We Need More Idled Vintage Trolleys On This Page
Last week, a fire on the BART tracks between the Montgomery and Embarcadero Stations led to public transit delays and downtown road closures. Although the fire itself was apparently a relatively minor incident—no one appeared directly threatened by the fire—the BART response approaches “bungled” status; as smoke seeped into one BART train, inadequately informed passengers grew panicked and confused, rushing through the cars, vaulting over seats. Some of them pried open a door and took the emergency tunnel walkway into Embarcadero Station, preventing the train from backing into Montgomery where everyone could have exited without further incident. Instead, all the passengers had to walk through the tunnel and out at Embarcadero Station (and grumbled when they had to put their cards through the gates to exit, charged for the ride).
When I went to investigate (too late to see much of interest), I didn’t get many pictures. But this one, of trolleys backed up on Market and waiting for the city to open up their path, turned out OK. Says Flickr’s Vision63, “That’s a kick ass perspective. I love the near light and the distant light. And it’s just plain old purty.”
