1. My hotel is right next to Jefferson station. Would it be easier to take Regional Rail or the Market-Frankford Line from 30th Street station with 2 suitcases and a small bag? Is there any cost difference? If it matters, I will be arriving about 5 PM on a Saturday and leaving at 12 PM on a Wednesday.
2. What type of ticket would be best to get? I want to ride all the systems at least once, although we will probably be using mostly the subway. We will also probably need the trolleys and the Regional Rail a couple times.
3. Which Regional Rail line has the best scenery? I was thinking about riding Regional Rail to Norristown and then the High Speed Line back. Is that a good choice?
4. How much do SEPTA/NJT tickets cost for a trip to NYP? Would it be cheaper to take PATCO/River Line to Trenton?
5. Is there any bag storage available at 30th Street station?
Answers to my questions:
1. With the included fare I took the Regional Rail both coming and going, although I also rode the Market-Frankford Line numerous times throughout the trip. 30th Street Station was easy to navigate although riding the commuter rail carrying what turned out to be four large bags was difficult. On the return to 30th Street I brought the two checked bags in the morning to avoid the hassle and so that we could enjoy the city for a few more hours. Out of at least 5 rides within Center City on the Regional Rail, tickets were only checked once and that was on an inbound that terminated at Suburban station, likely because the conductors knew that anyone getting on was not travelling past Center City to a place where tickets are normally checked.
2. I ended up getting an Independence Pass for one day to explore the system. Other than that, we paid for individual rides on the rapid transit lines. When using the Regional Rail within Center City, I was never forced to buy a ticket as the one time they checked for them was one of the days on which I was also travelling on Amtrak. One time we only had debit cards so were forced to walk from a trolley subway station to a rapid transit station as trolleys only accepted cash. I was not prepared for this because the 30th Street and City Hall trolley stations are within the rapid transit gates and can therefore be paid for with a card. I assumed all of the underground stations would have this feature, which was not the case.
3. With my Independence Pass I first rode the Manayunk/Norristown Line to its endpoint at Norristown Elm Street. I then walked back to the Norristown Transportation Center via downtown. Following this, I boarded the Norristown High Speed Line bound for 69th Street Transportation Center. At 69th Street, I transferred to the 102 trolley bound for Sharon Hill. I detrained at Clifton-Alden to board the Media/Elwyn Regional Rail Line back to Center City. I changed trains to the Market-Frankford Line at 30th Street and continued my journey to Girard Street. The 15 PCC Station was below the rapid transit station. The rode the 15 west to about 27th Street where I walked south in order to see the Art Museum and Boathouse Row. During another part of the trip, I rode the Broad Street Line from Fairmount to City Hall as well as City Hall to AT&T Station. I also rode a trolley from 30th Street to City Hall. On the day I traveled to Camden to see Battleship New Jersey, I rode the New Jersey Transit River Line from Entertainment Center to Walter Rand Transportation Center and PATCO from Walter Rand Transportation Center to 15th/16th Street Station.
4. Unfortunately due to time constraints, we were unable to travel to New York. I am from New York and have family there while Philadelphia was a more original experience for me. There was so much to see and do in Philadelphia alone, and I will be making another trip to New York in July if not sooner.
5. Upon arriving, we decided to bring our baggage to the hotel before seeing anything that night. When it was time to leave, I checked the heavy baggage in the morning so that storage was not necessary. As to the carry-ons, we only made it to the station about 10-15 minutes prior to boarding so there was no need to store them.
As to the snow and winter weather, there was some ice in the rivers from around Fredericksburg north, with the notable exception of the Potomac. Most of the ice in Virginia was in small amounts along the river banks, although some of the ice had a white coating. The platform coverings in Washington had icicles on them and during the locomotive change the warming temperatures caused one large icicle to fall to the ground. We encountered consistent ice from soon after crossing the Maryland border all the way to Philadelphia. It covered the trees and some of the ground. The rivers crossed in Maryland were filled with a lot of solid ice from the cold days prior to our arrival. Had I not been tracking the weather, I would have thought that snow had fallen. Starting at about Wilmington, there was actual snow on the ground into Philadelphia. While it was minimal, even small amounts are better than nothing. There was a lot of snow and ice outside 30th Street Station in the bushes and on the sidewalks. The city parks we visited that night were also snow covered. By the next morning, all of the snow and ice was gone save for a few small patches, as the temperature approached 60 degrees that morning. There was a few large piles that did not completely melt. Over the next few days, the temperature ranged from the low 20s to around 35 so much of the remaining water melted into ice. Although the temperatures warmed on my departure day, the cold remained long enough to retain some ice as far as Northern Virginia. I will be travelling to Chicago in February (Although unfortunately by plane) and Boston in March (On Amtrak) so hopefully winter is not yet over for me!
