30th Street Station Passenger Assistance Booth

Interested in volunteering? Contact Carmen Alicea Telephone: 215-395-6183 or 215-471-9475 ext. 136 Fax: Letters of Interest to 215-747-1635 or email: calicea@TAPhilly.org

About Us

Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia opened its 30th Street Station Passenger Assistance Booth on Monday, December 10, 2007. The Passenger Assistance Booth is designed to be a prominent Information and Assistance Center at the Station and is supported by Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia's substantial administrative and program services capacity. Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is a multimodal transportation hub. It is the third busiest Amtrak station in the country, handling nearly 4 million Amtrak passenger boardings a year. The Station, as one of three Center City SEPTA Regional Rail Stations, handles over 4 million boardings a year. In addition, there is a 30th Street underground stop on the street corner adjacent to the Station that is a major access point to the SEPTA Subway and Trolley system. Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia's Passenger Assistance Booth is the Station's first comprehensive passenger information and assistance service.

Frequently Asked Questions

• 30th Street Station Passenger Assistance Booth Frequently Asked Questions

Holiday Travel Trips

• 30th Street Station: Holiday Travel Tips

Background

The Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia Base

Travelers Aid agencies have been providing assistance to stranded travelers and newcomers since the first agency was founded in St. Louis in 1851. There are currently 51 Travelers Aid agencies in the USA and in Canada and Australia. Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia was created in 1901 and continues to assist thousands of travelers in need each year at our Center City office. Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia had a crisis assistance service at 30th Street Station from the early 1930s until 1992. Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia will now create a comprehensive visitor and passenger information and assistance center at the Station.

Currently, there are Travelers Aid operated assistance centers at four major North American railroad stations — in Washington D.C., San Diego, Los Angeles and Toronto, Canada. The four centers assist 80,000, 70,000, 103,000 and 100,000 persons every year, respectively. Even as a crisis assistance booth in 30th Street Station, Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia averaged over 20,000 contacts a year. With the added visibility and scope of services, we made over 90,000 contacts in the Booth's first year.

There are also Travelers Aid passenger assistance programs in 24 United States airports. From Tampa International Airport to San Francisco International Airport, airport visitors rely on Travelers Aid volunteers and staff to help them make their connections and make them feel secure as they travel. California's airports have developed many visitor assistance programs. The largest and most distinguished of these is at Los Angeles International Airport, where 300 volunteers and a staff of 3 assist over 880,000 airport visitors a year. Their volunteers cover the airport and are easily recognizable to travelers in need. In nearby San Diego, 2 staff and 150 volunteers welcome over 300,000 airport visitors and at San Francisco International Airport, over 600,000 visitors are welcomed by Travelers Aid volunteers each year. Reagan National Airport has recruited 275 volunteers to give friendly greetings and aid to visitors at four terminal booths, where they welcome over 430,000 visitors each year; and growing Newark International Airport's Travelers Aid service has recruited 35 volunteers who are providing assistance to over 100,000 visitors annually.

Volunteers are the Key

The core of a successful information and assistance service is its volunteers. Volunteers are natural emissaries of goodwill for a transportation center and a city. Volunteers bring a special brand of interest, sincerity, knowledge and enthusiasm to the task of helping travelers and visitors and they view all visitors as their personal guests to the region. Moreover, they look forward to their hours of service and are relatively inexpensive. With the right recruitment, training, care and handling, we will develop an expert complement of volunteers for Center at the Station that will open up Philadelphia's attractions and amenities to its visitors and will show how a transportation hub can best serves many of its passengers.

The 30th Street Station Booth

Amtrak management identified the west end of the 30th Street Station Central Concourse as the most suitable location for our Passenger Assistance Booth. This places the Booth directly in front of both the 30th Street entrance and the Septa/Cira Center throughway and immediately across from the Amtrak Information Booth. The location is clearly visible for passengers as they enter the Station from the 30th Street drop-off site and from many of the train gates. It is critical that the Booth be placed in a prominent location in the Station so that newly arriving passengers can easily identify it within the often very busy railroad terminal environment. All of the current Travelers Assistance booths in North America are sited in the center of the passenger arrival/departure areas. The 30th Street Station Booth is a duplicate of the Washington D.C. Union Station Travelers Aid Booth. The Booth is a 10 foot square, counter-high enclosed workspace.

The Passenger Assistance Booth Operating Plan

The Passenger Assistance Booth at 30th Street Station is backed by Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia's substantial administrative and program services support staff. Our Agency has over 60 full time staff. Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia is responsible for program design, recruitment and training of volunteers, financial and personnel management, Information Technology installation and management, oversight of all service delivery, marketing and advertising the Center, and revenue generation.

The Booth is a volunteer based service overseen by Agency administrative staff. Our IT Director established the Website and Booth internet access, and the Chief Financial Officer provides accounting and human resource support. These support staff are located at our administrative offices in West Philadelphia at 111 North 49th Street, which is only 19 blocks from the Station or 3 subway stops.

