Thus, it's up to riders to "self-regulate," BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost says. If a train seems too crowded, then step aside and wait for the next one. Or visit BART's website to find out the exact number of cars on the next train. When a local news producer groused that his 10-car train had been swapped for an eight-car conveyance, customer service representatives advised him to catch the 10-car train that arrives 10 minutes earlier. BART's ticketing system allows it to keep accurate data on where people enter and exit the system, Trost explains, and it constantly adjusts train size to meet the changing demand.
That's good news to the burgeoning population of Type-A commuters who have helped boost BART's daily ridership to more than 400,000 (it's projected to hit 750,000 by 2025). Overcrowding isn't an intractable problem, Trost says. There's even a feature on BART's website so commuters can check out how crowded each train car is — and adjust their travel time accordingly.
Still, it's an imperfect system. BART relies on its passengers to use common sense, in gestures as small as setting backpacks on the floor and moving to the center of the aisle. Should an emergency occur, it's up to those passengers to let the train operator know — which could prove challenging on a packed car. BART has developed its own forms of triage, with crime-reporting smartphone apps and PSAs about proper etiquette.
(SFWeekly)
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