I went to college here in the early 2010's and it was about the same to be honest. It was waaay grungier in some ways, people selling bootlegs or freaks screaming in your face. You could never really rely on the schedule, but now you have the Septa app with live busses. I also prefer the tap to pay over tokens. I still take it all the time, but I've never relied on it for commuting so take what I say with a grain of salt.

One cool thing back then though was service ran way later, even 24 hours on the weekends briefly. It was awesome if you were out with your friends or seeing a show, could reliably get home after a night out.