Bay Area ‘Lewd Behavior’ Ban On Pooping Or Peeing On Subways Goes Into Effect

[Purveyor]

Starting Monday, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) riders will have to think twice before using trains or train platforms as public bathrooms, or risk losing the ability to use them at all.

SF Weekly reported on Monday that transit police will now be able to issue “prohibition orders” against repeat offenders. The bans, which can last anywhere from 30 days to 1 year, were passed as part of state Assembly Bill 716 in January 2013, meaning customers found defecating or urinating, or engaging in lewd behavior on BART property, among other offenses, could be banned from using the transit service if cited three times within a 90-day period. More serious infractions like physical assault will lead to a ban after just one instance. The bill also applies to political protesters with multiple arrests.

“We are really wanting to send the message that if you are going to come onto our system and be unruly or violent, there are going to be consequences,” BART spokesperson Alicia Trost told KGO-TV on April 29.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/06/bay-area-lewd-behavior-ban-on-pooping-or-peeing-on-subways-goes-into-effect/

Ha...and you thought I was kidding with my tagline commentary?

[loli phabay]

1. lol cant believe there was not a law already governing this, i can understand a kid in a dire emerge

Emergency or a medical emergency but turning a blind eye to it before now i dont get.

[Luminous Animal]

4. It already is against the law and I sincerely doubt BART police turned a blind eye...

Most likely any offender received a ticket. The difference now is that they will be banned for a specific period of time.

I have to say that in my 25 years of taking public transportation daily, I've never witnessed anyone pooping or peeing on any bus, trolley, or train.

[loli phabay]

7. ah makes more sense now, good way to handle repeat offenders.

[geek tragedy]

13. In NYC, the subway elevators are often used as latrines.

Which provides a delightful experience to people who depend on those elevators for access due to mobility limitations.

[Saving Hawaii]

33. If you go to Ireland make sure to bring a cell phone.

You don't want to learn what those lovely old phone booths are used for now.

[Cirque du So-What]

14. I've never witnessed it either

although I've sensed it in other ways. During my time in SF, I recall that the Embarcadero Center BART station was particularly fragrant.

[tabbycat31]

29. When I was growing up

It was the 'cool' thing to do for the middle school boys to 'piss at the train station.'

The stairway leading to the train platform always reaked of urine. I haven't taken a train from that station in awhile (Metro North Railroad in NY) so I have no idea if the boys (I'd use the term 'kids' but it's much more difficult for females) still do this or not.

[spiderpig]

40. Oh, I have.

Commuted on BART for years, and it got worse and worse as time went on. People using the "between cars" as urinals and zipping up when they reentered the cars. I can't even stand to go into the stations anymore.

[arely staircase]

2. so up until now it has been legal?

nt

[Luminous Animal]

6. No. They were ticketable offenses. The difference now is that offenders

may be banned from using the BART system.

[arely staircase]

22. gotcha nt

[geek tragedy]

3. How would it be enforced? nt

[loli phabay]

9. using k9's, the poopy patrol.

[MrScorpio]

5. Do they have restrooms in BART stations?

And of course, the political protest ban is just another in a series of cracking down on free speech in this country.

But I'm wondering if there are a serious lack of restrooms down there.

[randome]

8. But defecating and urinating can ALSO be a form of political protest.

In a way. Maybe? Maybe not.

[MrScorpio]

11. Anything can pass as political protest in San Francisco

You might be right.

[Major Nikon]

30. ...albeit a piss-poor one

[Agschmid]

36. Well played sir...

[arcane1]

15. There's no political protest ban, as such.

"The bill also applies to political protesters with multiple arrests." meaning, as I see it, political protesters aren't exempt.

The restrooms in the San Francisco stations have been shot down since 9/11, but out in the suburbs, in the above-ground stations, they still have their restrooms open.

[Gormy Cuss]

28. Yes there are restrooms although at many stations they're locked

Post 9/11 rules.

IMHO this repeat offender rule is a way of banning the homeless who try to live on the trains or in the train yards.


BART's not a subway system either -- it's a heavy rail commuter train with lots of local, urban stations as well as the suburban ones.


eta: Oops! I see that downthread my Bay area neighbor Starry Messenger already made these points.

[mulsh]

31. I don't know about all BART stations but the only one I'm postive has open rest rooms is

sf)The Rockridge (Oakland) station. The 2 Mission ( SF) stations I've been to recently both had closed rest rooms. I haven't seen the downtown SF rest rooms open since 9/11. People with more knowledge then me please enlighten us. thanks

[GeorgeGist]

10. Paris of the West

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pkLuyXPy_eM

[Starry Messenger]

12. BART station bathrooms have been closed at nearly all stations since 9/11.

Just wanted people to know that before this thread becomes full of "you all don't know any better?" responses. This law is going to target homeless people who don't have many places to do their business. It's easier to pass a train poop law and call the matter solved then to pursue more long-term solutions to poverty.

[MrScorpio]

16. You make perfect sense

Obviously, there's more going on here than what everyone is being told

[Warren DeMontague]

18. The Bay Area is a HORRIBLE place if you're out and need to use the can.

For the homeless, obviously, it's worse.

[Yo_Mama]

19. Aren't there restrooms? n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Short answer? No.

[Yo_Mama]

21. Well, isn't that a problem?

Using public transport doesn't mean you have an iron bladder!!

[Warren DeMontague]

26. You'll get no argument from me.

[etherealtruth]

27. Of course, you are right on all counts

It did take me a minute to figure out why folk would do this (I plead a long day)

[REP]

34. Solutions are needed for homelessness, but crapping in places like BART is also bad

Fecal-borne infections are pretty bad, and to people like me, they can be deadly. Defecation is such public areas really is a public health and safety issue.

In my corner of the Bay (peninsula and SC Mountains), finding an accessible bathroom - even without buying something - is pretty easy and the businesses I frequent, at least, do not prohibit homeless people from using their bathrooms, but I do understand there is a need for first, much better social services so people don't need to search for a toilet (and shelter and food) and second, more clean public toilets.

[Starry Messenger]

37. I'm not pro-pooping on train platforms.

They could reopen the bathrooms though. Even I have a tough time making it from Millbrae to Oakland without facilities. The terror attacks on BART bathrooms are probably not going to materialize after over a decade. This just seems like it is going to move the problem to another area (store entrances?) rather than solve anything.

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Friendly advice: If you ever drop a candy bar or gumball on the BART escalator

just write it off as a loss.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/broken-bart-escalators-poop_n_1706716.html

[name not needed]

24. And if you drop a candy bar, you might be prohibited from using BART.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

23. Here in my car, I feel safest of all, I can lock all my doors. It's the only way to live. In cars.

The only thing that has ever shit in my car in my parents dog.

[Initech]

25. FYI one could probably make a killing selling adult diapers at BART stations.

Just saying!

[TheManInTheMac]

32. Yet another example of American puritism squelching freedom!

[Cal Carpenter]

35. So I can poop on the train twice quarterly?

[daleo]

38. Everyone suffers when a society condones homelessness

In all kinds of ways, great and small.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

39. Ban the urine and feces, ok, but banning lewd behavior? ...

...let him who's never gotten frisky on public transportation cast the first stone.