But as the 14.2-mile Camden County-to-Center City rail line approaches middle age, its future is getting more complicated and costly.

Ridership is down almost 20 percent from a decade ago. Its train cars need updating. And its ticketing system still requires pocketfuls of change.

"PATCO was state-of-the-art when it was built" in 1969, general manager Robert Box said. "We're trying to get it back to that point."

So millions of dollars are being spent -- and millions more will be needed -- to get the Speed Line back with the times and riders back on board.

There's $13 million budgeted for a revamp of the ticketing system. There's $100 million to brighten and renovate the stations, including better lighting and colorful mosaics. A $350,000 "transit village" study will look at how to attract stores, restaurants and banks to the land around park-and-ride stations in New Jersey. And there are wishful plans to extend PATCO to Gloucester County and to the Naval Business Center in Philadelphia as well to improve connections with the SEPTA system.

PATCO has one profound advantage over struggling SEPTA and most other regional rail lines: It is not dependent on tax dollars. Instead, the Delaware River Port Authority, which runs the line, makes up PATCO's operating losses with tolls collected on the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Betsy Ross and Commodore Barry Bridges.

Bill Schlueter, for one, is grateful.

"It's better than SEPTA," said Schlueter, 31, of Lindenwold, who takes both rail systems to his job at a comic-book store in Port Richmond. "The cars are nicer. It's very quick."

PATCO has long had a no-frills image as a round-the-clock train that runs like a subway. Even the line's now-rued automated ticketing system was revolutionary in 1969.

"It has a very high reputation because it was designed with modern devices but not overdone," transportation expert Vukan R. Vuchic said.

Just 10 years ago, PATCO carried 11 million riders a year.

But all kinds of things have been working against it. Jobs moved from the cities to the suburbs. For several years, gasoline prices stayed flat or dropped.

In 1999, after 16 years with no increases, PATCO fares went up, growing by more than 50 percent over three years.

"That really cut into the ridership," said Donald Nigro, president of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers and a daily PATCO rider.

Other passengers got fed up with delays caused by work replacing railroad ties.

Ridership hit a low of 8.9 million in 2003. This year, it is just over nine million.

The port authority is staking much of its hopes on a new debit-card ticketing system, which is being billed as "E-ZPass for PATCO." In two years, passengers will be able to load value onto a card, then pass it through a reader that will subtract money each time.

The current fare system -- which forces many to struggle with change machines or wait in line -- is inflexible, fails often, and is the chief source of commuter complaints, said Box, PATCO's general manager.

The new system is designed to be compatible with other rail lines with the same technology, such as PATH in North Jersey and, perhaps someday, SEPTA. And its higher gates should deter fare cheats.

But a lingering question is how to get ridership back up.

One way may be to turn suburban stations into destinations as well as departure points -- a focus of the "transit village" study.

That would please Collingswood Mayor James Maley, who said PATCO should be bringing people to his town's revived commercial strip but has not.

Restructuring fares might help.

Jeffrey L. Nash, the port authority's vice chairman, said some fare cuts, particularly ones targeted for sports or cultural events, might increase ridership among non-commuters.

Higher fares do not seem to be near. Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey said he would block any attempt to increase fares during his watch.

Also, as part of a state deal to keep 1,100 Towers Perrin employees in South Jersey -- including many PATCO riders -- the port authority is spending up to $3.5 million to build a 100-foot-long pedestrian tunnel connecting the Woodcrest Station with the consulting firm's new Cherry Hill offices.

Bill Vigrass, a transportation consultant and former PATCO official, said one way to boost ridership was to make the trains "go somewhere else."

Studies on doing that, in which Vigrass is involved, are in the very early stages. Port authority officials said public hearings had found support for new lines to take commuters into fast-growing Gloucester County or to the growing business center at the former Navy Base in South Philadelphia.

Extending PATCO's reach and making more direct connections to SEPTA could easily top $1 billion -- and there is no telling where the money would come from.

PATCO at the same time needs to refurbish or replace its 121 cars, many of which date to the line's opening. It will cost $1.2 million to renovate a car or $2 million to replace it, putting the ultimate price tag between $145.2 million and $242 million.

With the port authority's capital budget running low, that means federal help will be needed. Bearing that in mind, authority officials have said they would need to hire a second lobbyist in 2005 to press their case in Washington.

Nash, the authority's vice chairman, acknowledged that solutions may be elusive -- shifting riders' jobs back to the city, for example -- or expensive. But he said something had to be done.

"Our job is to make sure that we provide the best transit system that we can," he said. "We think we can take people out of their cars and put back them in the system."