On July 28th and 29th, 2026 Transit Forward Philly took 29 separate transit segments on every mode! (L, B, G, T, D, M, regional rail, and lots of buses!), included 17 elected officials and offices on transit from 3 political parties at all levels of government, walked over 27,000 steps, and engaged more than 100 participants over 24 hours on transit!
We interviewed transit riders, community advocates, and elected leaders working for safe, accessible, affordable, and fully funded transit.
Thanks to you, we flooded media networks with our unified message: Fund SEPTA, pass a Transit Access Fund and keep Philly moving!
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Transit riders protest SEPTA cuts with 24-hour ride across Philadelphia (NE Times)
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Transit advocates ride SEPTA for 24 hours to push for permanent funding (NBC 10)
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Philadelphians are riding SEPTA 24 hours straight hoping to improve it (Billy Penn)
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Advocates ride SEPTA for 24 hours straight to stress the need for transit funding (KYW)
Here's how the day went:
July 28th 7:30am
At nine different locations across the city, Transit Forward Philly volunteers met transit riders for a group ride to City Hall. On trollies, trains, and buses, dozens of transit advocates converged to kickoff 24 hours on transit. The group rides showed the power of transit to build community. On the bus, we see our friends, neighbors, and community. Transit riders come from diverse backgrounds and have different points of view but we share one important thing - we all have somewhere to go. For 24 hours we set out to celebrate this vital public good and advocate for the resources needed to build the transit Philly deserves.
July 28th 8:15am
We kicked off 24 hours on Transit at Dilworth Park above 15th Street station where Regional Rail, the Broad Street Line, L and trolleys meet. Advocates, riders and elected officials gathered to speak up for transit.
Philadelphia City Councilmembers Cindy Bass, Rue Landau and Mark Squilla shared about the importance of public transit. Mayor of Media, PA, Joi Washington, Representative Joe Hohenstein and accessibility advocates including Nico Meyering joined us, as did state Representative Joe Hohenstein. Our elected officials spoke about why SEPTA is important to them and to the region as a whole.
9:00am
For our first ride we took the El to Kensington Corridor Trust. While riding Gloria “Smooches” Cartagena Hart, an organizer with KCT, talked with Councilmember Landau about Zero Fare and making transit affordable for more people.
“We just have to continue expanding the funding and Harrisburg needs to meet us there,” Councilmember Landau said.
Unfortunately, the elevator at Tioga was broken, making it impossible for Julie Rea, Transit Forward Philadelphia’s Kensington Transit Fellow , to leave the station. Julie caught up with us later during the 24 hour marathon and shared her experience highlighting the importance of investing in accessible transit.
Our first stop was visiting Kensington Corridor Trust, a TFP coalition member. We heard from Adriana Abizadeh-Barbour, KCT’s executive director, about the relationship between housing and transit and her hopes for the future of transit-oriented development in Philadelphia. “We would love to see a future in which there are building specific or organization specific or neighborhood specific zones…where people are directly able to access the Zero Fare program en masse,” she said.
After visiting KCT, we rode the 3 bus to NKCDC’s Kensington Engagement Center and conducted an accessibility audit of a nearby bus stop.
11:30am
From there we rode the 3 bus to Temple University for lunch (featuring bus shaped pretzels) with state representative Malcolm Kenyatta and Councilmember Kendra Brooks. Xose Agbadan, the North Philly Transit Fellow, spoke with both Representative Kenyatta and Councilmember Brooks about transit funding.
“Every single one of our counties gets transit funding. And so there is this myth that transit only exists in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. Not true,” said Representative Kenyatta. “We have transit in all 67 counties. And it was our neighbors and some counties that are far away from Philadelphia that were the most vocal about our need to invest in transit.”
We departed from Temple on the Broad Street Line and headed back to City Hall to transfer to the trolley.
1:00pm
We rode the T1 trolley to the 52 bus to Wynnefield Library and headed back to the El on the 52 with Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson. She shared what the 52 means to her and her family, ran into neighbors and was able to connect with a constituent in need during the bus ride. 
“We have to have a long term funding solution to really fund public transit in our city, to ensure that the system is not only safe, but that it's reliable and its accessible for those who need to be on the system,” Gilmore Richardson said. “We know that $900 million sounds like a lot in today’s economy but we know that that’s not enough to ensure that everyone who wants to ride public transportation in Philly can.”
We also connected with Dontae Privette, a leader in youth sports and longtime advocate for young people in Philadelphia. He shared the importance of advocating for universal student fares so that youth in Philly can access opportunities, resources, and jobs on the weekends and over the summer regardless of geography.
We rode with her to the 52nd St El station where State Representative Rick Krajewski met up with us and shared the importance of the state legislature advocating for transit funding.
After saying goodbye to Councilmember Gilmore Richardson and Representative Krajewski, we rode the El to Frankford Transit Center and caught the 66 to Twistee Treat in Northeast Philadelphia, where State Senator Joe Picozzi and members of TFP coalition partner, 215 People’s Alliance joined us.
3:00pm
We rode the 66 back to Frankford Transit Center with Senator Picozzi and gave him a chance to talk with constituents, including Transit Fellow Senia Lopez and Mitch Chanin from 215 People’s Alliance, about the funding crisis.
“The beauty of mass transit is that it’s affordable, it's accessible and that people can get on it,” Senator Picozzi said. “We want to make sure that they’re stabilized and we don’t see major [fare increases].”
