I just spent five days in Philadelphia. As always, most of my observations are about transportation, but I notice other things as well.

• transit is about average for amajor city; most is run by SEPTA
  • an old trolly line (1906) runs above ground and in subway to city hall, using old trolley cars
  • several rapid transit lines run within Philadelphia; I have used L, B, and T lines
  • bus and rail use CharlieCard or contactless credit card payment for city rail and buses
  • commuter rail (regional rail) to several distant suburbs in the region, and ferries, use mTransit app

• transportation and street design
  • most streets in Philadelphia are one-way, but many are single lane, so this is better than it sounds; one lane, one-way streets are safer than other streets
  • typical residential streets are narrow one-way with parking on both sides, but wide arterial streets do exist, and Philadelphia is sliced and diced with freeways, as are most cities
  • several streets in the historical sections of town have a cobblestone or brick paver surface, which slows motor vehicles considerably; not sure if these are original or restored
  • though there is quite a bit of bicycling in Philadelphia, drivers have not responded by being more careful, in contrast to the transition that has happened in other cities
  • all kinds of bicycle facilities are present: none, bike lanes, separated bike lanes, parking protected bike lanes, sidewalk level bike lanes, and two-way bikeways (cycletracks)
  • a bike-share system, Indego, is present in much of the city, and is quite usable with pedal bikes and e-bikes; however, the app (bcycle) map sucks – attempted to zoom in results in zoom out
  • there is street and utility construction everywhere!
  • people walk a lot, and other people drive a lot

• other
  • Philadelphia has a lot of parks, particularly in the older part of town and along the Schuylkill River, but has a paucity of street trees; I had an enjoyable walk along the Schuylkill River from downtown to the south end
  • the city seems typical for trashiness; I did not notice any business improvement districts doing cleaning, but they may exist
  • the city hall is an amazing building, but better viewed from Market or Broad rather than up close
  • there are a lot of universities in the city, with the largest being University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
  • pizza seems to be the fast food of choice; there are pizza places almost every block
  • the hostel, Apple Hostel of Philadelphia, is nice and a good deal, but the 24×7 pop music radio in the common room is offensive
  • I visited the Shofuso Gardens and House in Fairmount Park; it is small but quite nice

I enjoy Philadelphia and will visit again.