One man’s voice Thoughts, rants and commentary from a husband, father of five and professional web geek

Missing the connection

Yesterday on my way to work I was unavoidably made tardy by the wonderful folks at BART. Apparently they had a hard time keeping their own schedule yesterday. This resulted in the train I take to Oakland not meeting up with the train I take from Oakland to get to Concord. The best part of it is though that we actually did meet our train. But were not able to keep up with it through the three transfer stations.

This is how it transpired... as we approached 12th street the operator began his message about transfers and the what not. Then he said "Pittsburg/Bay Point riders please stay on this train and transfer at MacArthur". Seemed reasonable enough at the time, but as we began to leave the station the transfer train showed up. So our train stopped and the operator broadcast "Um, I don't know what they are telling me." Then the transfer train, which usually waits a little while, closed its doors and left. So we did the same thing.

At 19th street, the second of the transfer stations on my trip, as we arrived, the transfer train was taking off. Still not the end of the world I thought, since there is always MacArthur. But...

When we got to MacArthur there was no transfer train. It had just left. And now I had to wait 15 minutes for the next train.

So BART, is there just the tiniest chance that somewhere in your grand grid of schedules and the what not that something went mildly wrong today? Just asking, seeing as you cost me a lot more than just 15 minutes.