BART rail snarks at angry commuters- Emily Miller

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/18/us/san-francisco-bart-commuters-twitter-this-is-our-reality/index.html

Many Booker T. students, myself included, have experienced trouble in the past when commuting to/from school on the DART train. We rely on it to get us places on time, and when it fails to serve that purpose, we get a little irritated. San Francisco BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) commuters are in the same shoes and recently decided to publicize their anger on Twitter. I am not surprised to learn that BART tweeted them back with some snarky (but not really) responses, claiming that trains breaking down is "our reality". The trains are aging and the San Francisco population is getting too large for the trains to handle. The president of BART even tweeted a picture proving this reality. It is of some rail spikes that were removed from the current tracks, compared with a new rail spike. The old rail spikes are wearing down and are obviously unsafe. But the commuters fought back even more with complaints of paying too much for a ticket when the rail infrastructure is wearing down.

I know from experience that it is frustrating having to wait for delayed trains, getting stuck at a sketchy station, or being on a train that breaks down under the tunnel between Mockingbird/cityplace uptown for 45 minutes with no cell service and consequently being late for school. We have such fixed schedules that fly at an uncompromisingly quick rate these days. When something disrupts our day, it's stressful. But I don't believe the San Francisco commuters should be mad at BART for handling the situation the way they did. They had serious maintenance to do and everybody was attacking them on Twitter for being slow. If the commuters want a good rail system, they should be patient, because the safety of their trains is on the line.