SEPTA schedule for Eagles parade: What to know about Market-Frankford Line, BSL, Regional Rail service
As the city of Philadelphia celebrates the Eagles' Super Bowl victory parade up Broad Street and the Ben Franklin Parkway on Friday, SEPTA will be changing its service plan to ferry riders to and from the massive event.
The transit agency will be limiting stops and have express-type rail service on the Broad Street Line and Market-Frankford Line, according to a news release.
Trips on both the BSL and MFL lines will be free thanks to sponsorships from Nike, Duracell and Gran Coramino, a tequila brand founded by Kevin Hart and a partner with the Eagles.
Officials recommend making a plan early for parade day. Fans traveling on public transportation should expect to experience longer wait times, especially immediately after the celebration on the parkway ends around 3 p.m.
SEPTA Regional Rail schedule for Feb. 14 Eagles parade
Plans are also shifting for the Regional Rail on parade day, Feb. 14. In the morning, trains will only operate inbound into Philadelphia starting at 4:30 a.m. until 10:50 a.m. Then, there's a break until 2 p.m. After the parade, trains will only operate outbound — carrying passengers out of the city.
Trains will only stop at Jefferson and 30th Street stations in the city — there will be no service to Suburban Station, Penn Medicine Station or Temple University. Riders can expect trains to run approximately every 30 minutes.
Unlike the BSL and MFL, fares are still required for the Regional Rail trains on parade day.
And you have to be prepared: SEPTA says no Regional Rail tickets and passes can be purchased in person Friday. You will have to have a valid Key Card or pre-purchase a special One Day Pass that is for sale on Wednesday and Thursday only. The following sales offices will have extended hours to purchase event passes: 1234 Market Street, 30th Street, Bryn Mawr, Cornwells Heights, Fox Chase, Jefferson Station, Jenkintown, Lansdale, Marcus Hook, Media, Norristown, Paoli, Penn Medicine Station, Primos, Suburban Station, Temple and Warminster.
SEPTA interim General Manager Scott A. Sauer said riders will have their fare tickets validated before boarding a train, and cars will be loaded on a first-come, first-served basis.
"We're going to pre-validate everybody's fares before they board," Sauer said.
These are the stations that will be open on each of SEPTA's Regional Rail lines.
- Airport Line: Eastwick, Terminals A, B, C/D and E/F. 30-minute service throughout the day.
- Chestnut Hill East Line: Chestnut Hill East and Wyndmoor.
- Chestnut Hill West Line: No train service. Customers can use Chestnut Hill East.
- Cynwyd Line: No train service.
- Fox Chase Line: Fox Chase Station.
- Lansdale/Doylestown Line: Doylestown, Lansdale, North Wales, Ambler, and Fort Washington.
- Manayunk/Norristown Line: Elm Street, Norristown Transportation Center, and Manayunk.
- Media/Wawa Line: Wawa, Media, and Primos.
- Paoli/Thorndale Line: Thorndale, Exton, Paoli, Wayne, and Bryn Mawr.
- Trenton Line: Trenton, Levittown, and Cornwells Heights.
- Warminster Line: Warminster and Jenkintown-Wyncote.
- West Trenton Line: West Trenton, Woodbourne, Langhorne and Philmont.
- Wilmington/Newark Line: Wilmington, Marcus Hook and Norwood.
"Regional Rail is just going to be very compact and long wait times," Sauer said. "People who need to get in for other reasons, other than a parade, you have to plan accordingly."
Buses and trolleys will also have regular fares in place Friday. Several bus routes will be detoured due to the barricades along Broad and the Parkway.
Broad Street Line and Market-Frankford Line Service
Subway trains will run on a special event schedule on Friday. SEPTA says trains should run every 6-8 minutes, starting just after 4:30 a.m. and ending at about 12:30 a.m. on Saturday.
The trains will make only the following stops on each line:
Broad Street
- Fern Rock Transit Center
- Olney Transit Center
- Erie
- North Philadelphia
- Cecil B. Moore
- Race-Vine
- Walnut-Locust
- Snyder
- Oregon
- NRG
Market-Frankford
- 69th Street Transit Center
- 60th Street
- 52nd Street
- 40th Street
- Drexel Station at 30th Street
- 11th Street
- Girard
- Huntingdon
- Allegheny
- Erie-Torresdale
- Arrott Transit Center
- Frankford Transit Center
"What was ask from our customers is patience," Sauer said. "We can't move everybody in at the same time, and we can't take everybody home at the same time."
