Station Review #109: Bala (SEPTA)


Bala is a station on SEPTA's Cynwyd Line. The station is located on City Avenue in Bala-Cynwyd, PA (itself a part of Lower Merion Township). The Cynwyd Line is the least used regional rail line in the SEPTA system, and the one with the least amount of service with only six trains per day at peak times mainly, weekdays only.

History

The station, 1966
 
Bala station was originally built along the Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Branch in 1884. It had a depot on one end and a shelter on the other. At some point around the 1950s, the depot was torn down. The station was rebuilt sometime around the early 1980s, before the Cynwyd line service was truncated to Cynwyd "temporarily". Sometime between 2017 and 2019, Bala and Wynnefield Avenue stations were rebuilt. The old shelter for Bala still remains, although it is fenced off and unable to be used now.

Tour

Parking

Bala station is essentially a City Avenue park and ride station.

Signage mentioning City Avenue bridge restoration

The City Avenue bridge over the Cynwyd Line is currently being restored. 

Remnants of the old station

Bike racks and a ramp

This is a pretty decent train station. One would expect the Cynwyd line stations would all be as bad as it's service, but that's not true. 

Platform

This station is fully accessible, and has ample seating and shelter

Shelter and bench

Another bench

Other end of platform

Schedule and map

Other parking lot/drive through and staircase, under construction

Train

Bus Connections


There are multiple bus connections near Bala station. These include:
 
  • 1 - Parx Casino to 54th-City: Named after the road this bus uses, the 1 runs along almost the entirety of US route 1 in Philadelphia. There was a period of time when this bus ran all the way to 69th Street Transportation Center from Parx Casino. 
  • 44 - Ardmore to Front-Market: This bus is an express bus linking center city to Ardmore. 
  • 52 - 54th-City to 49th-Woodland: This bus is a 52nd street vertical
  • 44/52 - Gladwyne to Front-Market or 49th-Woodland: These buses both have trips that extend to Gladwyne, replacing the old 122 bus that went between Center City and Gladwyne. The 44 trips especially are essentially the exact same route.
  • 65 - Germantown-Chelten to 69th Street Transportation Center: This bus mainly acts a City Avenue crosstown. There are plans to extend this bus to Olney and Fern Rock Transportation Centers, so long as the Bus Revolution actually happens.

Points of Interest Near Bala Station

 Apartments on City Avenue immediately outside the station 
 
There is a lot near Bala station:
 
  • Multiple apartment complexes
  • A golf course
  • multiple plazas
  • St. Joseph's University Hawk Hill Campus
  • Many other stores and offices along City Avenue. 
City Avenue is a major location of employment within the area, especially since a lot of places do not want to pay city taxes but do want to serve city residents.  To a lesser degree, Cheltenham Avenue on the northern end of the city is similar. 
 

Statistics


Name: Bala
Agency: SEPTA
Line(s): Cynwyd line
Locality: Bala-Cynwyd
Municipality: Lower Merion Township
County: Montgomery
State: Pennsylvania
Ridership: 237 riders per average weekday (2017)

Amenity Checklist


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

Final Verdict: 6/10. This is otherwise the quintessential example of what a train station should be hindered by some of the worst service in the entire SEPTA system. 

Station Directory

 
--------Philadelphia County--------
''''''''Center City Zone''''''''
Suburban Station
30th Street Station
''''''''Zone 1''''''''
Wynnefield Avenue
--------Montgomery County--------
''''''''Zone 2''''''''
Bala
Cynwyd    

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 #78: Cornwells Heights (Amtrak/SEPTA)

Image
Cornwells Heights (pronounced and often misspelled as "Cornwell Heights") is a train station along the Northeast Corridor. The station is located at 700 Station Avenue in Cornwells Heights, PA, a CDP located within Bensalem, PA.  The station is mainly served by SEPTA's Trenton line. Despite this, three trips of Amtrak's Keystone Service stop at the station every day: 640 (7:02 AM), 649 (3:51 PM), and 655 (7:40 PM). Cornwells Heights is currently the least used Amtrak station in the state of Pennsylvania.  From Station Avenue to the edge of the park and ride, this station is about half a mile long.  History Despite how it is today, Cornwells Heights was not nearly as important as it is now for much of its existence. The first known iteration of Cornwells Heights station was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1891. It's unknown if there was any iteration of the station from before that year, and was only rebuilt by the PRR or not. This is ...
Read more

Station Review #100: BARTA Transportation Center/Reading Transportation Center (AMTRAK/BARTA)

Image
BARTA Transportation Center is a station in Reading, PA. The station is located on Franklin Street, near the old Reading Train station History The old station, now a brewpub and transportation museum There had been passenger rail service at Reading since 1871, when the Wilmington and Northern trains started stopping at a station on front and Penn Streets. Franklin Street station is the one pictured above. The original station at Franklin Street was constructed in 1884, and replaced by the Reading Railroad in 1930. This station was built as an infill for Downtown Reading, since the Reading Outer station was in the middle of the city.  The line changed owners many times until it eventually got to conrail, which allowed SEPTA service on the line. Trains ran here through to Pottsville and Philadelphia until 1981. The Pottsville line was one of the earlier lines to experience cutbacks that many other lines did as well. No trains ran here ever since.  The BAR...
Read more