Introduction
SEPTA’s Loop through University City service, or LUCY, is a system of circulator routes that operates between 30th Street Station and various locations in the University City district.
Internally, the LUCY routes are labeled as route 316.
Route 316 aka LUCY service operates out of Germantown Depot, (Trenton-Philadelphia Coach Contracted service).
SEPTA LUCY Operations
Presently, LUCY service operates in two loops around University City, the Gold Loop and the Green Loop. Both loops originate at John F Kennedy Blvd and 30th Street, and operate in a specific direction depending on their loop. Both loops do not serve Presbyterian hospital on every trip, but would instead bypass it during certain hours (or trips).
LUCY Gold Loop
The LUCY Gold Loop operates a clockwise loop through University City. Starting at 30th Street Station, the stops on this loop in order are…
- John F Kennedy Blvd and 30th Street
- 34th Street and Market Street
- Connection to SEPTA Metro L lines at 34th Street Station
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 31, 49
- 34th Street and Chestnut Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 21 and 42 eastbound
- 34th Street and Walnut Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 21 and 42 westbound
- 34th Street and Spruce Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 42, and 49
- Civic Center Boulevard at CHOP
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 42, and 49
- University Avenue and Curie Boulevard
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 42, 49, and 79
- 38th Street and Spruce Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 42, and 49
- Walnut Street and 40th Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus route 21
- Chestnut Street and 40th Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus route 21
- Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
- Most trips between 6am and 10am skip this stop
- Market Street and 36th Street
- Connections to SEPTA Metro T1 at 36th St Portal
- Market Street and 34th Street
- Connection to SEPTA Metro L lines at 34th Street Station
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 31, 49
- JFK Blvd and 30th Street
LUCY Green Loop
The LUCY Green Loop operates a counter-clockwise loop through University City. Starting at 30th Street Station, the stops on this loop in order are…
- JFK Blvd and 30th Street
- Market Street and 34th Street
- Connection to SEPTA Metro L1 at 34th Street Station
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 31, 49
- Market Street and 36th Street
- Connections to SEPTA Metro T1 at 36th St Portal
- Market Street and 37th Streetlines
- Presbyterian Medical Center
- 40th Street and Chestnut Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus route 21 eastbound
- 40th Street and Walnut Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus route 21 westbound
- Spruce Street and 40th Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus route 42
- Spruce Street and 38th Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 42, 49, and 79
- University Avenue and Curie Boulevard
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 42, 49, and 79
- West Service Drive and Health Sciences Drive
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 42, and 49
- 33rd Street and South Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 30, 42, and 49
- 33rd Street and Walnut Street
- Connections to SEPTA bus routes 21 and 42 westbound
- 33rd Street and Market Street
- JFK Blvd and 30th Street
SEPTA LUCY History
The SEPTA LUCY routes was established on July 12th 1999 by the University City District in partnership with SEPTA to create transit service from 30th Street Station to employers in the area such as University of Pennsylvania and Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. In fact. CHOP would originally operate their own shuttle in the area as well, serving a similar purpose.
“AT YOUR SERVICE“
When the LUCY Routes were established, they had two service levels:
- Gold Loop
- Clockwise Loop that first served the University City district, then Presbyterian Hospital, and then went back to 30th Street Station
- Green Loop
- Counter-Clockwise loop that goes across Market Street to 40th Street, stopped at Presbyterian Hospital, then went down to the University City district and then back to 30th Street Station
Both loops physically entered the 30th Street Station boarding area between service start and 12pm noon. At all other times, buses would sit at 30th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
On April 17th, 2000, a Mid-Day express service was made that does similar a similiar route to the Gold Loop but started at 36th-Market instead of 30th Street Station. This service only operated between 10am and 3pm.
Midday service on the Green Loop would be removed August 21st 2000, and in turn the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia would run their own supplimental midday shuttle to 30th Street Station. On the same date, service on both loops would no longer divert over to 36th and Lancaster.
Starting summer 2001, buses would no longer enter the 30th Street station, and all buses would stop at 30th Street and JFK at all times.
Midday service on the Green Loop would be restored in 2003, and the supplimental CHOP shuttle would only serve the area near University City Station (Now Penn Medicine Station).
With the September 8th 2005 schedule change, the midday loop would be silently discontinued, and service on both loops would be remain along Market Street between 38th and 32nd Street, instead of diverting up to Lancaster Avenue.
From this point onwards, give or take a few stops here and there, the LUCY routes would be pretty stable from then onwards.
The LUCY routes are otherwise unaffected by the new bus network, as it operates independent of the SEPTA route network
Timetables
Below are some historic timetables for SEPTA LUCY Routes. These are older (out of date) timetable scans with their effective dates listed.
- SEPTA Route 316
- 1999
- 2000
- April 17th 2000 (Now with Mid-Day express)
- August 21st 2000
- 2001
- February 19th 2001 (New Early AM Green Loop Service)
- 2002
- 2004
- February 23rd 2004
- September 7th 2004
- October 11th 2004 (revised service)
- 2005
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
- 2010
- 2011
- 2020
- 2025
- CHOP Supplemental Timetable
Audio Announcements
These are the door announcements that played when the doors opened on the LUCY Routes, this was for buses delivered between 1996 and 2016.