Station Review #88: Bethayres (SEPTA)


Bethayres is a station on SEPTA's West Trenton Line. The station is located on Huntingdon Pike in Bethayres, a village mainly located within Lower Moreland Township, PA. There is also a station driveway leading towards Welsh Road as well. Despite mainly serving the towns of Bethayres and Huntingdon Valley, Bethayres station is frequented by customers from other nearby Philadelphia neighborhoods like Holme Circle, Bustleton, Krewstown, and Pine Valley. 

History

Bethayres station was opened in 1876 as an infill station along the Reading Railroad's New York branch. The station was named after local resident Elizabeth Ayres, the mother of someone who worked in the Reading Railroad. The station was originally at a grade crossing, though this was rectified in 1932 after the New York branch was electrified to West Trenton. 

Since this point, very little about the station has meaningfully changed. Within the last few decades, the station was renovated, which added new mini-high platforms, large amounts of extra parking, and a small bus loop for the 88 bus. 

Tour

The depot building 

The station depot itself is absolutely beautiful. It probably has looked almost the same for the past 148 years. 

The same building from another angle

Path to the platforms, with stairs

Bench

Another bench

There are ramps to get to the canopy and platforms from the parking lots, which is generally a good sign. 

Bench in front of the building 

Map

One of the mini-high ramps

The view from the opposite ramp

The shelter for the northbound platform

The northbound platform's shelter feels like a bus shelter, and may as well be one. Frankly, I doubt this station needs much more than a bus shelter for the northbound platform. 

Southbound train

Unfortunately, this station has low platforms. 

View from the northbound platform 

Inside the Depot

Inside the station depot

More of the station depot

Fliers and very old bus schedules that probably aren't accurate anymore


More old fliers and some books

Below is a three part exhibit on this station's history, as well as the history of the Weat Trenton line itself. 




The Parking Lots and Bus Loop

Parking.

The station is essentially a building and platform within a lake of parking. Calling it a lake isn't an exaggeration either. 

Not only is there SEPTA parking, the Gloria Dei Church provides even more free parking as well near the station. All of this parking put together is about half a mile in perimeter. Why is Bethayres such an effective park and ride? That's a question that I myself have always wondered.

Bus Loop

The bus loop is not very large, and mostly acts as a driveway. Only one bus, the 88, actually uses it at all. 

Bus Connections

Bethayres station has two bus connections, they are: 

• 24: Frankford Transportation Center to Southampton via Huntington Pike. This bus is decently frequent on paper, but in reality it runs very infrequently. Half of the trips terminate at the Huntingdon Valley Shopping Center in Hollywood. Trips only go past Bethayres once every hour or so. Of those trips, most only go to the Gloria Dei Manor on Welsh road. There are very few trips that go past this to Southampton, with there sometimes being multiple hour long gaps between two trips going past Welsh road. 

• 88: Frankford Transportation Center to Bethayres and Holy Redeemer Hospital. Note that 88 trips that do not say Holy Redeemer Hospital will not connect at Bethayres. This is because the 88 is essentially two hourly bus routes masquerading as one half hourly bus. The 88 is the only bus that uses the bus loop at Bethayres station. 

The bus connections situation at Bethayres station will be rectified once SEPTA's Bus Revolution program takes effect, if that will happen at all. 

Points of Interest near Bethayres

Huntingdon Pike in Bethayres

There is a small village of the same name near the train station. This village does not have much pedestrian infrastructure, but one definitely could walk around most of it. In Bethayres there is:

• Multiple stores
• A few restaurants 
• Multiple apartment complexes
• A Wawa
• A very large library

If you walk further or take the 24, you eventually get to Bryn Athyn. Bryn Athyn has a very large church, college, and a thrift store in it. All of these are much closer to Philmont station however. 

Statistics


Name: Bethayres
Agency: SEPTA
Line(s): West Trenton 
Locality: Bethayres
Municipality: Lower Moreland Township 
County: Montgomery 
State: PA
Ridership: 1266 riders per average weekday (2017)

Amenity Checklist


Accessible: ✓
Bathrooms: ✓
Bicycle parking: ✓
Clean Station: ✓
Connections to other transit routes: ✓
Easy passage for each side: ✓
Fare Payment Kiosks (if applicable): ✓
Good Wayfinding: ×
Indoor Shelters: ✓
Maps: ✓
Multiple entrances/exits: ✓
Adequate Parking: ✓
Seating: ✓
Shelters: ✓
Station In Good Condition: ✓
TVMs: ×
Ticket Offices: ✓
TOD: ✓
Train Departure/Arrival Info (signs that update/screens): ✓
Updated/Useful Signage: ✓

Final Verdict: 8/10

Station Directory

--------Pennsylvania--------
--------Philadelphia 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
--------Philadelphia County--------
Forest Hills
Somerton
--------Bucks County--------
Trevose
Neshaminy Falls
''''''''Zone 4''''''''
Langhorne
Woodbourne
Yardley
--------New Jersey--------
--------Mercer County--------
''''''''NJ Zone''''''''
West Trenton

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Station Review #73: Glenside (SEPTA)

Image
Glenside is a station serving multiple SEPTA Regional Rail lines, located at Easton Road and Glenside Avenue in Glenside, PA.  History Glenside station was built in 1873 by the North Pennsylvania Railroad, one of the few original NPRR station houses to remain to this day. Just six years later, the NPRR was bought by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, the predecessor to the Reading Railroad. Glenside station was originally named Abington station, and was renamed sometime later to Glenside.  In 2000, a café opened in the station building called Elcy's Café.  Routes that Serve Glenside Station  There are four Regional Rail routes that go to Glenside station, these are:  Airport Line: These trains go to Center City via the SEPTA Main line, before then going to Philadelphia International Airport. Oftentimes, these are combined with Warminister Line trains.  Glenside Combined Line: These trains usually just go from 30th Stre...
Read more

Station Review #54: Gwynedd Valley (SEPTA)

Image
Gwynedd Valley is a station on SEPTA's Lansdale - Doylestown line at its intersection with Plymouth Avenue in the small village of Gwynedd Valley, PA.  History Information about the history of Gwynedd Valley station is scarce. This station dates back to the 1850s. It's unknown if the station building is that old, or if it's actually a newer station built by the Reading Railroad after the acquisition of the North Penn Railroad main line. Not long after Gwynedd Valley station was built, wealthy people started moving to that area in droves. Today, many very wealthy people still live in the area.  Gwynedd Valley station is well known for an illustration of it being on the October 7th, 1961 cover of the Saturday Evening Post . This is illustrated by well-known illustrator John Falter, at the time a resident of Whitpain Township, PA.   Tour Much as you'd expect, this station really has not changed all that much in the last ce...
Read more

Station Review #14: Wilmington (Greyhound)

Image
Schedule changes on the door Greyhound has a bus station in Wilmington. It's not the largest bus station that they've had, but at least it still exists. Let's look around inside! Tour Side of the building. The outside of the building is made to fit in with the rest of the Furness Transit district, anchored by  Wilmington (Amtrak/SEPTA) . Thus, it attempts to look like it's made of red bricks, failing miserably at doing this upon closer inspection. To enter, you must go to the other side of the building.  Going inside the building, you enter to see a large number of chairs, and not much else. There is a vending machine or two, bathrooms, and an American flag, and that's all you get. There is so much empty space here. Greyhound didn't even add a TV, or anything similar for waiting customers.  Much of the area you wait in Ad for the Greyest Hound on the window of the Greyhound waiting station Rest of the s...
Read more