A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO RIDING SEPTA BY A NATIVE PHILADELPHIAN
WE'RE GETTING THERE
SEPTA stands for South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority. It's one of the most far-reaching, high coverage public transit systems in the country, serving some massive amount of people in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, connecting to the suburbs, New Jersey, and Amtrak rail lines all over the dang place. SEPTA also has one of the highest fares in the country, paper transfers that have all sorts of weird regulations, and is one of the last transit systems (possibly on earth) to still use tokens.
Riding SEPTA can be a joy and pain. People who aren't used to living in metropolitan areas think it's great! And anyone who has ever ridden a better transit system ever in their life are taken aback, often horrified. What is the flashing blue light about? Why do I have to step down? Why does everyone at the bus stop look so mad? These are the things they don't tell you, that maybe you can only come to know by riding SEPTA your whole life. And I am about to bequeath these nuggets of gold unto you, dear reader.