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Big transit crowds - but far below predictions

Whether by train, bus or foot, thousands of pilgrims made the last stage of their journeys into Philadelphia Saturday in high spiritis - but not nearly in the numbers predicted by transit officials.

Whether by train, bus or foot, thousands of pilgrims made the last stage of their journeys into Philadelphia Saturday in high spiritis - but not nearly in the numbers predicted by transit officials.

From across the region, the biggest surprise was how little transportation chaos seemed to have resulted from the pope's visit. Representatives of the Delaware River Port Authority and Penndot described traffic on major roads, including Interstate 95, as flowing freely despite closures on the Schyulkill Expressway and I-676. On the Ben Franklin Bridge, shut down to all but pedestrians, the foot traffic was light, DRPA spokesman Kyle Anderson said.

"It's less than expected volume," said SEPTA General Manager Joe Casey as he observed the morning's arrivals from a command center high above Market Street at the transportation agency's headquarters.

Preliminary numbers from the 18 regional rail stations showed 28,575 passengers had used special papal passes to enter the city Saturday morning. Almost half of the papal passes sold for those stations went unused, officials said.

As anticipated, the Paoli-Thorndale line across the western suburbs was the busiest, with 6,860 riders boarding at Paoli and Radnor combined. But as of Friday night SEPTA had been expecting nearly twice that - 12,067 riders. A few stations, like Croydon and Levittown in Bucks County, had ridership on par with a typical workday.

Passengers were only being allowed onto the regional rail trains if they had obtained a special papal pass. Sales of those ended Friday.

In New Jersey, meanwhile, about 16,000 riders used PATCO trains to come into the city. That too, was well below projections.

There had been signals in recent weeks that public transit ridership would be lighter than anticipated. SEPTA was prepared to move 164,000 people on Saturday, and as of Thursday had sold a far lower number - 55,463 passes - for Saturday trips. The agency transported about 18 percent of the people it had prepared to move. PATCO had prepared 75,000 papal passes.

SEPTA officials wondered aloud about the diminished ridership while observing the easy flow of passengers Saturday morning. The agency was prepared for large numbers of Philadelphians to come into Center City through the transit system, but both the Market Frankford and the Broad Street line were lightly traveled Saturday.

"I guess with the Saturday schedule and the event that's taking place, we're doing well," said William Bolden, an assistant train dispatcher.

A Coatesville couple that bought passes was among those who chose not to use them, discouraged, they said, by predictions of paralyzing lines at stations.

"We kept hearing it was going ot be very busy," said Francis Murphy, 53, who decided to leave the Septa passes at home - and traveled with his wife into the city on Amtrak instead.

Rather than try to get out of the city by rail, Murphy said, he and his wife reserved an AirBnB near the Parkway and will spend the weekend in the city.

"We won't use them," he said of the passes. "We tried to give them to other people but they weren't interested."

A Feasterville man, Tim Murphy, no relation to Francis Murphy, won a lottery that granted him 10 papal rail passes each day. His wife won passes, too, but they both decided to buy no passes when they learned they had to buy all 10 passes obtained through the lottery, even though they only needed five for each day. They may try to attend the papal mass tomorrow, the 33-year-old said, but they stayed home on Saturday.

"It just was overhyped," he said. "It seemed like very chaotic. The mayor [Nutter] had his fingerprints all over the whole thing."

For those who braved the threats of big crowds and long lines, travel Saturday was better - and often more fun - than anyone could pray for.

"It was like 1,000 percent better than I expected," said Janice Cook, 62, of Philadelphia, who took the SEPTA train from the Fox Chase section around 8 a.m. to Jefferson Station in the city.

The good vibes continued even as celebrants crowded into the city's only three active regional rail stations, Jefferson, 30th Street and University City, Saturday night to leave the city. The other stops were closed for the papal visit.

Two priests from a northern suburb of New York City, Revs. Jeff Pomeisl and Kenny Riello, qwaited at Jefferson Station to return to the home of friends in Warminster.

"The trains did a good job," said Riello.

"Not bad at all," agreed Pomeisl. "It was a lot better getting in on the trains this morning than when we drove into Philadelphia a week ago."

Many travellers were treated with music in the morning, courtesy of people like DJ Tom Dalton, who was mixing pop tunes by Rod Stewart and George Harrison with religious music at the Paoli station by 7 a.m. Jimmy Trevino, 59, from San Antonio, Texas, said people on his SEPTA train from the airport were singing. One was playing guitar.

"It was pretty nice, everybody was talking to each other," he said.

Others had more difficult odysseys, but still arrived optimistic about seeing the pontiff.

Rose Morrisette, 65, of Petersburg, Va., received tickets for Saturday's Festival of Families only a few days ago and is staying with family in Hatboro. She wasn't able to get SEPTA passes, she said, and instead she and her friend Gail Marasco, of Bradford, drove to Camden and got on a PATCO train.

"I wasn't going to come because I'm old," she said. "But my daughter said, 'you have to. You can do it.'"

25,000 came into the city by bus, with another 50,000 expected Sunday. Some made the trek across the Ben Franklin Bridge, singing as they walked. One woman took neither train or bus, but instead used simply a crutch.

Olga Perez, 47, of Camden, was determined to make it across the bridge despite a stress fracture in her right leg.

"It means a lot," said Perez, who wore fuzzy brown bedroom slippers. "I feel blessed."

jlaughlin@phillynews.com

215-854-4587

@jasmlaughlin

Melanie Burney, Michael Boren, Joe DiStefano and Kathy Boccella contributed to this report.