Blaring police lights and desolate stretches of road were staples at all three Levittown-area train stations where visitors were catching their ride to see Pope Francis in Philadelphia.

Saturday’s first day of the papal visit, which was attended by tens of thousands of people coming through SEPTA stations, has been on many peoples’ agenda since the announcement last year that Pope Francis would be in Philadelphia.

Despite the early attention of the visit, not enough people bought tickets to sell out of the 164,000 system-wide rail passes SEPTA expected to get rid of.

Locally, only the Croydon, Levittown and Woodbourne stations are providing service to the city during the papal visit.

The first train to the city from the Woodburne Regional Rail Station left at about 5:30 a.m. From there on, a passenger train would leave from the only active stop on the West Trenton Line every half hour.

“At this point, we’re prepared for the worst. We have more than enough personnel here,” Middletown Township police Lt. John Michniewicz explained.

The first several trains out of Woodburne were running at a lower capacity than later trains would. The six- and seven-car trains that left Woodburne and other stations at the similar times, with very few passengers compared to the max expectations.

“We were expecting the first few trains to be a little low,” explained a SEPTA employee.

By mid-morning transportation officials said trains were running at only 40 percent capacity.

“We’ve covered our bases. The safety issue is our number one priority,” the official said.

As the day went on, the Woodburne station got more crowded. Between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., about 400 people were boarding the train every half hour, according to David Harris of the Penndel-Middletown Emergency Squad.

The scene was similar at other area SEPTA stations.

Tullytown’s Chief of Police Daniel Doyle said the Levittown Regional Rail Station in the borough had allotted parking at St. Michael The Archangel Church PECO’s grassy property, which is used yearly for St. Michael’s Fair parking. The lot at the PECO property was empty and the church and train station lots were barely used.

Compared to the 10,000 rail passes available for the Tullytown station, only about 780 people showed up to take the train, Doyle said.

“It’s much more manageable than we thought it would be,” Acting Bristol Township Police Lt. Ralph Johnson said of the conditions at the Croydon Regional Rail Station.

The pilgrims taking the train from Croydon could leave their vehicle at Croydon Park for free. The Croydon Fire Company was were renting out parking at Zober Industries for $20. The fee was split with Zober.

“There are 400 or 500 more people scheduled for tomorrow. It will make a difference, but it won’t be overwhelming,” Johnson assured. “Maybe after people see that it wasn’t bad today, more will come out tomorrow.”

As SEPTA figures have been updated over the past few weeks, some officials have scaled back their plans to include less resources in use at the three stations in the area.

Despite the reductions, federal authorities were spotted at the various stations and two SWAT operators were seen in full gear at the Levittown station.

Ed Cummings was catching the 6 a.m. train out of Woodburne on Saturday. Instead of visiting the Pope, though, he was going down to volunteer. “I expect it to be pretty busy. [Pope Francis] seems to be a pretty popular guy,” he joked.

A group of four students from Princeton University were waiting for the train near Cummings. In their excitement, one pulled out her phone to show the group an animated image of the pope running up the art museum steps like in the “Rocky” films.

Tim Braun and Laura Traceski traveled a little further than many of the commuters. Coming from Hartford, Connecticut, the pair traveled nearly four and a half hours just to catch a train at the Middletown station at 6 a.m.

Passengers at the other stations had just as much enthusiasm.

“We wanna get an idea about what all the fuss is about,” explained Al Kotchi, who was traveling to see the pope with his wife, Kathi. “We wanted to take part in the once in a lifetime experience.”

In Croydon before the train boarded, a small “Pope! Pope! Pope!” chant broke out among those waiting for the train and the SEPTA officials.

A couple of vendors set up shop at the entrance to the parking lot where staging was happening for the train in Croydon. One was collecting money for children’s cancer research and two others were selling pretzels shaped like a cross and “Papal Water.”

Jeremy, the seller of the water, did the same thing when the Phillies won the World Series in 2008. The pretzels were supplied by the Philly Soft Pretzel Factory.

Throughout the morning, the Penndel-Middletown Emergency Squad and other Middletown workers were giving out water to make sure commuters at the Woodbourne station in an effort to help the pilgrims stay hydrated on the way in.

“It wasn’t what it was supposed to be, but we plan for the worst, and hope for the best,” Harris said.

Travel conditions and emergency situations were monitored by Bucks County authorities at their command center. County spokesman Chris Edwards said the emergency operations center operated and will continue to be in operation unto Sunday night.

Bucks County authorities are in contact with Philadelphia officials during the papal visit to make sure things runs smoothly.

After months of planning, the public is finally able to see the work of emergency management officials.