Monday, June 19, 2006

Wouldn't it be nice if we knew when the next train is coming as we are pulling into the parking lot?

If I get $1 for everytime I run like an Olympic sprinter from the parking lot into the station and up the escalator to the platform, only to find out my train has been delayed, I would have enough money for a nice pair of shoes (think Via Spiga not quite yet Jimmy Choos) every two months!

I really wish that someday, BART stations would catch up to 21st century technology and have a scrolling monitor at the parking lot entrace, or even better, if they could offer riders up-to-the-minute BART daily schedules and delays via text message, it would really save many passengers an unnecessary sprint to the platform.

Yes, I know that we have monitors on the platform, but what good do they do if we are already lining up there, waiting for a delayed train to arrive?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not that it will help you, but the extension station do have a real time, monitor that shows the location of the trains, they are in the free area, not in the parking lots.

a good station agent will call out often times when they see people running, what train is about to leave because many times, people are running only to discover, it was not their train.

Orion

bartmusings said...

I guess I haven't encountered an agent that has told me to take my time or go fast, you have 1 minute!

What's an extension station?

Anonymous said...

Extension station = newer stations that are additions to new or extended lines, e.g., all peninsula stations south of Colma on SFO-Millbrae lines, N. Concord & Pittsburg/Bay Pt. stations on former Concord line. But I could be wrong...