7 Must-Read SEPTA Tricks

Update 5/10/14: We discovered another nifty tool, http://goo.gl/BmPFFX. It's a visualization of transit data published by Septa, not a live representation. Still helpful.

Like most Philadelphians, we have a love (beats sitting in traffic) / hate (don’t get me started on tokens in a bag) relationship with SEPTA.

We've been trying to use SEPTA buses, trolleys and the subway more often to get around the city and avoid paying $10+ in cab fares, especially when we're going out to dinner. In our quest to better understand Philly's public transportation system, we've come across some nifty tips and tricks and want to share them with you.

Photo from Media.Patch.com

Here are seven SEPTA tools you might not know about.

1. Have you ever stood at a SEPTA bus stop wondering if the bus will ever come or if you missed it? We have! The Transitview icon on SEPTA's System Status webpage is made for you. Just click on thebutton to see the location of the bus with a three minute delay. It's a bit slow on your phone, but still works.

2. Wondering if your train is on time? Use TrainView for the current status of each regional rail line with updated departure times from each station depending on where the train is at the moment. Kristy also swears by a mobile app called Baldwin that lets you enter in a starting point and a destination, tells you the next three trains you can take to get there and alerts you if they are running late.