PATCO

PATCO (Port Authority Transit Corp) is owned by the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), a separate authority than SEPTA. The line began as a simple 4 station shuttle over the newly opened Benjamin Franklin Bridge in 1936. The line ran from 8th St and Franklin Sq in Philadelphia and Broadway in Camden, NJ. On the Philly side the line connected to a tunnel which had been built for a proposed subway loop around Center City but the loop idea had been shelved after construction started. The Broad-Ridge Spur used the tunnel to reach 16th St-Locust but originally the PATCO trains terminated at 8th and Market. In 1968 the connection was rebuilt so that Broad-Ridge trains terminated at 8th St and PATCO trains were extended to 15th-16th station. This section of tunnel is still owned by SEPTA and is leased to PATCO.

On the New Jersey side PATCO had been little more than a shuttle which required suburban commuters to transfer to continue their journey. In 1951 DRPA commissioned a study which recommended 3 different branches, one to Moorestown, one to Kirkland, and one to Woodbury Heights. A later study suggested that the Kirkland route offered the most potential ridership and so PATCO was extended to Lindenwood station in 1969. PATCO continues to study expansions and has looked into extended a branch to Glassboro as well. There is an abandoned station at Franklin Sq which sees requests now and then for reactivation but PATCO claims that it wouldn’t receive high enough ridership (the area around the square was razed in the 1970s to build the Vine St and Delaware Expressways interchange.

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