Comment by cobbzilla
3 months ago
Cloth seats on BART must be among the worst design decisions ever made. Seating on public transit must be something that can be hosed down with bleach, and not a material that will forever hold whatever funk is deposited into it.
I took BART a lot (uhhh) 30 years ago. The trains were very clean and highly policed. I wouldn't even bring a coffee on board, much less smoke crank or whatever. Different era.
Sounds like the dream. All I want is a more frequent police presence in and around the station infrastructure and on the trains for both BART and MUNI. Like why is that a different era? Why can’t that be the current era?
I find it implausible that anyone who actually rode these could remember them fondly.
To the defenders: I ask you to please describe your memory of “the BART smell” from the cloth-seat era, if you have such firsthand experience.
I do remember. Many years make a strong impression. And while that specific smell-memory is largely indescribable, it’s nonetheless and unfortunately quite unforgettably awful.
My attempt: imagine a laundry hamper very full of very dirty clothes, including a few with fecal/other/mystery stains, slow-baked for weeks in a warm closet. Now open the closet door and take a deep nasal breath— that’s what stepping onto the train was like. I feel zero positive nostalgia.
It was way more comfortable to sit on, soft surfaces help keep noise levels down inside the car, and I wash my clothes regularly :p