Yesterday evening I got invited to attend a Giants game at Oracle Park. For once, I decided to take public transport instead of driving. I live two blocks from a light-rail stop, on a line - with a brief transfer at a later station - that takes me directly to the ballpark. It doesn’t get any more door-to-door service than this. It sure beats getting stuck in rush hour traffic driving, only to park many blocks away from Oracle Park (because free parking), necessitating a lengthy walk.
That is, if the light-rail is actually functioning normally. I got on the first train yesterday, only to encounter a completely shut tunnel system. No trains of any line were able to go underground towards downtown. We had to instead get off at West Portal - just before the tunnel - and take a surface shuttle bus. It doesn’t take a genius to realize a street bus is far slower than an underground metro train that’s unimpeded by car traffic. Worse, the bus shuttle got me only to downtown - it didn’t extended beyond towards the ballpark. So I walked the rest of the way.
A trip that at most should have taken about an hour, instead took two. And you wonder why public transportation ridership hasn’t recovered fully from the pandemic. It’s a really bad look to have a major section of the light-rail system closed off during evening rush hour. Folks have already suffered the nine hours at work already! Adding to their already lengthy commute time is kind of unconscionable. It’s a bad deal for the people with responsibilities waiting at home. I at least had the luxury of not being in a hurry (I’ve been to enough baseball games to not care about missing the opening few innings).
Silver lining to everything: it was an enjoyable walk along the Embarcadero towards Oracle Park. The summer evening sun provided a great ambiance. Crisp air and excellent views will make anyone forget about the unscheduled delay.
Will o’ the wisp.