SEPTA Regional Rail regional commuter rail trains stop in Center City at underground commuter rail tunnels. The three major center city stops, 30th Street Station, Suburban Station and Market East Station, will drop you off right in the center of it all. Suburban Station is near City Hall, the shopping district, the financial district, and many cultural attractions; Market East Station connects to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, shopping at The Gallery ("Four blocks long, four stories high!") and the Reading Terminal Market, a famous local marketplace. Traveling within Center City is considered a "Zone 1" fare and will cost $3. Seniors ride for $1. Fares to other destinations are up to $8. Between Temple University, the city center stations and University City, service is generally frequent enough that you won't need a schedule. Service in other areas tends to be about every hour, with more frequent service during peak hours. The R1 Airport comes every 30 minutes from about 4:30 AM to midnight 7 days a week, and R5 Paoli/Thorndale and R5 Lansdale/Doylestown also have half-hourly service during the day on weekdays. The lightly-used R6 Cynwyd only comes Monday through Friday on an erratic, rush hour centered schedule.
Beware that while lines are numbered R1 through R8, there are actually 13 lines so some numbers belong to more than one line. For example, the R3 West Trenton will take you to suburbs northeast of the city while the R3 will take you southwest. Be sure to check the destination of the train before boarding. Conductors are generally polite and helpful at providing information, though not always.
New Jersey Transit RiverLINE is a lightrail line serving 20 stations between Trenton and Camden, NJ. The line connects with DRPA's PATCO Hi-Speed Line at Camden's Walter Rand Transportation Center. RiverLINE travels North-South along the Delaware River entirely in New Jersey. One-way fare between Trenton and Camden, NJ is $1.50. There are reduced fare options for senior citizens, children and families. Monthly passes are available. Trains come every 15 minutes during rush hours but only every 30 minutes at other times. There is no late evening service except on Saturday nights.
New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line provides service to suburbs in New Jersey and to Atlantic City. Service patterns are somewhat uneven; be sure to check the schedule online in advance. These trains pick up passengers from the Amtrak concourse at 30th Street station.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Philadelphia
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Philadelphia - updated May 2024
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Philadelphia Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
