'Be patient:' Long lines for trains, buses as tens of thousands head out

Pilgrims' progress slowed to a snail's pace Sunday night as tens of thousands of travelers who had come to see the pope attempted to leave Philadelphia through a limited number of departure points.

Just before 10 p.m., SEPTA said most Regional Rail riders were finally on their way. That was after lines outside stations swelled to the hundreds, as transit workers hustled to fill trains capable of holding 900. Waits of an hour to three hours in line were reported.

Particularly busy was the Broad Street Subway, where visitors who had come by tour bus made their way back to their buses, waiting at the sports complex in South Philadelphia.

"It's terrible, but expected," said Joanna Tolentino, 49, of Bristow, Va.

She opened her orange folding chair, which she had brought for the Mass on the Parkway, and sat down in the line at Walnut-Locust.

A heated exchange ensued between a man in line and a woman who attempted to cut the line.

"You could be a little nicer," she said to the man.

His response was to point a finger and bark, "Back of the line!"

Despite the crush Sunday, the verdict on the weekend was that far fewer people than anticipated used mass transit to see Pope Francis. SEPTA's preliminary numbers showed 62,946 people rode Regional Rail over the weekend, about half the number who bought the special passes needed to use the system during Francis' stay. Sunday brought 34,371 people in by Regional Rail.

PATCO reported 25,961 boarded its trains over the weekend, with 14,481 of those arriving from South Jersey on Sunday. The agency had been prepared to transport 75,000 people with papal passes, as well as riders with regular fare cards.

Still, with only three Regional Rail stations open in the city, transit agencies were hard-pressed Sunday to move people quickly at the end of festivities. Trains began transporting people outbound to the 18 active Regional Rail stations as of 5:30 p.m., with the agencies determined to run trips every half hour until everyone who wanted to leave left.

"Be patient," advised Jeff Knueppel, the man who next week takes over as SEPTA's general manager. "It's just very simple math. How many people can come in over so many hours and how many can go out in a shorter time?"

A queue for the Warminster Line at Jefferson Station grew from almost no one to 350 people in a matter of minutes shortly before 7 p.m. By 6:45 p.m., the line for the Lansdale-Doylestown Line included 500 people.

By 7, the line for Broad Street subways at the Walnut-Locust station stretched three blocks west to 17th Street. SEPTA used buses to supplement trains to move people back to the sports complex.

At Jefferson Station, Walt O'Rourke, 54, looked ahead to 500 people in front of him and 100 behind as he waited for a train on the Lansdale-Doylestown Line.

"It's all part of it," said O'Rourke, of Lansdale, still happy after having attended the Sunday Mass. "You've just got to be patient."

Despite the crowds, reports were that the mass movement of humanity proceeded relatively well. By 8:30 p.m. lines had begun to shrink from three blocks to one.

Joyce McFarland, 48, of Lapwai, Idaho, was moved by Philadelphia's warmth even as she waited in line.

"Even with this," she said, indicating the line stretching over a block ahead of her, "everyone is kind and behaving."

A member of the Nez Percé nation, she wore a long blue-and-white robe and her black hair in braids. She had arrived with 40 other Catholic representatives from native groups. Sunday night, she was heading to a hotel in Lansdale, and would return to Idaho on Tuesday.

The pilgrimage into the city began as early as 6 a.m. for some. As the day began, the only sign of overcrowding at Jefferson Station was at the men's bathroom - which women were using, to reduce the line to their restroom.

The men, in the meantime, waited outside. As the last woman walked out, the men clapped and a SEPTA worker moved away from the entrance, telling those in line, "You guys enjoy."

Near one of the exits to Jefferson, Rob Nedumakel, 37, of Yardley, waited as his 2-year-old son's diaper was changed in the bathroom downstairs. They had a long day ahead.

But the SEPTA ride from Woodbourne that arrived around noon, he said, "couldn't have been better."

Full trains arrived at the Ninth-10th and Locust PATCO station Sunday afternoon, as many people were encouraged by the relatively painless travel - the opposite of the dire overcrowding originally predicted.

"There's just excitement in the air," said Bob Leso, 48, who decided to take PATCO from the Walter Rand Transportation Center after seeing many parking spots were still open in Camden. "There haven't been any problems at all."

A group from St. Paul's Church in Allentown rode by bus along the Schuylkill Expressway, which had been closed to all traffic but registered buses and emergency vehicles.

"It was surreal," said Jeff Roeder, 33, a pharmacist. "It was empty."

For some, the exodus began earlier than they had planned. Intensive security precautions for people trying to enter the Mass led many to turn back rather than stand in line for more hours.

The Rigsby family came from Jasper, Ala., but walked away from the Mass. "We saw him last night," said Mary Rigsby, smiling.

The family gave its tickets to another family that hadn't seen the pope Saturday.

By 6 p.m., trains in Paoli were already disgorging hundreds of passengers, tired but jubilant after seeing the pope.

"Awesome, just awesome," said Ann Kavanaugh, 58, a volunteer from Berwyn, as she stepped off the train.

She hadn't expected to see the pontiff up close, but her assignment led her to stand within 10 feet of him.

"It was overwhelming," she said.

jlaughlin@phillynews.com

215-854-4587

@jasmlaughlin

Inquirer staff writers Justine McDaniel and Don Sapatkin contributed to this article.