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DET63

Conductor
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
1,777
Last night, I was on a BART train whose operator announced that the train was at the end of the line at North Concord, and that everyone had to get off. That was fine, as the train was one of the commuter trips that doesn't go all the way to Pittsburg/Bay Point. Problem was, the train was approaching Concord (not North Concord) as she made the announcement.

Why doesn't BART have automated on-board station announcements? Often passengers can't hear the train operators anyway. Some of them sound like they're taking orders at the drive-through window at McDonald's.
 
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The problem is that bart is too noisy. Even if it were automated... we still wouldn't hear anything!
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Bart needs to find a way to quiet down the trains... I read somewhere that the noise levels on bart are loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss!
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DET63 said:
Last night, I was on a BART train whose operator announced that the train was at the end of the line at North Concord, and that everyone had to get off. That was fine, as the train was one of the commuter trips that doesn't go all the way to Pittsburg/Bay Point. Problem was, the train was approaching Concord (not North Concord) as she made the announcement.

Why doesn't BART have automated on-board station announcements? Often passengers can't hear the train operators anyway. Some of them sound like they're taking orders at the drive-through window at McDonald's.
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Good to know the operator was fully paying attention to her JOB. :angry: Afterall, its not like people's lives depend on her or anything! :help:

Some Metro operators here in the DC area have gotten into "hot water" for yapping on their cell phones while on duty. I wonder if she was not distracted in some similar fashion. :eek:hboy:
 
The Davy Crockett said:
Good to know the operator was fully paying attention to her JOB. :angry: Afterall, its not like people's lives depend on her or anything! :help:

Some Metro operators here in the DC area have gotten into "hot water" for yapping on their cell phones while on duty. I wonder if she was not distracted in some similar fashion. :eek:hboy:
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Oh, for crying out loud. The operator announced the wrong station name. How you can equate that to endangering someone's life is beyond me.
 
Trogdor said:
The Davy Crockett said:
Good to know the operator was fully paying attention to her JOB. :angry: Afterall, its not like people's lives depend on her or anything! :help:

Some Metro operators here in the DC area have gotten into "hot water" for yapping on their cell phones while on duty. I wonder if she was not distracted in some similar fashion. :eek:hboy:
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Oh, for crying out loud. The operator announced the wrong station name. How you can equate that to endangering someone's life is beyond me.
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The operator doen't know if she is at the end of her run or not, and you can't see that she seems distracted? It is her job to be paying attention to where she is and what is going on in and around the train she is in charge of. Some people don't see driving and being distracted as a problem, but the reality is that it can have deadly results.

And, BTW, I expessed an opinion, not a fact, if you disagree, fine, but there is no reason to express your disageement with such a %&@# attitude. It is not appropriate.
 
It's pretty noisy in the Transbay Tube, and there are underground station stops at the San Francisco end of it. The Berkeley Hills tunnel is noisy, too, but the trains exit the hills before reaching Rockridge or Orinda, so usually the announcements aren't made until the train is out of the tunnel. Some operators are impossible to understand, especially when giving the transfer information to passengers on trains approaching MacArthur station, even though it is not underground.
 
BART trains are actually pretty spartan. There are no destination signs, except on the end cars. There are no internal message boards or other indicators of where the train is or the the name of the next station. The best way to tell where you are is to look out the window as the train pulls into the station and see the signs on the platforms. Otherwise, every car has at least one system map, and if you know which station you just left and which direction you're going, you should be able to figure out which is the next stop. Being able to make clear announcements is not a priority for train operators (though some are much better than others). I believe that BART assumes that most passengers know already know where they are going and what transfers they need to make.

If you are at the station, frequent announcements tell when the next train is coming and where it is going. These are also shown on reader boards placed on each platform (usually if not always four for each track).
 
DET63 said:
BART trains are actually pretty spartan. There are no destination signs, except on the end cars. There are no internal message boards or other indicators of where the train is or the the name of the next station. The best way to tell where you are is to look out the window as the train pulls into the station and see the signs on the platforms. Otherwise, every car has at least one system map, and if you know which station you just left and which direction you're going, you should be able to figure out which is the next stop. Being able to make clear announcements is not a priority for train operators (though some are much better than others). I believe that BART assumes that most passengers know already know where they are going and what transfers they need to make.

If you are at the station, frequent announcements tell when the next train is coming and where it is going. These are also shown on reader boards placed on each platform (usually if not always four for each track).
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I thought BART was ahead of its time?
 

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