Your place to share stories on and off the bus.
The image above marks the first time I or Amy, who sent this to me, have seen BART trains covered in an advertisement.
The ad above, says Amy, is for Monterey Bay Aquarium. It “covered a couple of cars,” according to her.
Have you seen BART train-wrap ads before?
Photo by torbakhopper
Man, there sure have been a lot of Muni-related accidents lately, right? That guy who hit-run pedestrians and a Muni bus was charged with hella crimes. Not to be outdone, a Muni train struck a pedestrian near SF State on Monday night. Yikes!
In Muni funding news, we learned that SF supervisors decided not to put a vehicle-licensing fee that would bring in money for Muni on the November ballot. And KQED reported that, according to union leaders, the odds are stacked against transit operators in talks. CBS Bay Area notes that the clock is ticking on those same talks. The Examiner weighed in on Why Muni can’t find good drivers.
We learned that SFMTA launched “Google Bus” pilot program map, and promised increased enforcement. And Streetsblog SF asked whether SFMTA’s proposed shuttle stops are enough to end Muni conflicts.
In BART news, we breathed a sigh of relief to learn that the huge, dirty rope sculpture at the Embarcadero BART station is going to be removed. The Giants and Warriors are contributing to a capacity study at BART’s Embarcadero and Montgomery stations. And finally, SFGate reports that rides on BART’s Oakland Airport Connector will set you back $6.
Got transit news tips? Email us, please, thank you.
This ridiculous cuteness in a little green dress comes to us from BART rider Amy. She says this sharp-dressed ma’am didn’t seem like a new acquisition, but, as our hearts melt:
You could tell he was very proud of the dog and [that] it was special by the way he pet it.
BART is totally trying to be my new boyfriend. Muni and I aren’t talking right now.
BART rider Jessica W. took the train to her meetings yesterday and happened upon a really great surprise.
As my reward for taking BART I got a live dance performance on the trip back. Nothing unites a train full of people like some Michael Jackson music and moves. Thanks to these talented boys; keep dancing! impressive moves and were full of good energy. As someone who rarely takes BART it totally made my day.
We’re pretty sure that these guys are a group called Bay Area Street Dancers. Here’s a video of the dancers and their double-jointed, amazing moves that a different rider recorded earlier in the year.
And another one to Bruno Mars:
Photo by Kevin Wong/Right Angle Images
BART operator Kelly Beardsley lets us in on one little secret about driving BART: passengers love pressing the intercom button to complain about annoyances big and small, or even to just chat with him for no reason at all. At the last Muni Diaries Live show, Kelly recounts the shenanigans over the intercom on one eventful BART ride.
I love intercom calls, they always crack me up. You know on BART at the end there’s that little box that says, In Case of Emergency, Call the Operator?” Sometimes people just push it and just chatting me up. Like, “Hey, I noticed you just made another transfer announcement at Lake Merritt Station. I don’t usually hear transfer announcements at Lake Merritt Station for the Dublin-Pleasanton bound passengers. Are you going to make a transfer announcement at Bay Fair?” And i’m just like, “Oh I like to mix it up! I like to make sure people get to where they need to go!” And the guy’s like, “Oh that’s really cool, man, so what other places do you make transfer announcements?”
We get stupid calls, we get fun calls, and we get complaint calls like, “Hey! Hey! There’s this girl and she’s got a bike and she’s eating a burrito and she’s in the handicapped seat!”
On one mellow Sunday, Kelly gets an intercom call at Fruitvale station about two guys screaming at each other “about to fuck each other up!” He calls it into Central, but the intercom caller wasn’t finished.
“I’m looking out the window and I see that no one’s fighting and thought, maybe they worked it out! So I get going and a minute outside of Fruitvale and I get another call. It’s the same guy but now with other people too. “Hey man! You better get someone!” I hear screaming in the background and I’m like, “Has it escalated?” And the guy goes, “This motherfucker’s got a bike! He’s got a bike raised over his head!”
Watch the rest of the video to hear what happened!
BART rider Nick enjoyed a greatest hits of bad behavior recently. Here are the goodies, with captions from his point of view.
1. (above) “Gee, you’re precious, but it’s the last fucking train to the East Bay on a Giants game night.”
2. “I work too hard all day to put my little-ass bag on my lap so an old lady can sit.”
3. “Wow, I miraculously woke up to transfer to the Richmond line, but I’m still an inconsiderate asshole.”