Off the Beat
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| Constant construction makes SEPTA such a pain. (Photo by Ryan Leske) |
SEPTA blows.
Grime-mired terminals. Iron Age tokens. Rusty turnstiles.
This weekend, take advantage of their cooler twin: NJ Transit.
Yeah, public transit is better on the other side of the Delaware River. And free, too.
Until this Sunday, any student can hop on NJ Transit for absolutely nothing. That’s 752 trips per day on 240 bus routes or 11 commuter lines in America’s largest state transit system.
And you thought Jersey was just a strip of asphalt leading to New York.
Speaking of NYC, NJ Transit offers a service from 30th Street Station to Penn Station. Usually, roundtrip tickets cost around $25. Lucky you. Just sit tight for two or three hours, and you’re in the Big Apple.
Wanna be really lazy? Board Penn Transit and cruise down in style to 30th Street Station. If you have just a day bag that’ll fit on your lap, call 898-RIDE.
Or take the LUCY. With your PennCard, you can ride for free around University City.
Or venture out into the boondocks of New Jersey. They’ve got, um, you know, the Jersey devil and lots of diners. Highway tolls and turnpikes. Even Jimmy Hoffa’s chopped up bits.
But there’s still the problem of getting around Philadelphia. Or around campus for that matter. At about $4 per roundtrip, taking SEPTA once a week comes to around $100 bucks a year.
One word: bike. Cuts travel time in half. Want to get from FroGro to DRL in 5 minutes? Want to punch someone in the face, steal their cell phone, and get away with it?
Bikes are perfect for those hijinks. Boycott SEPTA. Save the environment. Pedal away into the sunset.
You can even ditch the jerks on Craigslist and buy one for cheap at the Neighborhood Bike Works in the basement of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (right next to Civic House).
Until then, just say goodbye to Philly and its derelict, insolvent transit system in three easy steps:
Click. Print. Clip.
Off the Beat appears every Friday.
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September 22nd, 2007 at 3:25 am
And by $4, you mean $2.60
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
NJ transit doesn’t offer service from 30th street station…you have to take septa to trenton
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm
it’s easy to say ‘boycott SEPTA’ when you don’t depend on it to get to and from work in order to support a family. It’s not designed primarily to transport penn students around the city; it’s for commuters.
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Will boycotting SEPTA help resolve its many issues? What it needs are more riders before it can improve, not less.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:35 am
It won’t get more riders until it starts having some concern for the customers it serves.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Great post as usual! I really hope you go into journalism when you graduate.
And hope all is well at Penn!