BART Posters

I don't take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) very often, as my typical method-of-transportation is a bit cheaper per month. That and the stinky, stained seats aren't so fun.

But when I did take the Bart the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to see these in the Embarcadero station:

BART's got their very-own weird posters that seemingly have no real purpose other than to make you go, "huh"! The duck one is my favorite, by far - though Sak likes the rocket ship one. I'm so proud of my local transit authority. We should all have more weird posters in life.

Anyway, I did some digging to see what they were for, and found BART's blog. I never knew a subway train could have a blog, but hey - why not?

Apparently, they are inspirational posters about a child's "first ride story". There's a contest where you submit the story of your own first ride, and you can win all three of the posters, autographed by the artist! How awesome is that? He's got pretty cool art, too.

Anyway, since I was doing all this research for blogging purposes, I figure I might as well enter the contest. Here's my 200-words-or-less entry:

As a brand new corporate recruit straight out of a small-town college, the Bay Area proved a big, scary place at first. With no car and an early appointment in the East Bay for work, I headed from my San Francisco office to the only 411 approved method of transportation: underground.

The quick swish of the red fare gates fascinated me. The long descent down the escalator quickly taught me to stand on the right, lest I be trampled. And the scream of the approaching car captured my attention much more than the automated voice warning that a nine-car train was headed my way. That first, short trip through the Transbay tunnel was unforgettable; the whole train seemed to howl as we sped through. There were clever ads thanking romance-novel readers for riding, a copy of the daily paper stuffed into the crack of my seat, and a large system map above the handicapped section. I studied the latter carefully - anxiously hoping not to miss my stop.

But eventually, I found myself on the other side of the Bay, safe and on-time for my very first Oakland meeting. A trip I have repeated many times since.

Okay. I feel like a total cheese-ball for entering a contest. But I really like the posters!

Anyway, if you take BART, take a second to appreciate the cute little art. And if you've ever taken BART, feel free to try and beat me out for that free set! I promise I won't hate you if you win.