The University City station currently services approximately 6,400 riders every day.
Credit: Zach SheldonSEPTA’s University City Station will be renamed Penn Medicine Station following a $3.3 million donation by the medical school, SEPTA announced Monday.
Penn Med will pay the money over the course of five years, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The changes are expected to be implemented in two months and will include updated signs, maps, and screens. The money will fund the regular costs of running transit operations, the Inquirer reported.
The station currently services approximately 6,400 riders every day, according to the Inquirer.
In April, Transportation Secretary Leslie Richards told the Inquirer that the state of Pennsylvania needs $650 million to sufficiently invest in transit – $200 million more than what it already receives from the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Penn Medicine’s donation advances SEPTA’s initiative to generate new sources of revenue, according to the Inquirer.
“Obviously, this is just a drop in the bucket of what we need, but it allows us to plan and we know that we can count on that money for the next five years,” SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards said.
The Philly Voice reported that Penn Med plans to promote The Pavilion, a $1.5 billion hospital facility expected to open in 2021, through the new deal. The project aims to house inpatient care for heart and vascular medicine and surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, the Abramson Cancer Center, and a new emergency department. According to Penn Medicine News, the renaming comes just in time for the final construction phase on the Pavilion.
This rebranding of the train station follows several other high-profile renamings on Penn’s campus. In November, the University announced that Penn Law School will be renamed Carey Law School following a $125 million donation from the W. P. Carey Foundation. In the fall of 2022, the shortened name will become Penn Carey Law, Penn Law Dean Ted Ruger announced approximately a week after the initial announcement.
In February 2019, Penn’s School of Design was renamed the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design after Weitzman’s donation alleviated costs to the school associated with academic programming and financial aid.
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