The City of Philadelphia requires developers put in 1 parking space for every residential unit, even if the development is right next to a subway stop. For most major developments, this means a huge parking garage. That city code will have to change if you want more transit usage.

Yes, just take a look at the public housing East of Broad, roughly between Fairmount and Girard Aves for a good example of this stupidity. I heard potential residents were interviewed and they all wanted a big ol' parking space, so that's what got built, never mind what made sense for that area (hooray for the PHA!)

DiCicco proposed a bill that would do away with that requirement at some point last year. Not sure what happened to it (a lot of his bills seem to just die silently, never to be heard from again).

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Another turnoff (besides the lack of late night) for S. Jersey residents east of the turnpike or I295 is it makes little sense taking the River Line, except to avoid parking in Trenton or Hamilton.

And along 295 and the turnpike is where most of the growth of Southern NJ has been. I believe the NJ Turnpike exit 6 in Florence is close enough to a River Line stop, though, so if one lives around 295 between the 12 mile stretch from exit 28 to 40, its an option. But most people would never think of doing that.

So how is the boondoggle Riverline going these days with 4.00 gas?

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TAFKATLB(TheArtistFormerlyKnowAsTheLoveBelow)

I don't use the riverline myself, but I work in Camden right next to the broadway station, and I see the riverline trains crowded. even the midday trains, around 1PM often seem to have standing room only. I can't figure it out, I don't know where all these people are going, but they're going somewhere.

Ridership is pushing 8000 a day now.

I've ridden the Riverline quite a bit. Mostly on the weekends and only a few times during rush hour. From what i've seen most riders traveling on the Camden end get on/off at Broadway to transfer to/from buses or the Speedline. My brother goes to Rutgers and he says when classes get out the platform is always crowded.

It's much the same thing on the Trenton end. People transfer to buses or trains.

There are a decent amount of people who travel between intermediate points but from what i've noticed it's mostly high school aged kids . . . but that's probably b/c of the times/days i've ridden it. You'd also be surprised at how many people make the trip from Broadway to Trenton. If you're heading from Broadway to Trenton the trip is 64 minutes. The R7 offers a 6 minute savings from Market East which is negated when you consider that it takes 5 minutes on the Speedline to get from Broadway to 8th & Market.

I could see them getting up to near 12,000 pretty quickly with the Capitol extension but I think they're going to hit a wall at that point. They need to get more cars so they can run more two-car trains. Then they'll have to start double-tracking the line. And if the state ever expects to see ridership around 20,000/day they're going to need a lot more residents/jobs around those stations.

I wound up taking it after missing a train to Philadelphia in Trenton due to a late connection coming back from Princeton. It was a bit more scenic in parts than the SEPTA line across the river and it sure beat waiting an hour in Trenton!

I think they're just about at the wall at this point. I commute nearly every day on it. I asked a conductor about it, and they only have enough cars to run two-car trains one out of every three rush hour trains. They've been playing around with the scheduling of the two-car trains to try to match demand, but whatever they do the one-car rush hour trains tend to be standing room only.

As you say, there are still portions of the line that are one track, which means the northbound train has to wait for the southbound train to pass, or vice versa. That means the 15-minute timing can't really be improved much at this point. And the stations can only handle two-car trains.

As to where people are going, in addition to what you said, there are a fair number of charming towns much like the ones on the PATCO line, though obviously they still need to develop. The Entertainment Center certainly draws ridership for events, and the Riversharks sporadically. A lot of nurses seem to work at Cooper. And a fair number of people drive to the park-and-rides (Route 73/Pennsauken or Burlington South).