We’ve been cataloguing the woes, trials and self-inflicted tribulations of San Francisco pretty routinely here. John had a great piece just Wednesday on their very real Doom Loop and I’ve done several myself, mostly concerning the state of their commercial real estate collapse, but there’s, sadly, a lot of material to work with and wonder over.

For a city in which every aspect of daily life is teetering on edge, such was the plaintive cry rising to the heavens from San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit that it kinda tugged at your heart.

Why doesn’t anyone LIKE us?

Okay, yeah. It didn’t tug at all – not at my admittedly cynical heart and, apparently, at no one else’s who heard it.

Poor BART. They didn’t understand what was happening. Why is ridership tanking? Are lingering pandemic effects and remote working coupled with all that empty real estate taking a chunk out of ridership?

So they asked around.

On Tuesday morning, the Bay Area Council revealed the results of a new survey about BART. The transit agency has struggled with low ridership and safety concerns since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago.

BART ridership is down by about 60% and the Bay Area Council, which helped create BART in the 1950s, wanted to know what it would take to get riders back on board.

Quite possibly these were not the droids answers they were looking for.

…One of the survey’s most revealing takeaways was that remote work was not the main reason most respondents said they were not riding. The survey found that it’s primarily safety and security concerns that are keeping people from riding BART, with only 17% saying they feel safe on the trains and only 16% describing the transit system as being clean.

In classic bureau-speak, Bay Area Council President Jim Wunderman said, like, “Um. We’ll get right on it.”

…In a statement to KRON 4 Tuesday afternoon, BART said it is working to address the concerns by adding additional officers and doubling the amount of cleaning on trains and at stations.

It probably would behoove them to act sooner rather than later because BART, in just the past 3 days, has been doing a whale of a job making a terrific name for itself. Reinforcing that stereotype and the exclamation point at the end of the survey comment section.

The day after the report was released, as if to emphasize the heart pounding intensity of possible encounters with fellow BART passengers, there was this guy with a meat cleaver…

A man wearing a balaclava and pacing up and down a BART train this afternoon slashed a fellow passenger across the back with a meat cleaver, and caused more than a dozen other riders to scurry away in fear, according to a witness to the scene.

I love the verbiage, “scurried.” OMG, you know they were running for their frickin’ lives to whatever end or car they could crawl over the person in front of them to get to first.

…“I jumped out of the way once, and landed partially on a woman who was sitting,” he added. “I was just trying to get away.”

Had to be mayhem.

No transit cops on the train AT. ALL.

…At this point, the dozen-plus passengers, communicating with the train operator, were “just asking the operator to go faster, we just wanted to get to West Oakland, we wanted to get out,” Temple said.

Temple then realized another passenger was injured. “One guy said he had been bludgeoned by him, but in the end looks like he got slashed by the back.”

When the train arrived at West Oakland Station, Temple said the operator saw the cleaver-wielding man leave the train via camera, and slam the doors behind him. BART police arrived “within minutes,” Temple said, and attended to the victim.

Helpful that Balaclava Cleaver took himself off the train (and was arrested a bit later stealing a backpack from another lucky San Franciscan) before the cops got there, so they could slam the doors shut. Barn door after the horse is gone, no?

And regular service resumed at 1:30. Oh, well done. Cleared the cleaver, good to go.

Next stop, shivs and sprays!

On Sat I was hanging out with a group in East Bay. One of us BARTed from SF. People in his car, including him, got maced by a homeless dude. Not as bad as today’s meat cleaver incident, but completely unacceptable. Don’t need a genius to figure out why people don’t wanna use BART

— Maksim Ioffe (@maksim_ioffe) May 11, 2023

I can’t imagine why anyone would hesitate to hop aboard.

(P25 audio) 211 Robbery: A group of juveniles attacked a man with Mace aboard a E @SFBART train in Antioch and stole all his belongings.

5-5-2023 11:45 AM pic.twitter.com/MseWNBKcAw

— Bart Fare Evaders (@Bartfare) May 5, 2023

The trains are SO convenient to get into the city! Why, my goodness – with the price of gas in CA, just park in a BART lot and ride.

What could go wrong?

In #Antioch, 6 vehicles badly burned in @SFBART parking lot after gas theft attempt goes awry. @ContraCostaFire confirms investigators located evidence at scene. @KPIXtv reported on alleged gas thefts from #BART parking lot last Fall pic.twitter.com/WaRrh6RZ9i

— Brian Dinsmore (@BrianKPIX) May 11, 2023

You fragile white devils – insurance’ll cover it. Quit whining.

At least, when YOU pay your fair share paying your fare, you know you’re doing the right thing by picking up the slack for those who have less. Equity in action.

Over 80% of those arrested in the @SFBART system have no proof of having paid a fare. Yet there are BART board directors lobbying our state legislators to eliminate fare evasion from the CA penal code. #Unbelievable https://t.co/8jv3nbmac6

— Debora Allen (@debora_allen1) May 7, 2023

If they mace and rob you on the train, granted – they may come away with more than they had, but you did your part.

Some of those underprivileged types may not exactly jump the turnstile to avoid paying, but you don’t have to worry about a cleaver swinging with them around. They’re busy doing their own thing.

NICE WORK @SFBART Police! Legit waved at this crackhead, who obviously is smoking METH (IN A TRAIN), and kept on walking. Poor use of the train users funds. pic.twitter.com/hfkqQCmpHN

— Rudy (@PimpDaddyRudy) May 10, 2023

While others are simply youths, looking for motivation and purpose in their lives, and you know you wouldn’t want to be the cause of anything that would stand in the way of their future success or be responsible for imperiling their obviously futures.

BART won’t either.

I’m afraid you’ll have to handle the “EW” factor on your own – maybe bring a WetNap.

Just had to walk through three @SFBART train cars before finding one that didn't have smoke from hard drugs and/or someone who seemed to be having an audible crisis. Found a clear, quiet car but then the first seat I tried was covered in mysterious liquid. BART's issues are real.

— Eric Panzer (@ericpanzer) May 12, 2023

Poor BART.

Where to start?

Cleaning house might be a good idea, but, then again…

Don’t you love those smug hard left types who try to gaslight you and tell you that @sfbart is super safe and people are just exaggerating it’s problems? Please vote out @BevanDufty @lateefahsimon @RebeccaForBART @JaniceForBART pic.twitter.com/djLcXiJ7wT

— Thomas Hawk (@thomashawk) May 10, 2023

…it’s San Francisco. And if there has been one constant we’ve seen over the course of this entire, miserable two years for deep blue cities, it is this: the worse it gets, the harder they bear down on what got them there.