BART vs. MTA
I know I live in Cali when this happens:
Riding on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), the subway system in the Bay Area, is a pleasant experience: I usually get a seat, the trip is never interrupted by system failures, the train cars are clean. Today I had a particularly interesting experience on my BART ride back from San Francisco to Oakland at 6:30, a trip I take 2 - 3 times per week.
At the Embarcadero stop a woman got onto the train and sat at a seat in front of me. While she was making her way to the seat, she brushed the handlebars of my bike, which I had carried onto the train. As she brushed my bike, I heard her growl something undecipherable, and didn’t think twice about it. As the train took off during the rush hour commute, everybody seemed to relax into their seats, thinking about getting home, reading their newspapers, or nodding off for a quick nap.
All of a sudden, everyone’s peace and quiet was interrupted by the same woman who started into a demented diatribe, sputtering missives about “the demonic demons destroying the world because they’re demons…they’re demons…they’re all going to hell…because they’re demons.”
She was really loud and I immediately thought she was saying something negative about me, because my bike might have been in her way. After a few seconds of her rant I and everyone else could tell she was insanne and mentally unstable.
What really was interesting to me was how people on the train reacted to the situation. The woman sitting next to her stood up very quickly and stood in the aisle of the train, while another woman stood up as well and walked to the end of the train. They both were heading for a small call-box which they used to communicate with train conductor, explaining what was happening in a detailed way, and making a complaint.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had no idea BART had such a service! Two women could talk directly to the conductor and make a complaint about a woman who had not really done anything except talk out-loud at a higher decibel than normal.
The crazy woman seemed to notice that they were making a complaint and she quieted down until we reached the next train station, West Oakland. The conductor came over the loud-speaker and made an announcement that we were going to be held in the station momentarily. Then I saw two police-men walking down the train platform. At the same time, the crazy woman was stepping off the train, onto the platform. The police approached the woman, and walked her out of the station. They then approached the train car and asked to speak to the woman who had made the complaint, asking her if she wanted to submit a formal complaint. She explained it was unnecessary and didn’t wish to.
At that point I was overwhelmed and shocked at what had just happened. Let me explain: I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1980’s and have been riding the subways ever since the train cars looked like this:
I remember the trains used to be hot, dirty, smelly, and FULL of crazy people. At one point, during the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980’s while I was coming home from school, I got onto an “R” train and one whole half of the train car was full with people, jam packed, sardine can, rush hour packed. All the people on that side of the car were staring at the one man who was sitting on the other half of the car. This man was sitting bare-chested, holding a 2X4 bar and swinging it up over his head, from the ground to the ceiling. That was some crazy stuff! I still have the image imprinted into my memory. He must have been high, drunk, crazy, and everything else, but there was nothing else people could do! We had to take the subway home, and cops were few and far between to deal with the huge numbers of things like that happening everyday in New York.
Another fond memory I have of riding the subways everyday to school (which was usually alone - because my brother and I kept different schedules, even though we went to the same school 35 minutes from our home), was a seeing the same particular man at my train station every morning. He would always carry a PBS or Brooklyn Library tote bag, and talk to himself during the whole ride. He would repeat the same phrases, “Oh Jesus Loves You, Oh Yes,” or “Praise Jesus, Praise Jesus, Praise Him.” I saw him every day, rode the train with him every day, and he would say the same things every day. Nobody ever gave him trouble.
So back to BART. I was literally amazed that such a system to make a complaint was in place on BART. This might be the result of heightened security measures after 9-11, but none the less, it is an impressive system. I guess that’s where part of my $5.75 train fare goes. Now I can’t just gripe about how expensive it is; I guess there are better services on BART than in New York. Not that I value one over the other. Just this morning I was thinking that one of the biggest differences between New York and the Bay Area is transportation.
BART really is a commuter rail. It is a great service to working people during the day. But if you ever want to use BART after 6pm, or on weekends, it’s not very reliable or efficient. Taking a car is the way to go. Not true for the MTA, which runs trains 24 hours a day, and everyone uses it. I was thinking this morning how during a number of times after going to a party, or going a concert or show in New York, I would run into people from the event, and even the performers in the shows on the train. It’s pretty cool when that happens! But I can’t vouch for how often trains run in NYC, or how cold they get in the winter-time.