They’re Called the El and Subway!

[Originally posted in 2014, but multiple interactions this week with people mentioning riding the “blue line” have deemed it necessary to re-post]

A friend of mine recently told me he was taking the subway from 5th & Market to the University of Pennsylvania.  I told him that was impossible.  He was perplexed. Since then, I’ve become aware of people referencing SEPTA trains, which run through the city limits, by the wrong names.  It’s practically an epidemic among the 18-30 year-olds that are new to the city. If you’re one of those people, this post is particularly for you.

I’ve heard Broad Street Line, Blue Line, Orange Line, Market-Frankford Line, MFL, both called subways, and a few other misnomers.  They may all seem reasonable and acceptable to you. Technically, some of them may be right. However, that’s not how those born and raised here have been referring to them for decades.

Philadelphia has two SEPTA trains running entirely in the city.  Regional Rails and PATCO are not included in this discussion. The two city train systems are the El and the Subway.  The Subway runs North and South, up and down Broad Street from Fern Rock to Pattison Avenue.  The El runs from Bridge & Pratt to 69th Street. The El basically runs East/North Easternly & West. That’s it. You’re either on the El or the Subway.

If you don’t get out of the Center City/University City/Norther Liberties areas you may be unaware that the El is actually an elevated train from Bridge & Pratt to Spring Garden Streets and then along Market Street from 46th to 69th Street.

Underneath the El, along its elevated sections, looks like this:

the_el

There you have it.  Use El and Subway. Anything else causes confusion among Philly lifers. Or not. You’re call, but you will be judged.

The More You Know!