Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Oakland Coliseum BART Experience

I'm a Giants and 49ers fan, so I rarely make my way to the Coliseum for games. A couple times a year maybe. I don't dislike the A's, in fact, whenever they are not playing the Giants, I do root for them. Wednesday night, we went with friends to the Red Sox-A's game.

The game itself was exciting and ended favorably, but the BART rides were horrendous. Yes, it is very convenient, even more convenient than taking BART/Muni to AT&T Park. But, tonight, there was a long delay between each station, making a 25 minutes ride into 45 minutes. The BART ride home was even worse. No lines, no order, no courtesy whatsoever with people overflowing all around the platform. It didn't help that the train didn't come for 15 minutes. By the time it came, it was so crowded that you can smell alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and lots of bad breath all around. During the game, BART even had a little game between innings rewarding a passenger who took BART to the game. But shouldn't there have been more trains if thy want everyone to take BART?? Maybe it was just extra crowded and disorderly because the Red Sox were in town.

Now, the game itself. I never could understand why there are so many darn Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs fan in the Bay Area. Whenever those teams are in SF or Oak, at least 1/3 if not 1/2 of the stadium are filled with them. And boy, do they annoy the heck out of me! If they're true fans, fine, whatever, they can root for their team and live in the Bay Area. But I find most of them to be fake fans or bandwagon fans with no real attachment or deep knowledge of the team and players. They just like to put on the Red Sox, Yankees or Cubs hats and jerseys and walk around our ballparks like they actually care about how the teams are doing beyond this series. Hate bandwagon fans.

I was sitting in back of a young couple who were dressed in Red Sox attire. Who knows if they are true fans, maybe the guy is, but all the girl wanted to do was take pictures during the game with her boyfriend. First with her camera phone, then with his, and then with her camera. I swear they took at least 30 pictures of themselves (same exact pose) throughout the game, during critical points of the game too! It was annoying- not just the constant flash but the fact that I am in the background! Just watch the game, darn it!!! Goodness!!!

I still highly prefer the Giants and AT&T Park, even though the Giants are sadly sitting in last place with no solid plan to climb out of there. We've sunken below the Rockies...never thought that would happen.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

BART usually runs extra trains when they expect a crowd at an event like that. However, the lack of decorum on the way home doesn't surprise me at all. Amateurs. :)

bartmusings said...

Really? There were extra trains? I couldn't tell- the time in between trains were still quite long. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Well, I am an A's fan and do take Bart to the games. For all of the games I have been to (quite a few) Bart has never had any extra trains. So, the bridge to the station, the station and the platform are always packed. However, it still beats driving.

bartmusings said...

You're totally right- it beats driving! Unless something drastic happens to me, I'll continue to take BART to ballgames, whether in SF or Oakland.

Anonymous said...

They're not advertised, but they run extra trains. You can tell they're game trains when they're empty upon arrival at Coliseum. In addition, they have staff on the platform to help with crowd control and the dispatch of the special trains.

Anonymous said...

There are usually four game trains. Two get parked south (near Bayfair and Castro Valley) and one of those goes toward Richmond, the other to Daly City.

Two get parked near Mac Arthur and one goes to Dublin, the other to Fremont. All four trains are ten or sometimes nine cars (basically whatever Hayward yard can put together).

The game trains are intermixed with the regular trains. On game nights, the (regular) Dublin trains stay long (8 or 9 cars), but sometimes the Richmond-Fremont trains are six, but they often take a guess and have eight.

When the game ends, the trains are held about two minutes to fill up. Then it's 3 minutes til the next train, then it gets held 2 minutes.

The next time you are there, ask one of the supervisors - they'll tell you how many game trains. Plus, you'll be right where the train stops, and are almost guaranteed a seat. The end cars, particularly at the south end of Coliseum get fewer people.

Anonymous said...

Just be glad that you wern't taking bart home after the police concert last wed. There were plenty of trains and a high presents of bart pd. but finding a bart car that didn't smell like puke or having puddles of the stuff on the floors was a different story.