SEPTA gathered with elected officials and other stakeholders on Monday to cut the ribbon at its new Wissahickon Transit Center in Northwest Philadelphia. Service to the state-of-the-art transit hub, located at 5000 Ridge Ave, began on Sunday.
With an average of more than 5,000 weekday riders, Wissahickon Transit Center has higher ridership than almost all of SEPTA’s outlying Regional Rail stations. The new center is more than six times the size of the former facility, fully ADA accessible, and boasts significant safety upgrades with improved lighting, signage and security cameras, …
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SEPTA gathered with elected officials and other stakeholders on Monday to cut the ribbon at its new Wissahickon Transit Center in Northwest Philadelphia. Service to the state-of-the-art transit hub, located at 5000 Ridge Ave, began on Sunday.
With an average of more than 5,000 weekday riders, Wissahickon Transit Center has higher ridership than almost all of SEPTA’s outlying Regional Rail stations. The new center is more than six times the size of the former facility, fully ADA accessible, and boasts significant safety upgrades with improved lighting, signage and security cameras, according to SEPTA.
Construction on the approximately $50 million project began in the spring of 2023.
This latest facility upgrade follows news that SEPTA has recently received leased railcars to ease continued shortages on its Regional Rail lines. SEPTA said it had taken delivery of 10 leased coach cars to increase capacity. The one-year agreement with Maryland Area Regional Commuter Rail (MARC) will provide “some relief to customers in the coming weeks,” SEPTA said in a news release.
The additional cars will “enhance safety and reliability on Regional Rail,” said General Manager Scott A. Sauer. “… This has been an extremely difficult time for our Regional Rail riders, and the MARC cars will allow us to add much-needed capacity for our customers.”
SEPTA is making repairs to its aging Silverliner IV trains following the completion of federally mandated inspections of the entire fleet. While Regional Rail reliability should gradually improve as more railcars are repaired and returned to service, riders will continue to face service disruptions, according to the release.
The MARC cars will be used as needed across the Regional Rail network. SEPTA said it also is talking to transit agencies across North America about the possibility of similar arrangements.
