Thousands of Athletes are preparing to participate in the Broad Street Run, and SEPTA is ready with special service plans for one of the biggest sporting events of the season. The highly anticipated race, scheduled for Sunday, May 4, begins near SEPTA’s Olney Transportation Center and ends at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia, nearly mirroring the service route of the Broad Street Subway Line.
Each year, over 30,000 runners, race volunteers, and spectators rely on SEPTA service for easy access to the race’s starting line, and to viewing, entertainment, and hydration stations along the route. While much attention will be focused on the sneakers and surfaces on Broad Street, SEPTA Employees are already busy with underground pre-race preparation of the stations and steel wheels of the Broad Street Line, which will offer over 20 express and local trips on Sunday morning to move race participants. By displaying their official race bib to the station cashier, each runner will be granted free subway service on the line. We’re also sprucing up stations with a “spring cleaning” of platforms and upgrading signage at key stations to make access easier for the influx of riders, many of whom have never used the SEPTA system before.
New for 2014 is the addition of a SEPTA sponsored “restroom station” at the Olney Transportation Center. Ten portable restrooms will be installed at the request of Deputy General Manager Jeffrey D. Knueppel, who thought the extra bathroom facilities were “an additional way that SEPTA could support the thousands of runners who depend on our service on race day. In addition to ensuring that everyone has a safe, speedy ride to the starting line, we wanted to be sure that there were adequate public restroom opportunities for the runners before they begin their ten mile journey down Broad Street on foot.” The restrooms will be available, fully stocked with paper products and hand sanitizer, just south of Olney Transportation Center, facing Broad Street, directly on the route that participants will use on the way to the starting line at Somerville Avenue.
SEPTA will also offer additional support to runners throughout their entire race experience. We’ll be hosting a display during the pre-race expo at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, placing an encouraging ad in the race’s program book, and featuring the ‘ISEPTAPHILLY’ logo boldly on each runner’s racing bib. Spectators can get in on the action too, by adding the #iseptaphilly hash tag to their photos to have them considered for sharing on SEPTA’s social media channels.
Complete service information, including train express service and local bus detours are available online at https://www.septa.org/events/broad-street-run.html . From pre to post race, SEPTA is ready with support for all Broad Street runners, and we wish them the best of luck in this year’s event.