Mission Mission

Looks like they’re expanding it and making it nicer looking and more useful. Mission Local reports:

Principle planner Rube Warren said he should have the finished designs by May, with construction done by October 2013. The station will remain open throughout construction.

A 2007 project report, authored by Warren and others, stated that “The plaza lacks basic infrastructure and amenities — a stage, vendor stalls, seating and sufficient bus shelters — to support healthy public life.”

Read on.

Let’s go for a ride! (St. Vincent is playing the Fox tonight?)

[via Vic]

Mission Local reports:

A man named Michael jumped onto the 24th Street BART tracks just as a Daly City-bound train was approaching. Wearing a shirt that said Viva la Revolucion and yelling “You have the power,” he said he was occupying the tracks because he was sick of sleeping on the streets for six years.

Witnesses on the platform began waving their arms frantically at the driver, and the train came to a screeching halt just within a foot of hitting him. [link]

They spend a few minutes trying to talk him into climbing back out, he explains that he won’t leave until TV cameras show up, so they turn off the third rail and jump down there and cuff him and haul him away.

Let’s zoom in on the cop with the giant weapon and the bystander snapping pics:

We knew the interiors were gonna be bangin’, but I’m completely taken aback by the decision to include a big face on the front of each car.

[via Sidewalk Surprises]

The bánh mì-nification of the Mission continues, as this recent upstart at 2788 Mission Street near 24th Street BART pops up seemingly overnight. Formerly known as Mission Sub, this new Quickly USA venture aims to please, with a 3 for $10 deal. However, not everyone thinks this deal is worth going for, considering the newly opened swank Saigon sub setup at Duc Loi six blocks down Mission Street. Who will prevail in the bánh mì battle?

The only catch is that you’ll have to wait until 2015 to try them out.  SFGate reports:

The cars will sport a sleek modern look, cleaner seats, digital information displays, even air conditioning that works on hot days.

Each car will have three doors to speed boarding, but will still have 60 seats, all made of an easier-to-clean material. Seats will be reconfigured with standard seating in rows at each end of the car, and seats situated more informally around standing areas and places for wheelchairs, bikes and luggage in the center.

Looks like those cranial liminal survey scans conducted on BART passengers have finally paid off!  But will they allow bikes on board during rush hour?

[Pics via SFGate]

Previously:

• BART bike parking is not secure
• Why No Bikes on BART Escalators?
• How Bikes on BART is Broken

It was like the 1996 Summer Olympics all over again, minus leotards, plus anonymous challengers, and all in an arena traveling up to 80 miles per hour. Thank you, BART gymnasts, for the best BART ride ever!

[Amazing photos via Jess]

I had my bike stolen out of 24th and Mission Street BART last Wednesday. Seen it? Hey, I know it happens. It’s my second stolen bike.

The thing is, I thought I had done everything right: I brought it in the gate, ran a cable through the wheels, and secured a newer mini Kryptonite U-lock through the frame. But when I got back everything was gone. I had to double check that I didn’t get off at the wrong station.

I think the lesson is that BART isn’t a safe place to park your bike. You may think you’re protecting your bike from outsiders, but you’re also protecting thieves. The bike parking area is in a secluded corner out of view of the operator booth, the station is noisy, and people are too hurried and desensitized to weirdos to take notice of strange activity. In retrospect, someone could take a generator and angle grinder down there while wearing a bear suit and no one would pay any attention.

There is also plenty of time for a thief to monitor the bike parking patterns. For me, I was parking it there for 8 hours every weekday as part of my commute. Someone could have easily figured out the best time to strike over the course of a few days.

I give props to the BART police for showing up quickly to take my report and offer their condolences, but unfortunately they said getting any security footage for such a large window of time and secluded corner probably wont happen. So much for vigilante justice.

I took away the following advice from them:

1. Write down the serial number of your bike. You’ll need it if your bike is ever recovered. Seriously, do it now. Put it in your phone or something.
2. Powell street BART is most secure. Due to people traffic and location of the bike area, they have had the least amount of theft there.
3. Don’t park a bike in public for more than a couple of hours if you expect to keep the bike. Get a beater.
4. Write BART about improving bike security. They don’t listen to the BART cops, they do listen to you. You can do so online here.

That being said, it could not have been easy for the thief to break my U-lock. It would have been time consuming and noisy. I offer these suggestions to BART:

1. If you haven’t already, put a security camera on the bike area.
2. Relocate bike racks to somewhere within line of sight to the operator booth.
3. Station agents should do regular scans of the station areas. Grandma can wait 5 minutes for help with which end to stick the ticket.
4. Improve hospitality towards bike commuters. Station, car, and time restrictions make it really hard to justify traveling with your bike. Caltrain figured this out to an extent. We can do better.

Best of luck out there against these savages.

[photo by Improv Everywhere via Fixed Gear Blog]

What if BART actually ran everywhere you needed to go?  Imagine getting on the train in the Mission and going to grab some spicy noodle soup from the Richmond, then taking it to Petaluma to catch a show at the Phoenix!  Or going wine-tasting in Napa without worrying about a designated driver?  That’s the idea behind this provocative BART diagram by Jake Coolidge.

And as long as we’re dreaming, let’s get rid of the carpet, extend service to 24 hours, and have a dedicated bike car too!

[via Chris Clark, Muni Diaries, 10x1]

Scope #opbart for the latest.

UPDATE: Montgomery and Powell are closed too.