Tuesday, March 20, 2007

When doors don't open

I think there is a little claustophobia in all of us. If not that, then it must be extreme impatience.

It was raining this morning, and as I've come to expect, BART was late (9 minutes to be exact). The train was overly crowded. When we finally arrived in Embarcadero, passengers crowded around the doors. They heard a "ding", but the doors didn't open. A few seconds later, another "ding". Door still cannot open. The train operator finally announced that we were having door mechanical problems. We then heard a few more "dings". People waiting by the doors were getting very very uncomfortable. I don't get off until Civic Center so I was just watching them.

People were breathing heavily. Some were sighing out loud. Many shook their heads repeatedly while they waited and waited. A few even complained verbally, mumbling, "This is great. Just what I need" or "Damn it, we're trapped". Everyone around the door looked so uneasy and upset.

After one minute (pretty long for a door to open upon arrival), the doors opened and people dashed out like mad!

The door problem was fixed at the Powell station. We had to wait an extra 2 or 3 minutes. I was already late for my connecting shuttle so I just calmly waited.

Interesting observation though! We do live in a very impatient society. And I am one of the impatient people.

2 comments:

Rafael said...

Today getting out at the Montgomery station we only had half a door. This is when only one side of the double doors open. The congestion of people trying to get out was like watching cows lining up for the slaughter. People were pissed getting out cause they had to wait their turn and be polite about it. The people waiting to get on were pissed too cause they had to wait for everyone to exit first. Hey wait a minute? Do you think this will make people more polite? Bart Management do you see what I see??

Anonymous said...

Right. The proper way to boarding a train is to stand to the side let those that are exited clear the train and then proceed on