SEPTA will extend weekend overnight subway service ‘indefinitely’

Night owls, you did it. SEPTA has officially announced that they will be extending the popular weekend overnight subway service ‘indefinitely.’

Since the pilot program went live in June, some 15,000 riders use the late night service each weekend. That’s significantly higher than the ridership rates for the Nite Owl bus service, which averaged 9,000 riders on weekends from midnight to 5 a.m.

SEPTA also said that the most popular stops are the 2nd and 15th Street Stations on the Market-Frankford line. As for the good old Broad Street Line, SEPTA says that the Walnut-Locust and Lombard-South Street Stations have seen “robust ridership.” A total of 5,000 overnight riders take the BSL each weekend.

A key issues for many riders focused on safety. SEPTA reports that issues have been “minimal” and will continue to examine how to “reduce costs without compromising safety.” NBC 10 notes that it costs “approximately $47,000 per weekend” to run the overnight weekend service.

Fantastic News: #SEPTA247 is OFFICIALLY a success! "SEPTA has decided to extend the program indefinitely." http://t.co/bePNFEgbNk

— Streets Dept (@StreetsDept) October 8, 2014

First thought of as an experiment, the extension is good news for the late-night scene in Center City and could be good news to the bar scene on East Passyunk Ave. Back in February, 86 percent of readers said in our poll that they would use late night subway service — be it “all the time” or “at least occasionally.”

Have you had the opportunity to use the overnight subway service? Share you thoughts and experience in the comments section.