry 10.2 million riders this year, up from 9.4 million in 2007 and the most since 10.6 million in 2000. PATCO's busiest year was 1976, when it had 11.5 million riders.