This Isn’t NYC

Originally uploaded by soul collector.

Yesterday I took the Bart home from SF. The Bart, for those of you who don’t know, is the Bay Area’s subway system. It is, however, no NYC subway system. No urine in the stations. No humidity while waiting for the trains. And no hard plastic seats. They actually have soft upholstered seats in the trains (a little skank if you think about what can soak into upholstery). But the weirdest, most opposite NYC subway thing I’ve noticed while taking the Bart happened to me yesterday afternoon.

The platform was extremely busy when I got to it. My train was about to arrive so I rushed over to where the train door was to open. But, unlike back in the big apple, there wasn’t a mob of people pushing themselves ever closer to the tracks. No, as I looked around I notice that people were lining up in single file lines. SINGLE FILE LINES. Two lines per door. What is this, grade school? Do people in the Bay Area not have the ability to navigate entering a door opening without being placed in a perfectly straight line? Is the Bay Area the hidden vortex that vanquishes complex spatial movements and makes it so society can only exist when it is put into the elemental norms of a first-grade like singularity? Come on! A freaking single file line?!!?

So the train arrived and you know what I did? I didn’t go all New Yorker and push my way through the door. I didn’t cause a revolt by yelling something smart and witty about breaking the bonds of social norms. And I didn’t boycott the whole situation and decide to take a bus. No, instead I got into line and entered the train just like everyone else. Stupid peer pressure. I hate single file lines.