Man plans 24-hour ride across all 158 SEPTA stations to push for funding

Rich Temple will begin his journey at 4:05 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 30th Street Station. His goal is to ride all 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines and pass through all 158 stations within roughly 24 hours. The 66-year-old resident of Society Hill views the trek not as a personal record attempt, but as a public advocacy effort for the transit authority's long-term financial stability.

Temple, who describes himself as a public transit nerd, spent three years planning the route. He used artificial intelligence to create a three-page spreadsheet detailing the departure and arrival times for the 22 trains he will board. Although he is not competing for a Guinness World Record, he is adhering to the organization's specific guidelines for such challenges. These rules allow a runner to pass through stations without exiting the vehicle, a method Temple will use to maintain his tight schedule.

The itinerary begins with a trip to Trenton Station, where Temple will wait 41 minutes for a roughly two-hour train to Chestnut Hill East. He will then walk 20 minutes to Chestnut Hill West before returning to Center City by 9 a.m. The rest of the first day involves covering the Media/Wawa, Lansdale/Doylestown, Warminster, Airport, and Paoli/Thorndale lines. The second day starts at 5:10 a.m. with the remaining five lines.

Temple acknowledges the risks involved in such a complex logistical feat. He noted that delays, detours, equipment malfunctions, or police activity could disrupt the plan. If he misses a connection, he could be stranded for 40 to 60 minutes, potentially throwing off the entire two-day schedule. He plans to spend his travel time observing the scenery, speaking with fellow passengers, and posting updates to social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

This is not Temple's first attempt at transit speedrunning, a niche hobby where participants race to traverse a public transit system as quickly as possible. In December 1988, he and two friends set the 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 entire Los Angeles metro system three years ago.

TransitRuns, an informal database tracking speedrunning times, lists five SEPTA users who have completed runs on the Heavy Rail or Light Rail lines. The current fastest time for a full Heavy Rail run belongs to a user named JohnnyG1_4, who finished the course in 2 hours, 47 minutes, and 15 seconds in July. SEPTA representatives did not respond to a request for comment regarding their awareness of the activity.

Temple's push for attention comes amid a funding crisis for the region's largest transit authority. Last year, SEPTA implemented sweeping service cuts and fare hikes after state lawmakers failed to identify a recurring revenue source. A judge eventually blocked the service cuts, but the financial strain remains. Gov. Josh Shapiro requested that the state Department of Transportation use approximately $400 million in capital funding to supplement operational needs.

Shapiro described the $400 million allocation as a Band-Aid for the authority's $192 million deficit. The funding is scheduled to expire by July 1, 2027. Following the Democratic trifecta won in Pennsylvania's midterm elections, the governor promised that he and the legislature would work to fund mass transit. Temple hopes his journey will catalyze that legislative discussion.

"I would like to catalyze the discussion in the legislative branch to come up with a solution to sustainably fund SEPTA," Temple said. He argued that the system is a vital economic engine for the state and that funding it is a logical choice rather than an act of charity. Temple believes his public display of transit use will help more residents understand the value of the service and feel a personal stake in its future.