Anyone know what was up with the TBT today?

As far as the delay today, there was an advisory released indicating 'Track Maintenance' with no ETA. That may or may not have been your delay?

BUT I think there's another way you could look at it...the delay and your reliance on an efficient, timely BART system. It involves considering the alternatives.

For one, with respect to commuting to/from work here in the Bay Area, being timely is a concept with a very loose definition. For drivers, the commute is long and arduous and every once in awhile it is made markedly longer thanks to the lack of judgement and error of one or two or several motorists when they smash into eachother or medians or whatever their cars see fit. That delays things. It's unpredictable. Stuff happens.

BART is really no different. But, if anything, at least you and I and most every other consistent BART user can rest assured knowing that BART is neither Muni (good on-time performance), nor is it the Bay Bridge (no trains crashing into trains adding an hour-plus to an already long commute...). That said, the system is almost always timely because the delays that the system DOES experience are usually prevented with nightly maintenance or good problem solving from mantenance or Central. If you look at the 'big picture,' there are only a few things that set BART behind. Events including medical emergencies, track problems, train problems, and that's pretty much it. And from my experience...the delays are usually very minor. The longest delay I've ever been a part of was a month or two (???) ago when that depressed man killed himself by jumping in front of the train at the Powell Street station. It was an hour-plus but it's okay because every other time I ride BART I'm usually on time. Delays are rare, few and far between. I don't think it's realistic to expect a mass transit operation of BART's size to operate 100% on time with no problems. That's like asking the housing market to find the floor and rebound tomorrow. It won't happen.

And when there are delays, it's usually just 10-15 minutes at the most AND the system lets you know. You should take some comfort in being able to see just how much you are delayed by. That affords you the ability to call ahead to work and let people know if it's really that important. Also, you know just how much you are delayed. You don't get that kind of information when you're stuck in a highway-turned-parking lot after an accident. I think the public at large gets way too flustered way too easy about minor delays. Waiting is NOT a four letter word.

Long story short, I don't think it's fair to throw BART under the bus for one delay. Especially if it was just 20 minutes. Think of the alternatives. We've got a good thing running on those tracks.

Just my thoughts... ;-)

B

I was wondering what was going on, also. They announced that it was a "police matter in the transbay tube" or something to that effect. Then I decided to go north to Berkeley instead of south into the city with my shopping tasks and when I got off in Berkeley I heard someone talking to some annoyed people and saying it would be cleared in the next 15 minutes, she hoped, but that it had also been going on for about an hour already, so who really knows.

I was wondering what was going on in the TBT with police business that was taking an hour? I wasn't all that bothered but was curious if anyone knows or can say what was going on?