Im moving to 43rd and Spruce in June and I will be commuting to my job in malvern monday-friday. I was wondering if anyone could give me any insight on the best way navigate that route given my hours will be 10am-6pm? So far Ive only thought of getting on 76-west at University City exit and taking that all the way up until 202 but I was wondering if there was any way to avoid driving through the city on 76 during that time?


Thanks a lot!

I would not do this, go the other direction.

Take Chestnut Street and exit on to 76-EAST bound, heading towards South Philly.

Then take the Platt bridge and merge on to 95-South, and take 476 (The Blue Route) North to where you want to go. This allows you to avoid the crush of cars on 76-West.

Exit route 30 (Lancaster Avenue) and drive through Radnor and Paoli.

That's about the most efficient way to get there. 76 will really eff up your commute between 30th Street and 202 as it is usually a parking lot from 7:15AM to 9:30AM every morning.

FYI, there are a few alternates coming back into the city in case there are major accidents. For example, you can come back to the city by taking 252 from Malvern and West Chester Pike back to 476, to 95 and back to 76 (by taking the Platt bridge exit past the airport).

If there are major problems on the freeways, then you can drive the streets to 69th and Market (Upper Darby), take West Chester Pike to 252 and get to Malvern.

Any way you go, it will take you at least an hour. When 76 has accidents blocking up the freeways, then it can take almost two hours--which is why I suggest you avoid using 76 anywhere north of Vine Street.

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jjk:

By the way, since your start time is 10:00AM, I think you will be better off most of the time taking 76 to 202 unless you need to get to work earlier than that. You should leave the house by 8:45 at the latest to be there on time most days. (yeah, it will take you at least an hour to drive those 19 miles)

76 becomes impossible from 7:00AM and it lasts to about 9:00AM.

Coming back into the city, 202 is usually a parking lot at the 76 interchange, and is slow all the way until Girard.

The heavy inbound traffic into the city gets bad as early as 3:30PM and sometimes doesn't clear out until 7:30PM, sometimes even later.

It gets REALLY bad coming into the city when you have shore traffic going through town (Fridays are really depressing on the Schuylkill).


Is there anyway you can just use SEPTA instead? Malvern has a train station, you know. The R5 goes there.

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Buh-bye.

Thanks for the response Ill look into that route Ive never heard of going that way. I am really really hoping to avoid 76 by any means possible. Especially evening rush hour in the summer.


Edit:

My work is about 3 miles from the Malvern train station so I was definatley looking into that. The 206 goes right to my work but the last bus back to the train station at night is right before I get off so I would be stuck. I wish I could bring a bike on peek hours.

I hate to push this on you, but you really need to try as hard as you can to use the R5 to avoid getting the car-psycho syndrome like I got when I did this commute.

Does anyone else at your job use the train? Perhaps you guys can time it, find a shuttle or carpool?

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I really hope I can work out a ride with someone to and from the train station at work. That would be great. Thanks again for the insight. Im hoping to only have to do this commute for 1 year.

you can lock your bike up at the malvern train station and walk to 30th street. or get 2 bikes!

You can use your bike!!!! The reverse commute from 30th to Paoli is OFF PEAK. I have been using my bike(s) on the R5 for 3 summers (this is my 4th). I work in the Great Valley mega-office-plex. Also note that a Zone 3 pass is good for the off-peak Zone 4/5 distance of Paoli.

In theory they only allow 2 bikes per train, though I've never seen anyone denied on SEPTA.

There really is no good way to drive it during rush hour. Even taking Walnut Street through West Philly until it turns into West Chester Pike (Rt 3) and West Chester Pike to 252 North is faster than the Expressway/202 Route. With the timed lights on Walnut and parts of West Chester Pike it's not too bad of a ride...at least you're always moving.

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I had a trip to New York not that long ago, and I actually timed the door to door from my house to the jobsite in Manhattan I had to go to, versus one that used to take me 80 minutes to up in the great rich white Northwest burbs, which doesn't include the 15 minute delay in getting my car out of the garage.

From my front door to get to Lehman Brothers was 78 minutes. It took me 9 minutes to get to 30th Street, and it got me to the train station just in time to stand in line to get on the Metroliner.

From there to the 1 train from Penn Station added another 10 minutes which I could have just walked; it wasn't that far up 7th Avenue.


Comparing the two, the NYC commute on the Metroliner actually is more compatible with my tastes than sitting in the car and having to PEE REALLY BAD (ugh... I hate it when that happens).

At least on Amtrak I can sleep through the trip and I can leave home at about the same time I would if I had to work up in Malvern/Paoli. And I don't have to worry about drinking a big tea before I board an Amtrak train.

Ahhhh... my bladder feels better already.

I don't know what it is... but for some reason I have noticed people are a bit more sympathetic if you are late because your train broke down versus if you were just stuck in car traffic [unless you crashed your car and its getting towed]. Is it just me?

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