BART DO'S AND DONT'S (from an operator)

Feel free to add your own if necissary.

#1. Please be courteous to others.

#2. Please do not put your feet on the seats of the trains. I'm pretty sure you've stepped in something disgusting during the course of the day, so please think about others that have to sit in that same seat you put your shoes on.

#3. If you see train doors open, HUSTLE. You do not know how long the doors have been open, or how much longer they will remain open. If my doors are open and it's time for me to go, if I see you walking, taking your sweet time and not making an effort to get on my train, I will close doors on you faster than you can say "hold on". No hustle, no reward. Now if I see you hustling, and you don't make it, I'll reward you with a courtesy door cycle for your effort.

#4. NO BICYCLES IN THE LEAD CAR DURING COMMUTE.

#5. Please let those that need to get OFF the train step off first before you get on.

#6. When on escalators, STAND on the right. WALK on the left. Just because you're not in a hurry doesn't mean other people aren't.

#7. If you miss a door cycle, that means you were late. Actually, you're not late for my train, you're just early for the next one. Look at it that way.

#8. If you miss a door cycle, do not wedge your foot, or any other objects in the door to keep it open so you can force your way in. 75% of the time, you damage the door mechanism by doing that, which causes trains to go out of service. I don't think you want to deal with a trainload of passengers that have to be offloaded from a train because you just had to force your way onto the train.

#9 If you miss a door cycle, or if you're waiting for doors to open, beating on, and/or kicking the doors or the train will not make the doors open. Trust me that does not work. If anything, you doing that just gives the operator reason to NOT open them for you.

#10. Please do not be lazy and not pay attention to platform destination signs. If the platform signs above my train say DALY CITY, that means I'm not going to the airport. The system is extremely easy to navigate, you just have to make a little effort and pay attention.

#11. I don't know when the next SFO train is coming. Actually, I find out by looking at the platform signs as I depart telling me how far it is behind me. So should you.

#12. Please don't eat on trains. People work long, hard days and look forward to getting home and feeding their faces. They don't want to be tortured the whole trip from SF to the east bay by smelling your quarter-pounder with cheese and french fries.

#13. Please don't drink on trains. More often you're gonna spill whatever you're drinking, and whatever seat you spill your diet coke on is the same seat you're gonna sit in somewhere down the line.

#14. If you're gonna break rules #11 & 12, at least be considerate enough to take your trash with you when you get off the train. There are trash recepticles convieniently located by the fare gates, so you can throw your trash away on your way out. How easy is that?

#15. Please do not leave newspapers on trains. I know some of you try to be nice by leaving them on trains so others can have something to read, but when 50 people do this, there's enough newspaper laying in one car to start a small bonfire.

#16. If you see, feel, or smell something funny in a car, REPORT IT! It irritates us to no end when we get an alert telling us there's a mechanical problem on the train somewhere, and no one calls us to tell us. Case in point: I was operating a train that gave me an alert of a brake problem. I stop the train, and go back to investigate and troubleshoot. I have a 9 car train, and about 1/2 way through, I start to smell burning brakes. Two cars away from the problem car, I can already see smoke. I get to the problem car, and it's FULL of smoke. There's about 20 passengers sitting in the car and not one of them said a word. The bottom of the car was about 5 minutes from catching fire due to burning brakes, and folks were just sitting there in a smoke filled car like they were at home on the couch. I asked someone how long the car has been smoking, and someone said "Since Concord." That was 6 stations ago. Again. If you see, smell, or feel something that isn't right, tell us, so we can get it taken care of ASAP. Don't sit quiet and let the train burn up, and don't decide to let us know something until we get to YOUR stop and you're getting off the train.

#17. Please don't hog seats. Your Louis Vuitton bag does not need a seat of it's own. Others would like to sit down and take a load off just like you do. Share, be courteous, and make everyone's trip as comfortable and drama free as possible.

#18. Don't crowd the middle of the platforms. I know it's convienient to stand there and wait because that's where the escalators drop you off. However, there's 5-6 other cars on the train. Use them. You world be amazed how I look in trains, and on a 9 car train, the middle three cars are SRO, but the last 2-3 cars still have seats with no one in them. All because people are too lazy to walk down the platform a bit.

#19. Please do not p*ss, s*it, cut your hair, clip your nails, wipe boogers, or anything else nasty and that involves passing germs on BART. You're not the only one on the train or that has to use the train. Again, BART karma will catch you, and you're gonna eventually be a victim to someone's nasty behavior. Watch.

#20. The yellow barriers on the platform floor are there for a reason. You are to stand behind them, especially when a train is arriving into, or departing a station. They are not for decoration, and are there for your safety. I saw a dude that thought he was cool and stood too close to a train coming into a station. One of the metal grab-bars slammed into his hand as the train went by at 30 something MPH. I bet that felt good.

#21. If you can help it, please try not to fall asleep on BART. It's a quick way to get yourself robbed, assaulted, or somewhere you don't wanna be because you fell asleep and missed your stop.

#22. Keep a handle on your belongings! If you lose something on BART, you're probably never gonna see it again. So if you wanna keep it, keep it close to you.

Happy Riding!