Public Transit Blues

Public Transit Blues

The more you read about the S.F. Bay BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system, the worse it gets.

The system that I, as a lifelong Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) rider, had longed to ride is now in constant turmoil over its police shootings. (cf. Oscar Grant, fatally shot by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle in the early morning of New Year's Day 2009)

Once I'd come to live on S.F. Bay, & rode the BART, I was chilled, & exhausted by its long distances. Now I avoid them entirely..

But not the connecting CalTrain commuter line on the Peninsula. It's an hour & a half from S.F. to Santa Clara (48mi.). The view’s the industrial side of every stop: lots of car repair shops & municipal yards. Riders often fall asleep. I quickly learned to store my black Shogun 105 in the final bike-car & sit in one of the bank of seats reserved for stringy, fraternal bikeoids who noisily drank beer, offering me none.