69th St Transit Center — Local services in Upper Darby

A lot of the employees are downright rude. They yell at you when you do nothing wrong and look like they're having a bad day every day. A few are really nice though. There are a lot of homeless people and their smell just stinks up the place. They sleep everywhere even in the toilet stalls in the bathroom so never use them, it stinks so bad anyway. When I walk by there are a lot of homeless people that beg, many of them are fake too. When I walk to my bus everyday for the past month this old black homeless man says "Can I have a dime please? I appreciate it." then once he pulls at least $20 worth of dollar bills out of his jacket, counts it, and puts it back then goes right on saying the same thing. The trains are full of beggars as well, you'll meet at least one every week and a half. The people in the waiting area just use drugs and no one cares anyway. It is full of dirty chairs that no one wants to sit on and they probably haven't been wiped for years. Yet the employees get two whole new coffee and tv rooms for themselves off to the side. I know because I looked inside before they painted the windows over with buses. Overall very poorly run station...

In my honest experience, SEPTA, especially at this station, is about on par with newly developed countries. Filthy and unkempt, with broken/ inextricably closed facilities, and staffed with often uncaring, and even hostile staff, this station is a low point in my commute (assuming that the awfulness which is SEPTA services has any areas which could be considered in a more positive fashion). If I could take any other form of public transportation in a somewhat timely fashion to my workplace, I would. Even the countries with the worst infrastructure issues that I have visited do not have trains as miserable as the Market-Frankford line, i.e. the "El," aka hell. It is an affront, nay an insult that the hardworking people of Philadelphia have to put up with such an insufferable mess. In spite of being one of the most vibrant, fastest growing cities in our nation, the right wing repubs who control the state budget continue to shortchange the city which accounts for a lion's share of the state GDP. Why, you may ask? But of course, it's so they can give away our publicity owned land for a pittance to their billionaire...

On the plus side, the terminal connects you to practically everywhere you need to go on SEPTA. Many routes terminate here, making it easy to connect to other lines and get where you have to go. Philly and its 'burbs have a solid public-transit system that's good for people who can't or don't want to drive, so be sure to use it.

On the negative side, the terminal is an abominable place. It's never been very nice, but ever since the pandemic, it's become a de facto homeless encampment. The place reeks of the vilest human bodily smells imaginable, and panhandlers will hit you up at least once a day. It's also potentially unsafe, especially at night.

It's also literally a toilet, as I almost stepped in a pile of human excrement one morning during my commute to work. That was the last straw with the terminal, as it marked the point were I started taking Uber more often.

Do yourself a favor: wherever feasible, make connections that don't involve the terminal.

The necessity of commuting into and out of the terminal weighed heavily in my decision to move out of the Philadelphia area. Use the terminal at...