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Education in Philadelphia is provided by many private and public institutions. The School District of Philadelphia runs the city's public schools. The Philadelphia School District is the eighth largest school district in the United States with 163,064 students in 347 public and charter schools.[94] Philadelphia has the second-largest student concentration on the East Coast, with over 120,000 college and university students enrolled within the city and nearly 300,000 in the metropolitan area. There are over 80 colleges, universities, trade, and specialty schools in the Philadelphia region. The city contains three major research universities: the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and Temple University; and the city is home to five schools of medicine: Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Other institutions of higher learning within the city's borders include: Saint Joseph's University La Salle University Peirce College University of the Sciences in Philadelphia The University of the Arts Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Curtis Institute of Music Thomas Jefferson University Moore College of Art and Design The Art Institute of Philadelphia The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College Philadelphia University Chestnut Hill College Holy Family University Community College of Philadelphia Messiah College Philadelphia Campus. The Philadelphia suburbs are home to a number of other colleges and universities, including Villanova University, Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, Swarthmore College, Ursinus College, Cabrini College, and Eastern University. Media For more details on this topic, see Media in Philadelphia. The Inquirer Building on North Broad Street Philadelphia's two major daily newspapers are The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, both of which are owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C. The Philadelphia Inquirer, founded in 1829, is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States.[95] The Bulletin, another newspaper that operates in Philadelphia, traces its history back to The Philadelphia Bulletin that went defunct in 1982. The Bulletin is locally owned by The Bulletin, Inc. The first experimental radio license was issued in Philadelphia in August 1912 to St. Joseph's College. The first commercial broadcasting radio stations appeared in 1922: first WIP, then owned by Gimbel's department store, on March 17, followed the same year by WFIL, WOO, WCAU and WDAS.[96] The highest-rated stations in Philadelphia include soft rock WBEB, KYW Newsradio, and urban adult contemporary WDAS-FM. Philadelphia is served by three major non-commercial public radio stations, WHYY-FM (NPR), WRTI (jazz, classical), and WXPN-FM (adult alternative music), as well as several smaller stations. In the 1930s, the experimental station W3XE, owned by Philco, became the first television station in Philadelphia; it became NBC's first affiliate in 1939, and later became KYW-TV (CBS). WCAU-TV, WPVI-TV, WHYY-TV, WPHL-TV, and WTXF-TV had all been founded by the 1970s.[96] In 1952, WFIL (now WPVI) premiered the television show Bandstand, which later became the nationally broadcast American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark.[97] Today, as in many large metropolitan areas, each of the commercial networks has an affiliate, and call letters have been replaced by corporate IDs: CBS3, 6ABC, NBC10, Fox29, Telefutura28, Telemundo62, Univision65, plus My PHL 17 and CW Philly 57. The region is served also by public broadcasting stations WYBE-TV (Philadelphia), WHYY-TV (Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia), WLVT-TV (Lehigh Valley), and NJTV (New Jersey). In September 2007, Philadelphia approved a Public-access television cable TV channel. As of 2013, Philadelphia is the only media market in the United States that has owned-and-operated stations of all five English-language major broadcast networks (NBC – WCAU, CBS – KYW-TV, ABC – WPVI-TV, Fox – WTXF-TV and The CW – WPSG); three of the major Spanish-language networks (Univision, UniMas and Telemundo) also have O&Os serving the market (respectively, WUVP-DT, WFPA-CA and WWSI). Rock stations WMMR and WYSP had historically been intense rivals. However, in 2011, WYSP switched to sports talk as WIP-FM, which broadcasts all Philadelphia Eagles games. WMMR's The Preston and Steve Show has been the area's top-rated morning show since Howard Stern left broadcast radio for satellite-based Sirius Radio. Four urban stations (WUSL ("Power 99"), WPHI ("Hot 107.9"), WDAS and WRNB ("Old School 100.3") are popular choices on the FM dial. WBEB is the city's Adult Contemporary station, while WRDW ("Wired 96.5") is the major Rhythmic Top 40 station. Infrastructure Transportation 30th Street Station, with Cira Centre in the background and statues on the Market Street Bridge over Schuylkill River in the foreground Main article: Transportation in Philadelphia Philadelphia is served by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which operates buses, trains, rapid transit, trolleys, and trackless trolleys throughout Philadelphia, the four Pennsylvania suburban counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery, in addition to service to Mercer County, New Jersey and New Castle County, Delaware. The city's subway, opened in 1907, is the third-oldest in America. In 1981, large sections of the SEPTA Regional Rail service to the far suburbs of Philadelphia were discontinued due to lack of funding. Several projects have been proposed to extend rail service back to these areas, but lack of funding has again been the chief obstacle to implementation. These projects include the proposed Schuylkill Valley Metro to Wyomissing, PA, and extension of the Media/Elwyn line back to Wawa, PA. SEPTA's Airport Regional Rail Line Regional Rail offers direct service to the Philadelphia International Airport. Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is a major railroad station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which offers access to Amtrak, SEPTA, and New Jersey Transit lines. The PATCO Speedline provides rapid transit service to Camden, Collingswood, Westmont, Haddonfield, Woodcrest (Cherry Hill), Ashland (Voorhees), and Lindenwold, New Jersey, from stations on Locust Street between 16th and 15th, 13th and 12th, and 10th and 9th Streets, and on Market Street at 8th Street. Airports Two airports serve Philadelphia: the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), straddling the southern boundary of the city, and the Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE), a general aviation reliever airport in Northeast Philadelphia. Philadelphia International Airport provides scheduled domestic and international air service, while Northeast Philadelphia Airport serves general and corporate aviation. In 2010, Philadelphia International Airport was the 12th largest airport in the world measured by traffic movements (i.e. takeoffs and landings), and is also a primary hub for US Airways.[98] Roads Aerial view showing the major highways circumscribing Philadelphia The Schuylkill Expressway, approaching Center City from the north William Penn initially planned a Philadelphia that had numbered streets traversing north and south and "tree" named streets traversing east and west, with the two main streets Broad Street and High Street converging at Centre Square. The plans have since expanded to include major highways that span other major sections of Philadelphia. Interstate 95 runs through the city along the Delaware River as a main north-south artery known as the Delaware Expressway. The city is also served by the Schuylkill Expressway, a portion of Interstate 76 that runs along the Schuylkill River. It meets the Pennsylvania Turnpike at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, providing access to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and points west. Interstate 676, the Vine Street Expressway, was completed in 1991 after years of planning. A link between I-95 and I-76, it runs below street level through Center City, connecting to the Ben Franklin Bridge at its eastern end. Roosevelt Boulevard and the Roosevelt Expressway (U.S. 1) connect Northeast Philadelphia with Center City. Woodhaven Road (Route 63), built in 1966, and Cottman Avenue (Route 73) serve the neighborhoods of Northeast Philadelphia, running between Interstate 95 and the Roosevelt Boulevard (U.S. 1). The Fort Washington Expressway (Route 309) extends north from the city's northern border, serving Montgomery County and Bucks County. U.S. 30, extending east-west from West Philadelphia to Lancaster, is known as Lancaster Avenue throughout most of the city and through the adjacent Main Line suburbs. Interstate 476, commonly nicknamed the "Blue Route" through Delaware County, bypasses the city to the west, serving the city's western suburbs, as well as providing a link to Allentown and points north. Similarly, Interstate 276, the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Delaware River Extension, acts as a bypass and commuter route to the north of the city as well as a link to the New Jersey Turnpike to New York. However, other planned freeways have been canceled, such as an Interstate 695 running southwest from downtown; two freeways connecting Interstate 95 to Interstate 76 that would have replaced Girard Avenue and South Street; and a freeway upgrade of Roosevelt Boulevard. The Delaware River Port Authority operates four bridges in the Philadelphia area across the Delaware River to New Jersey: the Walt Whitman Bridge (I-76), the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (I-676 and US 30), the Betsy Ross Bridge (Route 90), and the Commodore Barry Bridge (US 322). The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge connects PA Route 73 in the Tacony section of Northeast Philadelphia with New Jersey's Route 73 in Palmyra, Camden County, and is maintained by the Burlington County Bridge Commission. Bus service Philadelphia is also a major hub for Greyhound Lines, which operates 24-hour service to points east of the Mississippi River. Most of Greyhound's services in Philadelphia operate to/from the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal, located at 1001 Filbert Street in Center City Philadelphia. In 2006, the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal was the second busiest Greyhound terminal in the United States, after the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York. Besides Greyhound, six other bus operators provide