University City station was conceived in 1979 by the City of Philadelphia as Civic Center, under which name it appeared as proposed" on SEPTA informational maps of the 1980s. The name had been abandoned by the time construction began in 1991. The station instead opened with the regionally descriptive name of University City on April 24, 1995.[6]
The station has a blue and red color scheme, a nod to Penn's colors.
On January 27, 2020, SEPTA announced that the station would be renamed Penn Medicine Station after selling naming rights to Penn Medicine for $3.3 million in a 5-year deal.[7]
Routes served
Since its inception, the station has been a stop for all trains on the five SEPTA rail lines which pass through the station, including rush-hour express trains on the Wilmington/Newark and Media/Wawa lines; thus it has a high level of service at all times.[6] Even though not all lines serve it, Penn Medicine is listed in timetables and other SEPTA literature as one of the five Center City Philadelphia (CCP) stations, and falls within the CCP Regional Rail fare zone.
The station is also served by SEPTA bus route 40 which runs along South Street, and bus routes 30, 42, 49, and the LUCY Green Loop from the nearby corner of Convention Avenue and Health Sciences Drive.
In popular culture
The station made a brief appearance in the movie Unbreakable as Elijah (Samuel L. Jackson) falls down the stairs to the platform. It is portrayed as a subway station with turnstiles in the movie, though in reality the station had no turnstiles at the time of filming, as "Rotogate" turnstiles were installed at the Spruce St. entrance in May 2017 in preparation for SEPTA Key Deployment on Regional Rail. The Convention Avenue entrance has regular height turnstiles and ADA gates.
Station layout
Penn Medicine has one high-level island platform serving both tracks.