NJ Transportation Officials Unveil Plans For Increased Ridership, Traffic

“With nearly two million people expected to attend the World Meeting of Families and Papal visit in Philadelphia, NJ Transit will accommodate as many passengers as its system safely allows”. The tickets will go on sale Saturday at River Line station kiosks, officials said.

Officials said Thursday that anyone not ready to walk a significant distance should consider staying home.

– On Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27, the Atlantic City Rail Line will be express only between Atlantic City and Philadelphia.

When the Ben Franklin Bridge is closed to vehicular traffic, all Philadelphia bus routes will end at the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden.

The big concern is moving people to and from Philadelphia, where larger crowds are expected for Sunday’s papal mass than at New York events, which have a limited number of tickets available.

Officials also caution there will be increased volume on many surrounding roadways, including I-295; routes 38, 42, 45, 47, 55, 70, 73, 90, 130, 168 and 322, as well as the New Jersey Turnpike and Atlantic City Expressway.

Transit officials were to hold a second news conference in Camden Thursday afternoon after which they were expected to make the trek across the roughly mile-and-a-half, 135-foot-high Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia and farther west to the site of the Mass. Taxis will be allowed to operate within the traffic box until 2 a.m. Saturday to help transport those arriving by train or plane.

In the U.S. you can graduate from a university and expect to find a job that pays more than $50 a month (university graduates in Cuba live on wages like this with U.S. food prices). Similar special tickets will be required for the Atlantic City line, at $30 round-trip. No special ticketing is needed.

Churches and groups chartering buses must register them in advance with the World Council of Families for identification placards and parking.

During the weekend of the papal visit, trains will not be operating regular weekend service on either the Atlantic City Rail Line or the River Line, NJ TRANSIT said.

Trains will not go past the Walter Rand Transportation Center in downtown Camden due to expected crowded road conditions. The River Line will stop only at: Trenton, Bordentown, Florence, Burlington South, Pennsauken Rt73, Pennsauken Transit Center, and Walter Rand. “I look forward to reviewing the information posted on the city website come Monday so we can better prepare to serve customers and ensure the safety and well being of our employees during this unprecedented event”. Tickets must be purchased in advance – no tickets will be available for purchase the days of the visit. It will resume regular reservation service on Sept. 29.

All roads in New Jersey leading to New York City will remain open, officials said, noting that the pope’s visit there includes no public event of the magnitude of the Mass he is to celebrate in Philadelphia.