6:00pm
The next stop was Gather Food Hall in University City where we had a chance to meet up with transit advocates. We heard from elected officials including Senator Nikil Saval, Councilmember Nina Ahmed, and organizations including the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, 5th Square, Philly Bike Action, and Indego working for better public transit and mobility options in Philly.
There were also some excellent transit brownies and baked goods shared with 24 hours on transit participants.
8:00pm
After leaving Gather Food Hall and saying goodbye to some friends on the El platform, we headed east to Old City to catch the 47 to 8th and Wharton to interview emeyewhiskey, who made their own real-time arrival signs for the bus, with the help of Philly artists.
“The whole goal was to try to bring some attention to the fact that SEPTA has secured a contract for these things but not actually implemented them,” said emeyewhiskey. “And I'm really happy to say that now they have implemented them.”
There are currently 10 official real-time arrival signs around the city in addition to emeyewhiskey’s homemade ones.
10:00pm
After our guest vanished back into the rain, we headed back up towards Jefferson Station to catch a Regional Rail train to Norristown. While waiting for the train, we read some of the free short stories available from the kiosks, which were installed in 2022.
While on the train, a conductor was kind enough to answer some of our questions about what working for SEPTA is like while TFP volunteers Anthony Martin and Eden MacDougall played Uno.
11:30pm
Once we arrived at Norristown we headed back towards Philly on the Norristown High Speed Line and transferred to the D1 suburban trolley (the card reader was broken but it was a free transfer anyway). From there we walked to a Wawa to get some snacks.
We missed our bus back to 69th Street Transit Center so ended up walking to a our first post midnight bus - the 68. Route 68 snakes its way around the Philadelphia Airport, to a UPS package facility, and towards South Philly.
We left the bus at 15th Street and Oregon Ave to meet up with J.J. Tiziou, the founder and lead facilitator of Walk Around Philadelphia. J.J. showed us how to put a bike on the front of a bus and we were off to the Produce Market via the 63, where we met Mickey, who has been working there since 1979 and takes four buses to get to his shift.
“Coming here, everybody says ‘why don’t you get a car’ but you know I’d rather ride SEPTA,” said Mickey. “Cause I can see what’s going on out here in the world.”
3:30am
After leaving the Produce Market, we took the 63 back towards South Philly. A member of our group needed to use a restroom. We tried a 24 hour Dunkin’ and McDonalds but struggled to find a location open to the public outside of a drive through. This experience made clear the importance of public restrooms for transit riders and all Philadelphians moving throughout the city.
5:00am
As the sky brightened slightly with the hint of a sunrise, we boarded buses that were impacted by last year’s SEPTA cuts. We took the 57 to Girard Ave, then hopped on a bustituted-G trolley to 29th Street.
6:30am
From 29th Street, we rode the 32 to the Parkway, where the bathroom problems continued. The parkway has public restrooms but they were still closed when we arrived.
But despite the problems, riding SEPTA for 24 hours was an experience Anthony will never forget.
“I kind of regretted it for about two hours between 5:30 and 6:30 but I stayed with it,” Anthony said. “This was a great decision. I loved it for 21 hours.”
We transferred to the 7 and went to a cafe in Fitler Square. After getting caffeinated and eating some breakfast we rode the 12 to 17th and Locust streets. The plan was to catch the 2 down to 16th and Reed streets but it passed us by without stopping. Anthony, Hanna and Eden were able to use Indego but Stephen had to run the whole way.
Despite the setbacks, everyone made it to 16th and Reed streets on time and we rode back towards SEPTA’s headquarters on the 2 with Stefan Johnson, deputy chief financial officer for the Philadelphia City Council. Stefan rode the 2 bus with us and shared his appreciation that there is SEPTA service in all of Philadelphia, which he noted is not the case in most of the country.
“And it’s not just in Philly, you can get to the suburbs on Regional Rail,” Johnson said.
Some riders on the 2 recognized us from Instagram and were “delighted” to see us on their commute.
At SEPTA HQ Stephen interviewed Andrew Busch, director of media relations, about SEPTA’s efforts to improve reliability, cleanliness and safety on transit amid an uncertain financial future.
If riders encounter a problem on SEPTA or have a question, they can reach out to SEPTA on social media or through filling out a comment form.
“While we are regularly checking on these things, certainly there are some things that come up that we might not be aware of right away and our riders might see them before one of us do,” Busch said.
Busch also shared his appreciation for SEPTA workers and their endless hard work to keep Philly moving.
After the interview we walked through SEPTA HQ back to City Hall where the journey started. We traveled to Council Chambers in room 400 where our city leaders will discuss legislation including a Transit Access Fund this year.
After 24 hours on transit, we reflected on our journey. We learned that transit moves Philly - to work, to school, to medical care - during traditional commute times but also for 2nd and 3rd shift workers around the clock. We learned that accessibility matters - from elevators to curb cuts and missing signage. For transit to truly move us, it must serve everyone. We heard from people impacted first hand by fare increases and the fight to bring affordable transit to Philly. We spoke directly with elected officials who rode a mile in the shoes of transit riders in hopes of deepening their commitment to winning the transit funding Philly and PA need in the year to come. We are grateful to the operators and transit workers who made our journey possible as well as the riders we had the opportunity to bring into the conversation. Most of all, we re-committed to fighting for the transit Philly deserves - at least after a little sleep. The rode ahead may be long, there may be some late nights. But together, we are getting there.
You can join Transit Forward Philly’s efforts for safe, accessible, affordable, and reliable transit at an event near you.
