Here and There

…to ignore the urge to post, that is.

Last week’s second round of “Spare the Air Days” in the Bay Area saw a vastly increased ridership, and much relief for commuters, both in the way of a repsite from the heat and a kindness toward the pocketbook rarely exhibited by a system like BART.

But on one of the three free transit days, I don’t recall which, I ran into enough annoyances to make me reconsider whether Spare the Air was worth it. My slew of troubles went something like this: a crowd of slow-walkers (very, very slow) stood three-across going down the stairs on the south side of Market into the Powell station. Didn’t anyone ever teach these people the law of lanes? Then, once I freed myself from the descending congregation, I arrived at the turnstiles (whose gates were left permanently open all day), only to find them, all seven or eight of them, blocked by sedentary wonderers. That’s not a typo. These people weren’t “wandering.” They may not even have been “wondering,” but rather, were simply standing there, blocking the entire bank of entryways.

It should’ve come as no surprise, then, when I got to the down escalator only to find it mostly blocked by, again, standers. Fuck it, I thought, and started walking in the left lane anyway. As I descended close enough to see that my train was sitting there with its doors open, I opened my mouth and “excuse me”s started flying all over the place. Once I realized I could (barely) make it to my train, I turned around, and the last human obstruction got to hear “You should stand on the right side” issue forth from my lips.

The last detail: Arriving at 19th St. in Oakland, one of whose up escalators is a single-lane model, I walked briskly toward said escalator to find it (you guessed it) filled, literally, with standing bodies. The last straw.

I haven’t even touched upon how crowded, stinky, loud, and hot the trains were on free days. I realize that earlier in this post I mentioned the trains being a relief from the unusually warm weather. If only that were the case. Many cars’ AC units weren’t functioning. That, or the volume of human bodies sucked all the oxygen and refrigerated air from the compartment.

I bring all this up now that it’s cooled down some and the air quality agency funding free transit has run out of money to support any more this year, only because I read this on SFGate.

Yes, Spare the Air should be for commuters only (despite the fact that such an arrangement would cut me, keeper of odd working hours, out). And yes, ultimately, public transportation should be free (or a lot cheaper). But how about something really resembling security? Since 9/11 I haven’t noticed any increase in any kind of security measures, other than no longer having restrooms, and the absence of trash cans on the train platforms, both of which I’m sure are keeping the most sinister of thugs and terrorists from their wares.

Enough of my bitching. True, any kind of inter-city commuting in the Bay Area usually involves BART (or its counterpart, CalTrain), so we don’t have much of a choice but to use the system. Still, it sure could use a fresh look at many of its operating procedures. 

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