Papal-visit troubles likely to hit suburbs first

The first signs of success - or trouble - related to Pope Francis' visit aren't likely to emerge near the Center City zone where the pontiff will draw historic crowds.

They'll pop up miles away and hours earlier in towns such as Tullytown, Bucks County, or the Pennbrook neighborhood of Lansdale, Montgomery County. That's where tens of thousands of Philadelphia-bound pilgrims may flock into parking lots and train platforms more accustomed to crowds in the hundreds.

Last week, Bucks County's Middletown Township said it would declare a state of emergency to pay for police overtime and other resources to accommodate the crush on the fourth weekend of September. In Montgomery County, Lower Merion officials told residents to prepare for the World Meeting of Families as if a major snowstorm were bearing down on the region.

"Gas up your car. Get your milk and your bread ahead of time," township spokesman Thomas J. Walsh said.

While most of the focus has been on Philadelphia, the impact of the papal visit continues to ripple far beyond the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Officials in the four Pennsylvania counties surrounding Philadelphia say they are fine-tuning their plans to accommodate the crush of visitors and commuters: SEPTA is closing all except 18 of its 150-plus Regional Rail stations - but a lack of detail continues to add to the uncertainty across the region.

"You have all these rumors floating around . . . the last thing you need to do is scare the public," said Mario Civera, a Delaware County councilman and member of the World Meeting of Families Planning Committee. He said "progress is being made" toward releasing more specific information.

Concerns include whether city residents will be able to reach suburban jobs at places such as the King of Prussia Mall, where hundreds of workers normally rely on buses and trains.

Commerce heading in the other direction will also be affected. Jose Garces' organic farm in Bucks County provides vegetables, fruits, and eggs to his downtown eateries. With Center City roads likely being shut down, the company may have to adjust its menu, a company spokesman said.

The problems could first be visible when as many as 10,000 pilgrims flock to each of the designated train stations. (On Monday, SEPTA will use a lottery to determine who can buy the special rail passes for the papal visit.)

Bucks County has five of those stations. On Aug. 13, local police chiefs and emergency managers will gather to discuss planning.

"The traffic management issues will be in more than just those five towns," said Scott T. Forster, the county's emergency management director. "This will probably be the largest planned event that will occur in this region in our lifetime."

That's no small matter for Tullytown, a 1.2-square-mile borough with six full-time police officers and a dozen part-timers. Its Levittown Train Station was only recently added to list of participating train stops.

SEPTA is urging passengers those days to get rides to stations. But Tullytown Police Chief Dan Doyle said he's still expecting thousands to try to park at a station with just 400 spaces.

So the chief is negotiating with Peco for parking spaces in a nearby greenway. He's also talking to the nearby St. Michael the Archangel church and school.

"It may go off without a hitch," Doyle said. Or, "you could have a situation where you could have an event - and it's easy for everyone to say woulda, coulda, shoulda. But we'll meet this challenge. We'll face it."

Andrew Busch, a SEPTA spokesman, said each of the 18 rail stations was chosen because of location and factors including compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The agency limited ridership to 5,000 at Bucks County's Croydon and Cornwells Heights stations because cars carrying riders to those stops could add more traffic to an already swollen I-95.

Matthew Mitchell, president of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, said SEPTA and the Secret Service were being smart and proactive about how to get 350,000 people into the city. But there will be less service for riders who commute from Philadelphia to jobs at suburban hospitals, malls, nursing homes, and other facilities.

"Employers . . . don't know what's going on and it's getting close to the point where they're going to panic," Mitchell said.

Busch said SEPTA was still working out bus route details, many of which are contingent on yet-to-be released no-car zones.

For instance, it's still unclear if or where city riders can catch the 124 Bus, which normally travels from 13th and Market to the King of Prussia Mall and Chesterbrook.

Lower Merion has a different sort of concern. None of its rail stations will be open that weekend, but the township includes St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where Pope Francis is expected to stay overnight.

That almost guarantees road closures.

Walsh, the township spokesman, said closure maps may not be released until after Labor Day. But he noted that with previous major events, such as the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, many people's fears never came to fruition.

Given the hype around the papal visit, some suburban residents have already settled on plans for the weekend: Hunker down at home, flee the region, or join the throngs coming to see Pope Francis.

"I'm going to work from home - the whole freaking week," said Amelia Steinmetz, 32, of Upper Merion, last week as she waited at the Gulph Mills station, one of the chosen stops, but one that has 78 parking spots.

Her friend Libby Saylor, 35, said she had considered trying to attend the event "because it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

But after hearing Steinmetz's assessment, Saylor wasn't so sure. "I might just go home to Reading."

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