San Francisco Blog

Eating and drinking on public transportation is an endeavor of the wink/wink variety. You know you’re not supposed to do it, the people in the uniforms know you’re not supposed to do it, but you do it anyway. The most common violation may be the morning cup of coffee that rule bending Bart patrons partake in. Well, now it’s going to be even easier to obtain the contraband caffeine as Bart will be installing Peet’s coffee kiosks at eight Bart stations, according to an article in today’s Examiner. The article also asserts that while tickets for eating and drinking on Bart were once rare, 765 such tickets were issued in 2006 and 896 were issued in 2007. Even though coffee will now be available for purchase at transit stations, Bart spokesperson Linton Johnson doesn’t think that the frequency of fines will go up.

"The kiosks are located outside the paid areas," Johnson said, "So commuters will already be on their way to work before stopping to get their morning coffee."

Uh, don’t people walk past those kiosks on their way into the train, too? Planting coffee vendors only feet from all those new absorbent wool and foam cushions being installed seems like a recipe for disaster. Can’t they just stick to increasing parking fines?-Andy Wright