Grey’s Ferry This is where the plan begins.
I used to live in Point Breeze, before moving to Philly I thought a walk from 19th st to Broad st to get on the subway would be an everyday occurrence. I was wrong for a few reasons. First of all, I have a car and a bicycle, so despite my affinity for transit and preference to use it when possible, the subways themselves are not so useful, and transit in Philadelphia really means buses, which are slow and unpredictable and its generally agreed, they just suck. The bus sucks. Everyone knows it.
Besides being noisy and polluting, they are less reliable than rail transit and subject to traffic and stops meaning a private car is invariably faster (unless its stuck behind a bus, then they can be tied. But a determined driver can usually get around one, even by going up a block if neccessary) .
To native Philadelphians that all may seem like common logic, but back in NYC and in many other more populated and/or more developed cities, the primarily grade separated transit system is often much faster than personal vehicles, especially at rush hour.
Grey’s ferry is close to center city, yet it is so far. Despite being a stone’s throw from one of the country’s major urban centers, the people are largely dependent on cars, and those that cannot afford cars have punishing commutes on buses (if you ask me, any commute that involves a bus is punishing.)
So what about those tracks on 25th st? All we need is some rolling stock and a few stations, and maybe the structure could take a bit of shoring up as well while they’re at it, but as it stands the tracks serve as a division, an archetypal ‘wrong side of the tracks scenario’ and also a path of blight and underdevelopment along 25th st itself. Transit could instead turn 25th st into an anchor st for the neighborhood’s revitalization, maybe bring some retail, some jobs, less shootings, who knows.
This proposed service would run from Suburban station westbound to 30th st following the existing path of trains bound for University City Septa, diverging from there to cross the rail bridge into south Philadelphia ,stopping at Grey’s Ferry avenue outside Naval Square before turning onto the elevated right of way along 25th st. Southbound along 25th st the service will make local stops before entering the only new right of way along the route, a proposed underground segment along snyder avenue eastbound from 25th, bringing the line to its end at Broad st, with a connection to that line for game day service. North from 25th.
The line is worth building if for no other reason than to provide a direct route for sports fans from 30th st to the stadiums, facilitating the use of transit for Suburbanites and West Philly residents alike. If the connection were built, some septa trains could even be routed directly from the main line to the stadiums, wouldn’t that be nice, main-liners?
So there you have it, the 25th St El.