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PATCO cuts back to hourly trains overnight with police officer on each one
Holli Stephens / KYW Newsradio
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Starting May 13, PATCO will be running fewer trains overnight, which the transit agency says is a move to improve safety.
PATCO is cutting back its overnight service from trains every 45 minutes to trains every hour. Coupled with the overnight closures of seven stations in Philadelphia and South Jersey, that will allow PATCO to put a police officer on each hourly train, says Delaware River Port Authority CEO John Hanson.
"It's not in response to any issue that's occurred on the PATCO line or any trend of issues. But it is in response to our belief that there is a way to make things safer without impacting service dramatically," Hanson said.
Related: PATCO to install thousands of solar energy canopies
Trains will stop at all 12 stations between midnight and 1 a.m. Between 1 and 4:30 a.m., trains will run hourly to only six stations: Lindenwold, Woodcrest, Ferry, Broadway, Eighth and Market, and 15th/16th and Locust.
During these hours, the following stations will be closed: Ashland, Haddonfield, Westmont, Collingswood, City Hall, Ninth/10th and Locust, and 12th/13th and Locust.
--Starting May 13, PATCO will operate a new owl service schedule which will make overnight travel safer between the hours of midnight and 4:30 a.m.
✅Officer on-board every owl service train
✅Select stations OPEN
➡️Details & FAQs: https://t.co/IIOx8uunBX pic.twitter.com/CJJ0TRK5vP
— PATCO (@RidePATCO) May 6, 2019With the other seven stations closed overnight, Hanson says DRPA police officers can spend time on trains and in the stations that are open.
"There's no reduction in costs for us. We're simply deploying all of our people in different ways," he said.
Starting Monday @RidePATCO will run fewer trains overnight. They'll be hourly trains instead of every 45 mins, with police officers on each train.
— Mike DeNardo (@_MikeDeNardo) May 6, 2019On weekends, trains will operate every 45 minutes and make stops at all 12 stations between midnight and 2 a.m.
Between 2 and 4:30 a.m., Owl Service trains will run hourly and only stop at the same six stations listed above. During this time, Ashland, Haddonfield, Westmont, Collingswood, City Hall, Ninth/10th and Locust, and 12th/13th and Locust stations will also be closed.
For more information, visit ridepatco.org/owl.