That's SEPTA's idea: to become more user- and tourist-friendly.
"We've simplified the system by taking the numbers out of it," SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said. "Nothing else is changing.
"Now, you know where you want to go," he said, "and you look for a train that will get you to your ultimate destination," be it Norristown, West Trenton or Chestnut Hill East.
Blame it on the R5.
Maloney said that type of train, with its multiple destinations, necessitated the change.
"It's a problem we've had since the opening of the commuter rail tunnel," he said. "What happens is you go down to the station, and if you're working off a numbered system, like the R5, you get down to the platform, and you could either end up in Paoli in the western suburbs or Doylestown in the northern suburbs."
Herbine, who took the R5 daily from Doylestown to Center City and back for years while doing her undergraduate work in radiation therapy at Gywnedd-Mercy College, said she often saw the panic-stricken faces when riders boarded the wrong train.
"They're like, 'Will this take me to Paoli?' " she said. "And I'd have to tell them, 'No, wrong way,' and that they needed to get on the other R5 going the other way. Otherwise, they'd end up in Doylestown."
The name changes will be phased in at the stations and on the trains.
From Friday to early Sunday, all the train names were changed on the electronic boards at 30th Street Station, Suburban Station, and Market East. The changes also were made on all train schedules and on the SEPTA website, spokeswoman Jerri Williams said.
She said SEPTA also has gotten rid of the color codes linked to each line on its maps and schedules. The color of all Regional Rail lines will be bluish-gray.
