Author: eugenia

Photo by Black Hour

By now you know that BART temporarily shut down cell service on Thursday to interfere with a proposed protest over the shooting of Charles Hill. And now the agency is under a lot of heat.

According to CNET:

Hackers were calling for action against BART in retaliation for the cell service disruption. The Anonymous group of online activists started promoting Operation BART on Twitter, with one profile saying: “We are going to show BART (@SFBART) how to prevent a riot #OpBART.” … Meanwhile, they also released a digital flyer with the headline “muBARTek,” a reference to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted after demonstrations earlier this year. “

The SFAppeal reports that BART didn’t violate specific FCC rules. And once you’re on the BART platform, “free speech isn’t so free,” says the SF Appeal report (read the Appeal’s excellent coverage of the cell jam).

What do you think of BART’s decision to cut cell service Thursday?

If you haven’t sat down on a BART seat or even so much as touched anything on BART since the fecal matter report, you should check out the new renderings of proposed BART seats asap. Designed by BMW Group DesignworksUSA, these proposed seats will replace “the oldest fleet in the country” and feature easy-to-clean seats and “no musty carpets.” See all the proposals in the official announcement from BART.

Word is that the project won’t be completed until 2017, but you should tell BART.gov what you think of the seats via the feedback form or at the open houses that BART will be hosting. The photo above is option A, featuring a center arm rest and head rests for window seats.

Here’s option B, featuring an “informal, open-style lounge” in the middle of each car.

Option C features artistic “S” shaped poles and “portals at the end of some cars for kids to see track and tunnel walls whiz by the front of the train as it speeds down the track.”

Here’s a nifty video of the proposals, set to music, even:

Of course, we know many of you have your own ideas of seating on public transit. And these proposed seats don’t look much like the comfortable subway living room in Prague. But maybe that’s a good thing.

Hat tip: Curbed, SFist.