yarbs

Can’t touch this: A germaphobe’s take on buying BART tickets

January 21, 2015 yarbs Leave a comment

BART_lab
Photo of BART lab via NextCity.org

BART’s old cloth seats may have been generally regarded as revolting, but its ticket machines aren’t so bad, at least according to one self-proclaimed germaphobe.

In an article for the website Next City, author Aaron Reiss pits New York Subway ticket machines against BART’s, declaring the Bay Area transit agency the winner from an anti-microbial standpoint for how few times you have to touch or otherwise interact with the machines to add money or buy a new card. While adding $3 to a BART card took three steps, for example, doing the same on a New York MTA machine took 11 steps and required navigating a series of touch screens.

The article is an interesting read, even for those not adverse to touching things in public. It features photos from inside the BART lab where turnstiles and other equipment is tested, and other BART background. The inspiration for BART’s machines? An ATM. Who knew?

Read the full post on Next City here.

Category: BART

Seattle dog waits for no one, rides bus sans her human

January 13, 2015 yarbs One comment

It’s bad enough waiting for the bus. Who wants to let the bus they’ve been waiting for pass them by? Certainly not Eclipse, a black Labrador known for taking the bus—by herself—in Seattle.

According to the Associated Press, if owner Jeff Young is busy smoking a cigarette when the bus pulls up, Eclipse will climb aboard and ride without him to the dog park, sitting next to strangers and looking out the window before getting off at her designated stop. Young then catches up with her at the park, three or four stops away.

Who’s a good girl? We only wish some humans could be so well-behaved on Muni.

Category: News

Canadian group: Crackdown on ‘manspreading’ is nuts

December 31, 2014 yarbs 5 comments

japan_manspread

NYC_manspread

metro

As these signs from Japan, New York, and Paris (top to bottom) obviously prove, there’s a global war on sitting with your legs wide open on mass transit. But never fear, beleaguered manspreaders, some brave foot soldiers have joined the fight against intolerance.

In Canada, a group called the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE) has started a Change.org petition to fight the Toronto Transit Commission’s efforts to convince passengers to shut their legs. Not only is the term manspreading sexist, the group notes, but efforts to prevent it can be harmful. From the petition:

This sets a very bad precedent as men opening their legs is something we have to do due to our biology. It sometimes can be physically painful for to close our legs and we can’t be expected to do so. We can’t force woman to stop breast feeding on busses or trains and we can’t force men or women to stop bringing strollers on, why should we force men to close their legs?

As of this morning, 1,777 people had signed the petition. Nearly all of those people were (and this is just a guess on our part) the same ones who say blue balls is a serious medical condition, and one therefore has to sex at that point or you’ll, like, die.

We’ve followed this phenomenon closely because we are no stranger to it here in ballsy San Francisco. Revisit some of our most egregious examples of Muni manspreading (also mansitting) and the shaming thereof.

h/t: Jezebel, Yahoo Health

Images via @GammaCounter, The New York Times, and News on Japan

Category: News, Photos

NYC: Investigating the Manspread

December 22, 2014 yarbs 2 comments

It’s been bitched about, paired with cats, and ranks high among transit rider complaints. The phenomenon of “manspreading,” or sitting with your legs wide open to the discomfort of those sitting next to you, is also the subject of a recent Gothamist video that attempts to get to the bottom of why people do it. The blog interviewed so-called manspreaders on the New York City Subway and, with the aid of a tape measure, got their take on what is an acceptable amount of spread.

Now, lending Old Media cred to the backlash, The New York Times interviewed subway etiquette expert Johnny T. about the phenomenon and how best to counter it.

In January, New York transit officials will launch a campaign aimed at preventing riders from taking up too much space. But according to one man interviewed by Gothamist, that effort may be in vain.

“We have no choice to have our legs like that,” he said. “You know what I mean? You feel me?

Looks like a problem that won’t get solved anytime soon.

What do you think Muni riders. Is there any hope for our big-balled brethren?

Category: News

Like BART-riding salmon, “swimming” upstream …

December 4, 2014 yarbs 10 comments

bart_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?

Category: BART, News

BART redecorates, ditches old schedules and maps

November 20, 2014 yarbs 2 comments

bart_maps

Yesterday was apparently BART’s big schedule and map purge. We didn’t immediately notice the difference between the old maps and the new ones that have replaced them, but BART rider Eric Fischer noted on Twitter that there was less glare and Caltrain was now properly capitalized (see below). Either way, we’re glad to see that the old maps were recycled, if they aren’t gonna give them away to transit geeks. BTW, know any?

bart_maps_enf
Photo by Eric Fischer