Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Raise your hand if you hate BART?

With fewer cars in prime commute hour BART trains, I definitely am feeling the impact.  As if BART wasn't crowded enough before the mysterious train car issues forcing them to take trains out of service, it is even worse now.

I thought after riding BART for nearly 15 years, I've seen it all.  Well, I've experienced a few not so lovely firsts today.  More to add to my reasons for hating BART.

I've never had 3 homeless in one train car before.  Apparently fewer cars also mean fewer places for them to sleep.  In my train this morning, one was sleeping on the seat, one on the ground, and one against the door.  We all know what that means in a very crowded train.  You simply can't escape the smell and there really is no room to hide from it.  You just brave the smell.  Deal with it.

I've also never seen anyone smoke on BART until today.  One passenger was smoking on the West Oakland platform and carried the cigarette in.  Plenty of passengers including myself told him to throw it out.  He waited until the moment the door closed to toss out his cigarette but then blew the smoke in our faces as the door shut.  I still can smell that smoke...mentally.  It was unbearable in an already inhumanely crowded train that stunk.

Yesterday, I heard from a coworker that someone vomited on the train.  I felt so bad for her.  That is just about the worst thing that can happen (with the exception of a train accident).  I hope she isn't sick today from being exposed to the virus and/or bacteria.

So back to my question in the title of this post.  Raise your hand if you hate BART!

Both my hands are raised.  I hate it.  I wish we had better options to get from 925 area code to SF.