So the service outage only affected people underground? I'm not sure how the stations are laid out - what happens if the protest is held right outside the station? If they cut service, would people not on BART property be affected?
Without knowing exactly what BART has planned, as a general matter it's OK to exercise free speech on the station concourse, which is to say outside the the fare gates, as long as one is not obstructing other users of the transit system. BART is attempting to avoid a protest being held on the actual platform where trains are going past, both because of the minor risk of someone falling onto a live rail and electrocuting themselves, and because of the more realistic risk that protestors will attempt to do the same thing as last month - stop trains by holding the doors open and/or climbing on top of them, thus bringing the BART system to a halt on the San Francisco side.
I'm in tepid agreement with the BART management here; while I feel that BART police are indeed trigger-happy and need reminding that protection and service can often be accomplished without needing to shoot anyone, I don't see what good it does to hold passengers hostage just because they happen to be riding the BART at the time of the protest. Yes, yes, protesters want to draw attention to their cause, but there are other ways to do that, such as by running for election to BART's board of directors [0]. Recent protests at transit stations in SF have featured masked anarchist wannabes smashing up Castro subway station [1] and racial epithets directed at a BART spokesperson [2]. This is not really my idea of healthy civic society at work.
You should get service outside the station above ground from the cell phone towers. Even most of the fare gates aren't deep enough underground to block service completely.
Once you get past the fare gates though in SF, you typically will head down some escalators that take you deep enough to block cell service without BART's cell repeaters.
Just a point of interest -- most of the SF BART stations are not "repeaters" per se (except perhaps in the context of a network or higher layer protocol), but are actually full blown computerized radio systems themselves.
I suspect most are colocated BTSes (or equivalent) that are fed by leased lines.
The BART stations in downtown San Francisco are all deep underground (two to three long flights of stairs / escalators). Service in them, and in the tunnels between them and under the Bay, is completely dependent on BART running cell repeaters.
Comments
So the service outage only affected people underground? I'm not sure how the stations are laid out - what happens if the protest is held right outside the station? If they cut service, would people not on BART property be affected?
Yes, nothing, and no.
Without knowing exactly what BART has planned, as a general matter it's OK to exercise free speech on the station concourse, which is to say outside the the fare gates, as long as one is not obstructing other users of the transit system. BART is attempting to avoid a protest being held on the actual platform where trains are going past, both because of the minor risk of someone falling onto a live rail and electrocuting themselves, and because of the more realistic risk that protestors will attempt to do the same thing as last month - stop trains by holding the doors open and/or climbing on top of them, thus bringing the BART system to a halt on the San Francisco side.
I'm in tepid agreement with the BART management here; while I feel that BART police are indeed trigger-happy and need reminding that protection and service can often be accomplished without needing to shoot anyone, I don't see what good it does to hold passengers hostage just because they happen to be riding the BART at the time of the protest. Yes, yes, protesters want to draw attention to their cause, but there are other ways to do that, such as by running for election to BART's board of directors [0]. Recent protests at transit stations in SF have featured masked anarchist wannabes smashing up Castro subway station [1] and racial epithets directed at a BART spokesperson [2]. This is not really my idea of healthy civic society at work.
0. http://www.bart.gov/about/bod/
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2P5LIrFDXc
2. http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-07-12/bay-area/29763722_1_ba...
You should get service outside the station above ground from the cell phone towers. Even most of the fare gates aren't deep enough underground to block service completely.
Once you get past the fare gates though in SF, you typically will head down some escalators that take you deep enough to block cell service without BART's cell repeaters.
Just a point of interest -- most of the SF BART stations are not "repeaters" per se (except perhaps in the context of a network or higher layer protocol), but are actually full blown computerized radio systems themselves. I suspect most are colocated BTSes (or equivalent) that are fed by leased lines.
The BART stations in downtown San Francisco are all deep underground (two to three long flights of stairs / escalators). Service in them, and in the tunnels between them and under the Bay, is completely dependent on BART running cell repeaters.