[sdiy] way OT: what's the dilly with subways in Philly?

[David Moylan]

I live in Philly and I'm not too far from the 'L' which is elevated on 
the East and West sides and subway in center city.  Philly only really 
has two subway lines (compared to how many in NYC?), the 'L' and the 
Broad Street Subway and they basically form a cross on the city map. 
If you're not going somewhere on the cross or you're not coming from 
somewhere on the cross it's not too convenient.  Personally, I hate 
driving/parking in center city so I take the 'L' or my bike whenever 
possible.

 From my understanding Philly is still one of the most segregated cities 
in America.  So it depends on where you're riding the subway.  South 
Philly is more white, North Philly more black, West Philly more black 
once past U of Penn. and my end of the 'L' I guess more mixed.  This 
generalization of course ignores the Hispanic, Asian and every other 
community in Philly.  And I'm also ignoring the trolleys which run in 
West Philly and part of center city.

Although I bitch terribly about parking in Philly it's nothing like NYC 
and human beings being generally lazy, people who have a car tend to 
drive.  Also, the subways don't run late at night which puts a damper on 
riders going out at night.  I think it would be a major improvement for 
Philly to run them late on weekends, keep the drunk drivers off the 
roads etc.

Generally, SEPTA (southeast PA transportation authority) sucks, but they 
have an extremely tough time monetarily given the lack of attention that 
public transportation gets in the area.  I used to live in West Philly 
and rode the trolley every day and thought it was great.  I still think 
the L is super if I'm going certain places.  In fact, I'll most likely 
ride it tomorrow to Independence Hall to see Ron Paul speak but that's a 
different off-topic altogether.....

Dave

Louis van Dompselaar wrote:
> Well, having travelled in quite a few subways, metros and undergrounds 
> around the world, I can say that I never felt it to be a "lower class" 
> thing anywhere.  In the biggest cities, it's usually one of the most 
> convenient ways to travel the larger distances.  I've been in the 
> London, NYC, Boston MA, Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam 
> subways.  That's it, I think.  Not Philly though, although I was in 
> Philly two months ago.
> 
>> The subway wasn't nasty and it was a convenient way to get back home 
>> after a long day of walking. IS having a car to drive around some kind 
>> of status thing? Friends from NY say every and all kinds of people 
>> ride the subway. Maybe driving in NY is way more of a hassle. So I 
>> guess it must come down to a socioeconomic thing.
> 
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