Why You Should Ride BART

BART train in Pleasant Hill, California. Credit: Utilizer via Wikimedia Commons

Public transportation is the backbone of any functional urban area. If it’s left in a state of decay, then the cities it serves will also suffer as a result.

Back in 2019, BART was breaking ridership records left and right. The tech boom, for all the damage it caused, was a boon for BART and other adjacent transit agencies. But then the Pandemic happened and the nation went into a state of lockdown that we still haven’t fully recovered from.

In order for cities to recover, we need people in them doing things. And since San Francisco notoriously sucks to drive in, public transportation is the best way to shuttle people into the City.

So get your ass on the train.

I understand that people are likely to tell me that it’s dangerous. Well, you could also argue that public transportation is a microcosm of the cities that it serves. So if BART is too dangerous to ride, then the cities of the Bay Area are too dangerous for you to live in. So why live here if you’re afraid? Not to say there isn’t inherent danger, but that is quite literally everywhere. Bad things happen in cars too. Statistically speaking, BART isn’t as lawless as the media makes it seem. Crime is down in most categories.

You’re not the main character of a crime drama. Most people aren’t criminals, and most criminals don’t even know you exist. Your life isn’t an episode of Law and Order SVU. However, if you feel sketched out, you can always take steps to reduce the likelihood of you being a victim like riding near the front of the train so that you’re near the train operator.

I literally put my face on the internet screaming about how much I hate everything and I ride the train almost every day. People come up to me from time to time and ask if I’m the guy from the internet who screams about how much I hate everything, and when I tell them yes, they usually give me a high five and smile.

Don’t you want smiling strangers high fiving you? It could happen if you rode the fucking train.

But you don’t. You should start. There’s a lot of beauty sitting beside you on BART that you’re failing to allow into your life. Despite all the edgelord shit I say, there’s a romantic poet hidden somewhere in my heart that actually loves people.

And even if you are a kooky aunt at heart, there’s plenty of kooky aunt shit going on in a BART train. Where else can you watch a guy in a Pikachu costume playing the saxophone, while another dude rants about the impending zombie apocalypse? BART is like Netflix, but weirder and live. I’ve seen both of these things happen.

Besides the silliness, the best thing about BART is that it’s not really a masquerade. You’re seeing people go from one place to the next entirely in their truth. Every single person you see on that train is a book in the library of life. If you watch them closely enough, you’ll see pieces of their pasts fall out of their pockets onto the floor, putting you in the unique position of picking up the pieces deciphering what they all mean.

Or you can look at your phone… Which is usually what I do.

But either way, don’t let fear mongers rob you of the opportunity to explore people on their way to explore a city.

And despite what I said earlier, you are the main character, not of a crime drama, but of your own life. So start acting like it and take the train.

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