Location

The PATCO Speedline operation on February 15, 1969, with the first trip from Lindenwold, New Jersey, to Center City Philadelphia. Back then, the 14.2 mile line carried 21,200 people per day. Today, more than 38,000 people rely on the Hi-Speedline to get them to work, school, sporting events, shopping and anywhere else they need to go-quickly, easily and without the hassles of driving.

Over the years, PATCO has grown and so has the region. Homes, apartment buildings and businesses were all developed along the PATCO Speedline, creating tremendous economic and population growth. PATCO has also helped reduce air pollution and traffic congestion in South Jersey and Philadelphia by removing more than 12,500 cars from the roadways each day.

PATCO began service with 8 stations in Camden County, New Jersey and 4 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Six of the New Jersey stations provided Park and Ride service.

Maintenance plays a critical role in the safety and readiness of PATCO operations. PATCO's maintenance philosophy is to maintain facilities and equipment to achieve their maximum expected life. The preventive maintenance program has played an important part in PATCO's provision of safe and reliable transportation. The end result being an enviable PATCO safety record, covering over 2.3 billion passenger miles without a serious train-related passenger injury.

PATCO has a thirty five member police force, which has won awards for dramatically reducing crime throughout the system.

PATCO began with 195 employees and now has 325 full-time employees, of whom 60% are represented by Teamsters Local Union No. 676, and 5% by the Policemen's Benevolent Association, Local No. 30.

As the DRPA and PATCO look ahead, they foresee new challenges to meet the mobility needs of their region. With increasing suburbanization of business and industry, development of neighborhood shopping malls, and inexpensive fuel costs, the automobile is still the preferred choice of travel for many. Consequently, traffic congestion and its resulting air pollution are major problems.

PATCO, NJ Transit, SEPTA and AMTRAK are all working together to meet the increasing demands by improving and expanding the public transportation service in their region.

PATCO would like to thank you for using PATCO over the years. They hope you'll allow them to continue serving you in the years ahead. They're proud of their performance and will continue to give the very best service they can in the years to come.