Public transport
The 30th Street Station
According to 800Zipcodes, Philadelphia has had its own subway since 1907, making it one of the oldest metro cities in the United States. Currently, public transportation in Philadelphia uses buses, trains, and trolleys, and is regulated by the SEPTA. This organization also provides public transportation connecting the city with neighboring counties. Within the city limits, there are two different subway lines, namely the Broad Street Line and the Market-Frankford Line. The PATCO Speedline, a 14-mile overhead and underground subway line, connects Philadelphia to Lindenwold in Camden County, New Jersey. It has connections to SEPTA lines and is one of the largest public transportation networks in the United States. In 2011, the Philadelphia subway network carried an average of 293,000 people per day.
Philadelphia’s main station is the 30th Street Station, where local public transportation connects to the national Amtrak. The city is also an important stopping point for the Greyhounds that connect the city with Denver and Kansas City, among others. In February 2017, the debate re-opened to connect Philadelphia directly to Reading via rail, after previous attempts to interconnect the two cities stalled.
Airports
There are two airports. International flights use the Philadelphia International Airport, south of the metropolis. In 2013, the airport was ranked 15th on the list of busiest airports in the world. The other airport is Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE). It is located in the northeast of the city and mainly handles the national flights.
Road traffic
In accordance with William Penn ‘s plans, the streets of Philadelphia were laid out in a checkerboard pattern. The street plan is divided into four sections by two main streets at right angles to each other, Market Street which runs west from the Delaware River and Broad Street which has a north-south orientation. The intersection of the two is in the middle of Center Square. The streets that run parallel to Broad Street from north to south are numbered, preceded by an S for the section south of Market Street and an N for the northern section. The Broad Street itself also has these prefixes. All streets running east to west, with the exception of Market Street, are named after trees, without a prefix.
Philadelphia is bisected by a number of highways. Interstate 95 runs through the city along the Delaware, roughly southwest to northeast. Interstate 76 (east) crosses the city approximately from southeast to northwest. US Routes 1 and 30 also pass through the city. From Philadelphia, New Jersey can be reached over four major bridges spanning the Delaware, the Walt Whitman Bridge, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, the Betsy Ross Bridge, and the Commodore Barry Bridge.
A total of 435 miles of bike paths run through the city, making Philadelphia one of America’s most bike-friendly cities. Center City is even considered the most bicycle-friendly downtown in the country. In April 2015, the Indego bicycle rental system was launched in the city. There are a total of sixty different Indego stations spread across the city where bicycles can be rented.
