System-Wide Heat Wave
For the third consecutive day temperatures in my backyard have exceeded the century mark. Even temperatures over in the city (San Francisco) have been above normal. While this is a nice change for the month of May, it has been hell for BART! I experienced the heat related issues, but not as a patron.
No apology in the world could be accepted for an extremely hot, over crowded car that has very little circulating cool air. To make matters worse toss in a heat related delay. BART spokesman Linton Johnson says equipment is 35 years old and they aren’t getting the money they need to bring it up to date, so expect more delays. And it’s not the official start of summer yet!
The delays this past Thursday were not contained to a specific area or line, but erupted system wide. This was the first 100+ degree day and it definitely reeked havoc with the way side equipment. To make matters worse this FUBAR’d the afternoon commute. I have read a few BART related blogs and sites and many patrons were stuck for extended periods of time, either butt to butt in an over crowded car or waiting on a platform downtown that could not accommodate any other patrons.
While tempers of patrons were hot, things were no cooler in the operations control center, as all hands were on deck attempting to restore order to chaos the heat created. Every train controller on duty was at a workstation playing some part in trying to keep the trains moving. Sometimes movement was not very far or very fast, especially approaching Daly City and unfortunately though all the downtown stations.
These heat related issues were compounded by way side issues from Bay Fair to Fremont due to an electrical substation fire that caused damage and required alternate train controlling in order to patrons between Bay Fair and Fremont.
All in all some of the long timers said they had NEVER seen the system as bad as it was Thursday. And folks, as I said, it is not summer yet. You know temperatures will constantly be in the 90-100 degree range when June, July and August hit. For the patron’s sake, I wish there was an easy fix for all these problems that caused delays but there isn’t. Hopefully I can play my small part in moving trains and keeping train operators updated with information which is passed on to patrons. As for the heat that is completely out of my control.
