Today we relinquish the column to AP for a recap on the visit to Philadelphia by Pope Francis, by the numbers:
The Daily Numbers: 850,000 the popular number being cited for attendance at the Sunday Mass on the Parkway. Organizers were predicting more than 500,000 for Saturday’s concert celebration and more than 1 million for Sunday’s Mass. Official figures haven’t been released.
$45 million was the fundraising goal for the event’s organizers at the Vatican-sponsored World Meeting of Families conference.
$12 million will go to the city for policing, traffic and crowd control, fire and emergency medical response, emergency management, streets and sanitation.
9 million spent by the state in federal funding on National Guard personnel.
9,900 of downtown’s 11,200 hotel rooms were booked.
62,946 rose SEPTA’s regional rails on the weekend.
28,575 Saturday
34,371 Sunday.
65,000 people head into the city on an average weekday.
123,000 of 328,000 of those special papal passes for use on the rails sold by SEPTA.
51,922 (about 23,000 on Saturday, 29,000 on Sunday) on the PATCO High Speed Line from southern New Jersey compared to 12,000 riders on an average Saturday. 17,000 of 75,000 weekend passes sold by PATCO while also accepting regular passes.
40,000 passengers rode SEPTA’s Broad Street line to South Philadelphia after Sunday’s Mass, compared to about 125,000 for all trips on the line on an average weekday.
13,000 trips on the city’s Indego bike-sharing service (2,900 Friday, 4,900 Saturday and 5,300 Sunday). Usual ridership over those three days of the week is about 6,000.
25 miles of highways closed in the Philadelphia area.
4.7 square mile area of the city where vehicles were restricted from entering.
591 vehicles towed out of the vehicle-free zone.
71 local, state and federal law enforcement and public safety agencies involved in weekend security.
300 pieces of heavy equipment.
6,000 National Guard soldiers and thousands of Philadelphia police officers and firefighters on duty.
423 medical cases treated at 10 first-aid stations, 129 of them resulted in hospitalization.
100 ambulances and more than 1,000 emergency medical personnel brought in; lower-than-average volume at city emergency rooms.
3 arrests, including “one complete idiot” who allegedly tried bringing a large bag of illegal drugs through a security checkpoint.
69,000 meals served to first responders.
250,000 bottles of water given out to pilgrims by Philadelphia-area convenience store chain Wawa.
0 Philly signatured cheesesteaks eaten by Pope Francis, according to Archbishop Charles Chaput, who noted the pontiff’s room was stocked with other Philadelphia treats, but it’s unclear if he ate them.
12 babies kissed by Pope Francis, and likely even more, including one dressed like Pope Francis.
Call me a Phanatic: A look at the ups and downs of being a Philadelphia sports fan.
Who is this guy masquerading as Sam Bradford? Where is the guy who looked so good in the preseason?
I Don’t Get It: The Monday morning quarterbacking concerning the Sunday outdoor Mass and all the security personnel is in overdrive.
Today’s Upper: Kudos to all the law enforcement personnel who offered for the most part courteous reminders all weekend to be safe.
Quote Box: “I’ll more than likely get a very timely and terse email from my mother.”
- Mayor Michael Nutter, after using the S-word in describing some media reporting as scaring people away from the city for the pope weekend.
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