Franklin Square & El Casar: Deeper Analysis

AKA, a joint-station review

Last month saw two eventful, yet very minor updates to metro systems very dear to me: Philadelphia and Madrid. While working on last month’s Round Table, I thought it made sense to do a deeper dive. With taking a step back from YouTube this month, it made sense to through this out into the ether in the meantime.

I was fortunate enough to go to the fourth grand opening (or re-re-re-reopening) of Franklin Square on the PATCO Speedline, which connects Camden county to Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. I and many others have already gone over the history elsewhere, so I won’t repeat here. I will say that the last time the station was active was just after the national bicentennial celebrations, and now we are gearing up for the 250th anniversary national celebration.

This is really fitting since this steps away from the National Constitution center and less than a 15min walk from Independence Hall. It is also 10-15mins from historic structures such as the Betsy Ross House and Elfreath’s Alley.

Franklin Square is also just steps away from Chinatown, which has a dedicated stop on the B3/Ridge Spur.

A main downside to the station is the Vine Street Expressway/I-676 is directly north and goes over the Ben Franklin Bridge, alongside PATCO, immediately to the east, making transferring to SEPTA’s route 47 a requirement to the Guatemala Consulate, Franklin Music Hall, or the Yards Brewery (two blocks over at 5th/ Spring Garden).

I know the city wants to convert some of the adjacent buildings that used to be the police station into housing, which will help with ridership. However, the intracity trip of Franklin Square-Rittenhouse Square is a very niche, but extant, trip.

It is most valuable to those in Camden County who work at or want to visit attractions in old city to try and use an active mode (bike or scooter mainly since all elevated stations are predominantly park & rides) to their station in Jersey, take PATCO across the river, and then active mode again (or SEPTA bus) to their destination as you don’t have to transfer and back track at 8th/Market (although Independence Hall is only 3 blocks east so people who go there probably don’t transfer already, especially if they use an active mode).

It also only directly connects to one bus Route, SEPTA’s. You have to reach the edge of the walkshed to reach NJT busses into New Jersey, but Patco is cheaper for crossing but I know Walter Rand is not the nicest of bus stations.

Meanwhile in Madrid, the line 3 extension to El Casar is kind of treated as more of an aesthetic choice to the map since the Cercanias is still faster to Sol than the metro. However, I think it has a higher chance of serving trips that don’t involving going downtown. Sure it will be more frequent than C-3 (although that does hit every 10mins with 3 CIVIS/express round trips in peak). It does mean that folks don’t have to drive or go 12-C4-C5 to reach Hospital Doce de Octubre, and instead can opt for a quick one-seat ride that will cost comparable or less for a shorter and more direct commute. Even a direct connection to the more frequent C-4 and C-5 to the center, center-west, and north/north east of the city is nice.

I could be overestimating the pull of a hospital, although they are valid trip generators, and it might be a stretch to say that this 1-stop extension to an existing station will lead to significant mode shift from the Cercanias or other modes

Using Tom Forth’s Population Around a Point tool and scrolling down to the data, over 27,000 live within a kilometer (.62mi) radius of the station, which you have to scroll to the bottom of the table to see. Getafe Central is within the minimum 3km (1.86mi) bubble shown at the top. There are a lot of Barcelona-style super blocks going in nearby and more in progress when the latest satellite photo was taken for Google Maps. There is also a preschool. There;s also a recreational facility with a park themed to Don Quixote at the edge of the walkshed. There is also a Covrian and a Mercadona in the walkshed as well.

Outside this range, but a notable destination close by is Las Margaritas Universidad, which has a dedicated stop on C-4, but probably has a bus connection to El Casar and the neighborhoods just to the east. Now if only PATCO got extended to Philly’s Ciudad Univeritaria.

Although the two platforms are a bit of a walk from each other, they are accessible within fare control and the platform level elevators should allow you to access either platform for either line since even line 12 is accessible being only 22 years old.

If Spain wasn’t so hot, I’d definitely consider moving to one of the neighborhoods around here as it would be cheaper than downtown, but pretty close to Parque Warner and Atocha as well as other notable attractions being no more than 15mins from Atocha or a line 3 station. Casa de Campo and Faunia are a bit of a hike though.

You have dense, car-free living without the city prices with a lot of public parks and a lot of employment options where you don’t have to drive. Education, industrial/ manufacturing (namely Airbus). If you have a bike and need a car for whatever reason, there’s a pick up place for a car a 15min cycle trip away (transit is not really conducive and walking would be too long).

The only downside is that the development east of the station is surrounded by industry to the south and east, but there is a buffer between the areas and the A-4/E-5 and M-45 highways, so there should be limited health effects on paper compared to residential butting up to highways in LA and Seattle.

I hope you enjoyed this discussion/review as something that was on my mind that was worth sharing.