From the General Manager

Message from General Manager

September Highlights

Track & Facilities, Everyday Heroes  –  Track & Facilities staff routinely and frequently inspect all our track.  On September 29, they spotted a defect on the track west of Ferry Avenue.  Immediately springing into action, Transit Services implemented a trackwork schedule of 20-minute headways vs. the usual 15; Track & Facilities staff replaced the rail, completing the work well before the evening peak service.  Teamwork ensured the safety of our customers with a minimum of inconvenience.

SERVICE

Bike MS City to Shore – On a beautiful Saturday morning, over 2500 cyclists converged at Woodcrest Station to start their 75-mile ride to Ocean City, New Jersey.  With the exception of last year, for decades PATCO has hosted the start and finish of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s City to Shore Bike tour, an annual fund-raiser that benefits victims of this debilitating disease.  Public Safety directs traffic as eager participants file off Route 295 to park at our station for the weekend; police work to ensure the safety of the Multiple Sclerosis Society staff, volunteers, cyclists, and our passengers.  Staff from many other PATCO departments, including Transit Services,  Passenger Services, and Track & Facilities, contribute to the smooth running of this event as well.  Riders begin their journey in a cordoned off parking lot known as the “corral” and zoom down a “chute” to the cheers of volunteers.  They return the next day, exhilarated to have completed the challenging two-day, 150-mile ride.  Through this year’s event, riders raised $3.5 million.

Ridership – COVID-19’s effect on travel patterns lingers, but ridership continues to rise gradually.  By the last two weeks of the month, we had reached over 90,000 two weeks in a row, 42% of pre-COVID ridership levels.

The average weekday ridership grew 8% in September compared to the previous month, and 61% compared to September of 2020.  September’s total ridership was 376,496, an increase of 149,231 (+65.66%) when compared to September of 2020.  Ridership year to date as of the end of September was 2,513,199, a decrease of 786,267 (-23.83%) when compared to the same period of 2020.

On-Time Performance – In September, our on-time performance was 97.50%, better than in August but falling short of our goal of 98%.  Of the 4,895 scheduled trips,  21 were cancelled, 97 were late, and 54 stations were bypassed.  Our on-time performance for the year to date was 97.98%.

A variety of causes resulted in delays this month.   Because of Hurricane Ida and possible tornadoes, 11 trains were late.  In another weather-related incident, emergency track work to repair a sink hole delayed 13 trains. 

FREEDOM Service Center –The Service Center at Broadway Station is open on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  In addition, many customers use our FREEDOM website to add value to their cards, report lost cards, and change credit card information.

STEWARDSHIP

Elevators / Escalators

·         Availability - Availability of all escalators was 99.48% in September, substantially exceeding our goal of 96% for the month.  For the year to date, availability of escalators was 95.58%.   Availability of all elevators was 99.30% in September and 98.49% for the year to date, both surpassing our goal of 97%.

·         Performance of Preventive Maintenance - Monthly preventive maintenance was performed on all available elevators and escalators in September except those under warranty.

TRACK & FACILITIES / POWER & SIGNALS                                                                                                   

·         In September, Track & Facilities crews performed ROW (right of way), station, parking lot and track inspections. 

·         During a track outage for RCC installation of a grade crossing at Center Cut, Track Mechanics completed the welding of 25 frog from West Ferry to 8^th/Market.

·         Crews also welded 23W frog point at City Hall Interlocking and 53E frog at East Ferry Interlocking.

·         Crews replaced tie hold down bolts, lags and split ties.

·         Crews inspected the track area from Ashland to Woodcrest Station to identify any debris left by NJ Transit tie  replacement project.

·         Crews installed IJ and two buffer rails on the 128/130 track circuit, north rail.

·         Plasser tamper surfaced track at the east and west end of Westmont Viaduct.  Ballast was applied in low cribs.  A second crew profile-ground the west end IJ at Westmont.

·         Plasser tamper surfaced track starting at Center Cut working east.  The east end of Camden Portal, west end of Mickle Street Tunnel, Haddon Avenue Bridge and Pine Street Bridge were tamped, including the mud pocket at the center of the bridge.  Ballast was applied to low cribs.

·         Power & Signals staff provided essential support to the solar project, facilitating 26.4kV power coordination at Lindenwold, Ashland, Woodcrest, and Ferry Stations/Substations.