service to the Center City Greyhound terminal: Bieber Tourways, Capitol Trailways, Martz Trailways, Peter Pan Bus Lines, Susquehanna Trailways, and the bus division for New Jersey Transit. Other services include Megabus and Bolt Bus. Rail Main article: History of rail transport in Philadelphia Suburban Station Since the early days of rail transport in the United States, Philadelphia has served as hub for several major rail companies, particularly the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad first operated Broad Street Station, then 30th Street Station and Suburban Station, and the Reading Railroad operated out of Reading Terminal, now part of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The two companies also operated competing commuter rail systems in the area, known collectively as the Regional Rail system. The two systems today, for the most part still intact but now connected, operate as a single system under the control of the SEPTA, the regional transit authority. Additionally, the PATCO Speedline subway system and New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line operate successor services to southern New Jersey.[99] Philadelphia, once home to more than 4,000 trolleys on 65 lines,[100] is one of the few North American cities to maintain streetcar lines. Today, SEPTA operates five "subway-surface" trolleys that run on street-level tracks in West Philadelphia and subway tunnels in Center City. SEPTA also recently[when?] reintroduced trolley service to the Girard Avenue Line, Route 15. Today, Philadelphia is a regional hub of the federally owned Amtrak system, with 30th Street Station being a primary stop on the Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Corridor to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. 30th Street also serves as a major station for services via the Pennsylvania Railroad's former Pennsylvania Main Line to Chicago. 30th Street is Amtrak's third-busiest station in numbers of passengers as of fiscal year 2013.[101] Walkability A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked Philadelphia the fifth most walkable major city in the United States.[102] Utilities Telecommunications Skyline at night Southeastern Pennsylvania was assigned the 215 area code in 1947 when the North American Numbering Plan of the "Bell System" went into effect. The geographic area covered by the code was split nearly in half in 1994 when area code 610 was created, with the city and its northern suburbs retaining 215. Overlay area code 267 was added to the 215 service area in 1997, and 484 was added to the 610 area in 1999. A plan in 2001 to introduce a third overlay code to both service areas (area code 445 to 215, area code 835 to 610) was delayed and later rescinded.[103] Philadelphia is now also served by Wireless Philadelphia, a citywide initiative to provide Wi-Fi service. The proof of concept area was approved on May 23, 2007, and service is now available in many areas of the city; although discontinued by Earthlink. United States Postal Service The main Philadelphia Post Office is at 3000 Chestnut Street in the University City district.[104] The facility here became Philadelphia's main post office on September 29, 2008, after the closure of the former main post office at 30th and Market Streets.[105] Notable people Main article: List of people from Philadelphia Sister cities Chinatown Gate at 10th and Arch, a symbol of Philadelphia's friendship with Tianjin Philadelphia has seven official sister cities, as designated by the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia (IVC):[106] City Country Date Florence Italy 1964 Tel Aviv Israel 1966 Toruń[107] Poland 1976 Tianjin People's Republic of China 1980 Incheon South Korea 1984 Douala Cameroon 1986 Nizhny Novgorod Russia 1992 Philadelphia also has three partnership cities or regions:[106] City Country Date Kobe[108] Japan 1986 Abruzzo Italy 1997 Aix-en-Provence France 1999 Philadelphia has dedicated landmarks to its sister cities. Dedicated in June 1976, the Sister Cities Plaza, a site of 0.5 acres (2,000 m2) located at 18th and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, honors Philadelphia's relationships with Tel Aviv and Florence which were its first sister cities. Another landmark, the Toruń Triangle, honoring the sister city relationship with Toruń, Poland, was constructed in 1976, west of the United Way building at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. In addition, the Triangle contains the Copernicus monument. Renovations were made to Sister Cities Park in mid-2011 and on May 10, 2012, SCP was reopened and currently features an interactive fountain honoring Philadelphia's ten sister and friendship cities, a café and visitor's center, children's play area, outdoor garden, and boat pond, as well as pavilion built to environmentally friendly standards.[109] The Chinatown Gate, erected in 1984 and crafted by artisans of Tianjin, stands astride the intersection of 10th and Arch Streets as an elaborate and colorful symbol of the sister city relationship. The IVC of Philadelphia has participated in the U.S. Department of State's "Partners for Peace" project with Mosul, Iraq,[110] as well as accepting visiting delegations from dozens of other countries.[111] |
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