24th St. BART escalator returns after 4-month hiatus, breaks down again within hours

Yesterday afternoon, when I read that the 24th St. BART escalator had been repaired, I was thrilled. It had been broken since March 22nd. That’s four damn months. Four damned shit-ass months.

On my way home, I felt something I had never felt before: excitement about riding an escalator. I haven’t felt this kind of anticipation since I waited in line at Disneyland’s Star Tours ride cerca 1989. But at 6pm, mere hours after its return to service, it was broken again. As of this morning, it was still out of service. Here was the scene:

Yeah, I know taking the stairs has its health benefits, and I feel them. I really do. But maybe that has more to do with riding a rusted Murray bicycle that’s stuck in the highest gear and not so much the three flights of stairs. Still, after 8 hours of being zombified in a half-cubicle in Oakland, sometimes you just want to relish that 45 seconds where you can enjoy the blissful miracle of machine-aided ascension.

Let’s hope for a speedy re-recovery.

Update (4pm): Our prayers have been answered! Burrito Justice tweets:

Now we can all resume checking our phones for the duration of that short ride to the surface! Please stay operational for the next hour, escalator. I am on my way.

[top photo via Mission Loc@l]

12 Responses to “24th St. BART escalator returns after 4-month hiatus, breaks down again within hours”

  1. wheeeeeee says:

    I’m with ya. It’s not that I’m lazy – I’m just tired at the end of the day. I go to glen park now cuz fuck that.

  2. Kristina says:

    THANK THE BATMEN

  3. Greg says:

    Bart maintenance workers are PG&E rejects or maybe it’s the other way around.

  4. moderniste says:

    I have a special cold place in my heart for the GD 24th St. BART escalator as it was the scene of my highly painful and embarrassing high heel fail.

    Because the GD escalator was shitting the bed, I was sullenly trudging up the stairs laden with 4 shopping bags full of heavy groceries when my left foot, clad in a 4″ stiletto heel, got caught in a crack in the step. The weight of the bags combined with my tall-ass 6′ height sent me flying backwards, left foot still wedged in the crack in the stair. I landed indelicately on my ass and my wispy skirt went a-wisping upwards. The awkward image of a tall annoyed girl flat on her ass with one skinny leg pointed skyward provided some much needed amusement for the 24th St. Station Plaza “regulars”.

    Alas, I badly sprained my ankle, and spent the next hour painfully limping my way back to the Lower Haight via Muni. I did score some nice, comforting Percodans from SF General’s Urgent Care though…

    • Village Idiot says:

      Alas, you have my sympathy as a fellow human being. But I fear you lost everyone else at 4 inch stiletto heels.

    • djhexhex says:

      More importantly, was the stiletto okay?

      • moderniste says:

        Ha ha–yes, Village Idiot, I was a foolish female for trotting about in sky high heels–they are really meant for those aristos with car service. But I was returning from a fancy schmancy thing during the daytime and tried to get some errands done–without remembering to put my ballet flats in my purse.

        And djhexhex, the heel snapped right off–poor shoes!! But since they were expensive vintage Vivienne Westwoods, I had them re-heeled. Umm, thanks for caring. ;)

  5. JMC says:

    It was broken again by 6 pm.

  6. Alicia says:

    I trust that thing so little now that even when it was working yesterday I took the stairs. I had to laugh when it was broken again today.

  7. Bart maintenance workers are PG&E rejects or maybe it’s the other way around.

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