Man Plans Two-Day SEPTA Rail Crawl
A retired healthcare worker will ride every Regional Rail line in 24 hours to press state leaders for permanent transit funding.
By Luis Medina ·
Rich Temple, a 66-year-old resident of Society Hill, will spend the next 24 hours riding all 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines. His goal is to pass through all 158 stations to advocate for long-term funding for the transit authority. The journey begins at 4:05 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 30th Street Station.
Temple’s route is detailed in a three-page spreadsheet he compiled with the help of artificial intelligence. The plan accounts for 22 specific train departures and arrivals across two days. He will start by heading to Trenton, where he will wait 41 minutes before taking a two-hour train to Chestnut Hill East. From there, he will walk 20 minutes to Chestnut Hill West and return to Center City before 9 a.m.
The first day will conclude after he rides the Media/Wawa, Lansdale/Doylestown, Warminster, Airport, and Paoli/Thorndale lines. The second day begins at 5:10 a.m. with the remaining five lines. Temple is following Guinness World Records guidelines for transit challenges, which allow him to pass through stations without exiting each time. He is not attempting to break a record, but he is adhering to the specific rules for such feats.
Temple views the trip as a way to highlight SEPTA’s value amidst ongoing financial struggles. Last year, the authority faced potential service cuts and fare hikes after state lawmakers failed to secure recurring revenue. A judge eventually blocked the cuts, and Governor Josh Shapiro directed the state Department of Transportation to use approximately $400 million in capital funding to cover operational gaps.
Shapiro described that funding as a temporary fix for a $192 million deficit, noting the money will run out by July 1, 2027. Following the recent midterm elections where Democrats secured a legislative trifecta in Pennsylvania, Shapiro promised to work with the legislature to fund mass transit. Temple hopes his journey will catalyze that discussion in the legislative branch.
"I want to call attention to what is so extraordinary about the SEPTA system as a whole, but also some of the unique challenges that SEPTA faces," Temple said. He acknowledged the complexity of the task, noting that delays or equipment malfunctions could force him to wait 40 to 60 minutes for a replacement train. "If I miss a train, I could be sitting there festering for 40-60 minutes and that could throw everything off," he said.
This is not Temple’s first attempt at a transit marathon. In December 1988, he and two friends set a Guinness World Record for the fastest navigation of the New York City subway system on a single fare. They hit all 466 stations in 29 hours, 47 minutes, and 12 seconds. That record was broken the following year by Kevin Foster, who completed the run in 26 hours, 21 minutes, and 8 seconds. Temple also traversed the Los Angeles metro system three years ago.
The practice of "transit speedrunning" is an international hobby, with records tracked for systems from Toronto to Madrid. The TransitRuns database lists five SEPTA users who have completed runs on Heavy Rail or Light Rail lines. The fastest time for a Heavy Rail station run is held by a user named JohnnyG1_4, who finished in 2 hours, 47 minutes, and 15 seconds in July of this year. SEPTA representatives did not respond to a request for comment regarding their awareness of the activity.
