Like BART-riding salmon, “swimming” upstream …
Comparing some BART commuters to salmon, SFGate wrote last weekend about a practice it called “upstreaming,” or riding the train in the opposite direction you’re headed for a few stops during commute hours simply in order to get a seat. You know, those riders who cram near the doors and get off at Civic Center or 16th Street only to cross the platform and board a train going the other way?
The SFGate article reminded @suldrew and @Rusty_Staples of an old Muni campaign to prevent back-riding and crowding at the Embarcadero station.
Although he didn’t recall the campaign, Muni spokesman Paul Rose says it isn’t a problem for Muni these days.
“It hasn’t been a major issue for Muni,” Rose told us in an email. “Our average trip time is generally much shorter than BART and BART has a higher percentage of riders making trips above 30 minutes. So it makes the upstreaming strategy less valuable to our riders.”
Well then. Have you seen rush hour commuters/salmon engaging in this behavior? What are your thoughts on it?
Sounds smart to me.
i have another complaint entirely! and it somewhat has to do with “sides.”
Just drive your car people!!
People have been doing it for years, including after Giants games. (I ride a ferry myself).
I do this with Muni – I might walk up a few blocks to get on an earlier stop so that ! can get a seat!
But that doesn’t crowd buses going the other way like what these peeps are doing.
It was super weird for me to see SFGate acting like this was a new thing. When I lived in Walnut Creek and worked above Embarcadero station, you’d have to do it at rush hour, otherwise you’d be standing for almost all of the 45-minute ride until seats opened up around Orinda/Lafayette. We would ride back to Powell, usually, and everyone did it. This was 15 years ago!
I do this, but to ensure there is space for me on the train, not to get a seat. (My ride is all of 15 minutes, I don’t mind standing.) Too often, by the time an eastbound train arrives at Montgomery, it’s packed to the gills.
Why would anyone spend more time on BART than is necessary?
Who cares? I wouldn’t but to each his own.