Tuesday, March 04, 2008

People who rush to exit too early

I never understand why people do this-- the only reason I can think of for this type of behavior is that they are new to BART or they are very late for something of extreme importance. Morning commute trains are always packed, and most of us are well aware that 45% of the crowd exits at Embarcadero, while another 45% exists at Montgomery, leaving 10% for the rest of the stops. This morning, a woman standing in the deep end of the train decided to make her way to the doors as soon as we entered the Transbay Tube. The train was at maximum capacity, with barely room to stand. She pushes her way through bodies, saying "excuse me", "excuse me", "need to get out", while people gave her dirty looks. She pushed her way all the the way through until she stood in front of the doors. At that point, we weren't even past half way of the Transbay Tube yet. One person straight up told her, "Most of this train is leaving at Embarcadero, you won't be left on the train."

Not sure why she was in such a rush to push her way through to the front of the door-- she made more than 25 people shift their positions or bags to make room for her to pass. Why couldn't she just wait until we've arrived at Embarcadero and follows the rush of passengers exiting the train then?? It really only takes 4-5 seconds to exit the train with the flow....did she not have 4-5 seconds to spare?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't like being at the back of the escalator line because people don't know the rules.
Therefore, when going under the bay when there's about a min or two left in the journey I get up from my seat and wait near the door.
Generally I'm already a seat or two away though.
Then I can haul ass up the stairs and away from many of those people who annoy me, breathe on me, and or cough on me. The less time I can spend on a train or in a station, the better.

SongMonk said...

I would vote for "inexperienced traveler".

Regarding what anonymous said, what are the rules regarding the escalator line?

Dan said...

And when she got the faregate, she held up the line because then and ONLY then could she dig through her pockets/purse/whatever for her ticket.

No, I wasn't there, but that seems to be the typical behavior.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I do see this a lot...usually a group of people rushing to stand by the doors. Then the train suddenly breaks or does the stop-and-go thing all the way to the station, causing the people to nearly fall on top of each other. It's kind of hilarious, actually.

bartmusings said...

Dan, so true!!

Anonymous said...

this has to be my BIGGEST pet peeve when on BART. yesterday, some old man tried to get past me while the train was moving, but i was like, fuck that, and made him contort himself in order to get past me.

second biggest pet peeve is when people rush onto the train before letting people out of it just so that they can get a seat.

bartmusings said...

"second biggest pet peeve is when people rush onto the train before letting people out of it just so that they can get a seat."

That is probably worse than what I was writing about! I hate that too-- when everyone else is lined up and waiting for passengers to get out before walking into the trains, you have those who don't give a da*n about order just swooping in on the side and walking through the lines, into the train before people even have a chance to walk out!

Anonymous said...

songmonk: escalator line rules are simple - stand on the right, pass on the left.

Just like the highway, biking/walking/hiking trails, etc - slow traffic on the right, fast/passing traffic on the left.

Unfortunately, many people, forget this simple rule.

Anonymous said...

As a train operator, I am curious about one behavior. As riders, please tell me what's going on back there.

I'll pull into a station and open the doors. The usual number of people get off, some cars will have more people - a group outing? Or just a middle car.

I'll wait a few seconds for the stragglers, and sometimes I'll wait even more - possibly something happening down the line, etc.

At the last minute, someone will dash off the train. It's not commute time, so the train isn't packed, where they would have to weave through a crowd. No luggage, no shopping bags; just late.

As passengers, you see them. Are they asleep? In a conversation?

dndgirl said...

To anonymous train operator. I have been that person once or twice. I get so engrossed in a book that I lose track of where I am and have to make a mad dash if I happen to look up in time. I have also overshot my station a few times ...

Anonymous said...

Someone already covered what the rules for the escalator are. Some times, these are even posted. I've seen stickers on the side explaining it.

You can also note these on the people movers at airports.

I just don't like being on the train, so I use ANY time savings I can. That also includes using the "EZ Rider" card.
I get annoyed of the people getting OFF the train, mins after it has stopped and the doors have been open. Those people look at you as you're boarding like you somehow inconvenienced them. I'm sorry, but in rush hour times, some rules do get thrown out. Its not fair to me that I'm waiting in line 9 mins before you, but you feel the need to rush the door to get on. So sometimes I am a culprit of rushing to get on.

Anonymous said...

T/O: When I rush off at the last minute it's because I was reading the paper and forgot to pay attention to where I was. Doesn't happen often. One day this week I changed my mind where I would get off to catch Muni so dashed off the train at the last minute.

As for the queing up before Embarcadero, the problem isn't the escaltor "rules," it's the ridiculously long line to get to the escalator. People cut in at the front of the line and if you don't get there fast, you'll be standing in line without moving an inch. This is a big problem at that station.

Anonymous said...

Re: escalators, why is it that the BART station escalators are so slow? The escalators in the Stockholm and Budapest metros move much faster than BART's. Of course, this increases queue times at the bottom of the escalators during peak travel hours.

At the same time, it's not so terrible--I can't remember waiting more than a minute or two to go up an escalator on BART, ever.

Perhaps the slow speeds are to assist disabled riders, riders with kids, and older riders who otherwise might have trouble on the escalators?