SEPTA Could Add Levittown Station to Papal Transit Plan
Pope Francis| giulio napolitano / Shutterstock.com. Map | SEPTA
People hoping to attend the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis’ visit in September could have another location to board SEPTA regional rail trains into Philadelphia.
According to a report yesterday in the Bucks County Courier Times, the Levittown-Tullytown Station on SEPTA’s Trenton regional rail line was added to the list of boarding locations in Bucks and Montgomery Counties that are expected to serve around 70,000 visitors to the WMOF Congress and the Papal visit on September 27th.
Jerri Williams, director of media relations for SEPTA, would not confirm that the station had been added, but did say that SEPTA is looking at making minor tweaks to the current transit plan for the WMOF and Pope Francis‘ visit.
Levittown Station has roughly 400 parking spots and could serve 11,000 people that week. The article also reports that SEPTA will pre-sell special tickets for trips from the station to Center City. Under SEPTA’s pope plan, Levittown Station would be the third on the Trenton line — which terminates at Trenton Transit Center in New Jersey — in addition to Croydon in Bristol Township and Cornwells Heights in Bensalem, next to I-95.
Tullytown Police Chief Dan Doyle could not immediately be reached for comment.
In addition to getting ready for a possible SEPTA transit change, officials in lower Bucks County are preparing for emergency situations during the event.
Bensalem officials are considering the possibility of issuing parking permits for area residents and restricting parking for nearly everyone else during that week, the Courier Times reported. Bensalem is home to many hotels and businesses. Bristol Township officials are looking for emergency access paths onto I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which Kevin Dippolito, Bristol’s emergency management director, said could become gridlocked. “We’re looking at areas where we could literally take stretchers up over the barrier wall,” he told the newspaper.
Middletown Township, home to the Oxford Valley Mall and Sesame Place as well as many hotels, could be placed under a state of emergency, Chief of Police Joseph Bartorilla said to the paper.
Bucks County is looking at a large logistical spiderweb for the week of these events. Stay tuned for any updates to the transportation plan as they unfold in the coming weeks.
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