Passenger Assistance Services

The principal function of the Booth is to provide 30th Street Station patrons with any information and assistance they may require to make their visits to the station and into the region productive and enjoyable. Information is provided at the Station Booth by program staff and volunteers 8 hours a day. Information is also delivered in brochures, flyers, advertisements and signs and by telephone. The specific information and assistance services that will be delivered routinely are described below:

Greeting: The first responsibility of staff and volunteers is to greet passengers and visitors to the Station and make them feel welcome and at ease. They respond to basic station information questions and direct passengers and visitors to ground transportation, commuter and subway stations, bus stops and terminals, airports, airline ticket counters, car rental counters, baggage claim areas, parking, restrooms, shopping and eating areas, payphones and courtesy phones, etc.

Directions and Travel Guidance: Program personnel provide maps and directions to locations and points of interest within the Station, the city and the surrounding area. They answer the usual and unusual questions about the Station asked by travelers such as: restroom locations, baggage claim locations, places to eat, shops and services, telephone locations, etc. Program personnel provide information on how to travel about the metropolitan Philadelphia area, such as automobile routing, taxi cab companies and their rates, schedules and rates for public transportation, including Amtrak, SEPTA, PATH, NJ Transit, regional buses and trains, Philly Phlash, LUCY, trolley tours, etc. They also assist visitors with car rentals and alternative methods of accessible and reasonably priced transportation in the region.

Assistance in Securing Accommodations: The program staff helps travelers to secure appropriate accommodations tailored to their needs. The program is creating extensive accommodation listings and detailed descriptions and recommendations that will enable visitors to make selections based on what is most convenient for them, their interests and preferences. The listings will include a wide range of accommodations, including highly rated chain and independent hotels and motels, long-stay suites, bed and breakfasts, youth hostels and boarding houses. The Center books reservations for accommodations and assist visitors in getting to them.

Identification of Local Sites of Interest: Using maps, brochures, guides, their personal experiences, and visitor feedback, volunteers and staff provide information about recreational, cultural, historical and sightseeing attractions. In addition to providing information on Philadelphia landmarks and activity centers, such as the Universities, the Convention Center, Sports Stadiums, the Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell, Independence Visitors Center, Independence Hall, South Street, Art Museums, and the Mummers Museum. Center personnel also offer information about the outlying attractions, such as, the Barnes Art Museum, Sesame Place, Crayola Museum and Gettysburg, Washington's Crossing, Lancaster, Valley Forge National Parks, the Jersey Shore sites, Rehoboth Beach, etc. Their personal knowledge of the area and reports from patrons also enables them to provide information about places less commonly known, i.e., smaller museums, jazz clubs, and ethnic, novelty and neighborhood locales, shops, restaurants and entertainment.

Current Information on Events: Staff is briefed on a daily basis so that they are able to respond to the traveler's individual interests by providing a view of what is interesting, unique and timely. The staff contribute and refer to continuously updated listings of regional, city and neighborhood festivals, musical and theatrical shows, tours and gallery exhibitions.

Business Connections: Business travelers are assisted in finding goods and services they need to conduct their work, including information about computer and audio/video rentals, copy services, access to express mail, e-mail and the Internet, short-term office space, tailors, and cleaners, hospitals and medical services.

Internet Website Services: Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia is creating a truly visitor-oriented Website that will provide information about the Station and the region, as well as provide information about destination sites. Video terminals at the Booth will give access to this Website and to its links. Center personnel will give on-line answers to questions submitted during the programs hours of operation. The Website will link to local and destination service sites.

The Website will introduce visitors to Station and the region, give them information and candid advice and link them to related Websites (e.g., Amtrak's site, car rental firms, hotel and restaurant locator services, event and attraction descriptions, etc.). The site will be marketed aggressively to affiliated Website services, within the travel industry and to the public. The Website will keep pace with the changes that occur in Philadelphia attractions and events and will provide restaurant, hotel, shopping and entertainment recommendations. Visitors to the region will be asked to provide reviews of their visits and make recommendations for future visitors. Their recommendations will be made available to the Website's users.

A secondary purpose of the Center is to provide assistance to travelers in need of more intense assistance, as follows:

Direct Travel Assistance: Booth personnel direct Station patrons experiencing common travel crises, such as stolen wallets and luggage, sudden illness, lost tickets, etc. to Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia for assistance. Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia helps these travelers in making alternate travel plans, new accommodations and other personal and business arrangements. Many of these situations can be resolved through telephone contacts with Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia staff at its West Philadelphia office.

Crisis Intervention: Booth personnel are trained in identifying severe crisis situations that require the intervention of professional casework staff for counseling and emergency assistance to visitors who are in severe crises. These crises include, but are not limited to runaway teens, domestic abuse, emotional distress, a family death, and the like. While Booth staff work directly with distraught travelers addressing the crisis as it occurs, they call in Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia Administrative staff immediately to provide counsel and direct assistance. Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia staff are available for consultation during all hours of the Booth’s operation.

Foreign Language Translation: The program will provide foreign language translation services to Station patrons as needed. A list of volunteers at the Station and in the City who are fluent in different languages will be available to help the non-English speaking travelers with communicating, interpreting and telephoning. The list will include Station personnel who are multi-lingual. Travelers Aid Family Services of Philadelphia also has long-standing relationships with community agencies, such as the Nationality Service Center and International House, which provide many services to foreign visitors. Center personnel will also access a resource manual listing consulates, embassies, currency exchanges, and relevant services.