Station Review #49: Yardley (SEPTA)


Yardley is a station on SEPTA's West Trenton Line, located in the small borough of Yardley, PA. 

History 

Image from 1914

Yardley station was made operational in 1876, in time for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Originally, Yardley station was called Yardleyville, as the town itself was. 

In 2018, the station was completely rebuilt and elevated, and the low platforms were replaced by one single high platform. Because of this, the station is now accessible. One of the original shelters has been preserved.

Tour

Silverliner IV train at Yardley Station

Yardley is a very simple station. It has everything you'd expect from a train station. The platform is a full high platform, making it fully accessible. 

Shelter

Yardley station has one trackside shelter and honestly, it doesn't need much else. 

Inside the shelter

Inside the shelter, there are a few benches and heat lamps, and again not much else. Does it really need anything else, frankly? 

Outside the Platform


Stairs

As you can see, the station's accessible, but in the "there is a bunch of really long ramps" way, and not in the "we have a usable elevator" way. Frankly, I dislike this. 

Bike parking!

There's a dedicated canopy for bike parking, which can be a little bit of a surprise for people more used to older SEPTA Stations. A lot of SEPTA stations do nothing for people with bicycles, as they haven't been updated to have parking locations for bicycles. The Reading Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad both never really cared much for bicycle parking, so seeing SEPTA care even just a little bit is pretty refreshing. 

Speaking of parking, there seems to be a lot of it for cars. Two parking lots worth of it, in fact! Does Yardley need this much parking? I feel like there doesn't need to be this much parking at Yardley Station. 

Hey, at least Yardley Station has these really nice murals too:

To make things even more interesting, One of the shelters for an older variant of the station has been preserved, as shown below:

Unsurprisingly for a shelter this old, it is in horrible condition. How old is "this old", you may ask? That is an incredibly interesting question. After a long while of searching for clues, I could not figure out whether or not this shelter was one of the original shelters built by the North Penn Railroad or a replacement built by the Reading Railroad. If the former is true, then this is one of the only remaining North Penn Railroad station structures, besides the station at Doylestown. 

Bus Connections

Artpiece showcasing the history of transportation in Yardley

Yardley has exactly zero bus connections. Historically, Yardley had two interurbans going to it: one line went between Trenton and New Hope via Yardley, whilw the other line broke off of this one to link to Newtown instead. 

Today, neither of these services exist, not even as buses. 

Points of Interest in Yardley

There's a lot of restaurants in Yardley, and the downtown is really nice to walk through. If you want actual things to do though, I don't think there's all that many. 

Statistics:


Name: Yardley
Agency: SEPTA
Line(s): West Trenton Line 
Locality: Yardley
City/Township: Borough of Yardley 
County: Bucks
Ridership: 349 boards, 328 alightings, 677 total per weekday (2017)

Rural/Small Station Amenities:
Accessibility: ✓
Bicycle parking: ✓
Clean: ✓
Connections to other transit routes: ×
Easy passage to either side: ✓
Fare Payment Kiosks: ✓
Good Wayfinding: ✓
Lighting: ✓
Maps: ✓ 
Adequate Parking: ✓
Shelters: ✓
Seating: ✓
Station in Good Condition: ✓
Train Departure/Arrival Info: ×
Updated/Useful Signage: ✓

Final Verdict: 8/10. This station is actually pretty good, I'd say! Now if only we could increase service, add bus connections, and change a few other quality-of-life issues, this station would be a total 10 out of 10!

Station Directory

--------Philadephia County--------
''''''''Center City Zone''''''''
Penn Medicine
30th Street
Suburban
Jefferson (Market East)
Temple University
''''''''Zone 1''''''''
Fern Rock Transportation Center
--------Montgomery County--------
''''''''Zone 2''''''''
Melrose Park
Elkins Park
''''''''Zone 3''''''''
Jenkintown/Wyncote
Noble
Rydal
Meadowbrook
Bethayres
Philmont
--------Philadephia County--------
Forest Hills
Somerton
--------Bucks County--------
Trevose
Neshaminy Falls
''''''''Zone 4''''''''
Langhorne
Woodbourne
Yardley
--------New Jersey--------
--------Mercer County--------
''''''''NJ Zone''''''''
West Trenton

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