SEPTA says Broad Street Line service from Fern Rock Transit Center will start at 4:45 a.m. and NRG Station a few minutes later at 4:52 a.m.
Service at Frankford Transportation Center begins at 4:36 a.m. while 69th Street starts at 4:45 a.m.
"There's no best location necessarily where you won't wait," Sauer said. "You will wait everywhere you go."
Pennsport bar Moonshine is also offering fans a way to get to and from the parade route.
"This year's a little bit bigger, but still probably not as big as we need to be. But hey, we're gonna figure it out. It's gonna be fun," Moonshine co-owner Rich Fattori said.
Fattori is bringing back the shuttle he ran for the Eagles champions parade back in 2018. His bar will open at 8 a.m. for breakfast, serving breakfast sandwiches, mimosas, bloody marys and coffee. Then, the shuttle will run people from the bar near Moyamensing and Mifflin to as close as they can get to Broad and either Snyder or Washington.
"I know a lot of people want to be on that first bus because it's gonna be crazy, but I've been telling everyone, if you miss the first bus, it's gonna come right back," said Fattori.
The shuttle will run continuously from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fattori says that after that, the bar will be open, and the speeches will be shown on TV.
How many people can SEPTA trains bring into the city?
Sauer said the Broad Street and Market-Frankford lines can bring about 55,000 people into the city each hour. Over the six hours of parade time, that equates to about 300,000 people.
"This is an all hands on deck for SEPTA," Sauer said.
Regional Rail has a much smaller capacity, Sauer said. Those trains can bring about 70,000 people into the city and 70,000 out.
Parking for SEPTA stations is limited
With many people traveling from outside the city inward, parking will be limited at Regional Rail stations.
"SEPTA is urging customers who are planning to use rail services to arrange to be dropped off at or near their station. Parking will be limited at SEPTA stations and surrounding locations, and available spots are expected to fill up quickly," SEPTA said in the news release.
SEPTA also said there will be no parking at the sports complex in South Philadelphia.
NJ Transit, PATCO and fans coming from New Jersey
For fans coming from South Jersey, PATCO is running westbound only from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Trains will leave from Lindenwold, Woodcrest, Ferry Avenue and City Hall into 9th and 10th and Locust streets in Philadelphia.
"We also are recommending that they look to pre-purchase their tickets beforehand," PATCO general manager John Rink said. "We will be selling tickets the day of the event."
New Jersey Transit is also adding service for parade day. The agency is adding some additional capacity to select Atlantic City Rail Line trains. That includes an extra train from Atlantic City to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station departing at 7:35 a.m. and arriving in Philly at 9:14 a.m. An extra train will depart Philadelphia at 3:54 p.m. and arrive in Atlantic City at 5:36 p.m., NJ Transit said.
Additional bus service will be added along the River Line, NJ Transit said. Access Link will cancel all trips to and from Philadelphia.
Some bus schedule changes are also in place on NJ Transit:
- From 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., all Philadelphia bus service will be adjusted due to street closures and will make a single stop in Center City at 6th/Race Street. During this adjusted service, customers should plan to be at 6th/Race Street at the arrival times shown on the timetable.
- During the afternoon and evening peak period, routes 414/417/555 will not board at 30th Street Station. Customers must go to the 6th/Race Street stop and use the existing Market/7th Streets departure time shown on their timetable for guidance.
NJ Transit's Philadelphia bus service will return to normal after 7 p.m.
NJ Transit is prohibiting all beverages on trains, buses and light rail to and from Philadelphia on Friday, and there will be increased police presence, according to the announcement from the agency.
For fans looking for an alternative, Starr Bus Charter and Tours, based in Mercer County, is offering shuttle service to the city. Tickets cost $59, and there are multiple pickup stops around the Delaware Valley.
"So far, we've got just about a thousand Eagles fans booked on our buses, 15 buses so far," Sandy Borowsky, owner of Starr Bus Charter and Tours, said, "but we're trying to keep adding buses."
