A computer upgrade shut down BART

A tech failure taking down a big government thing is certainly HN worthy. And BART is relatively famous, as such things go. It’s a name people know, as opposed to of it was the Minnesota DMV system. That would be a fine story too but no one knows the name for that.

Ironically, the Northstar rail line (one part boondoggle, one part "would have worked if it went all the way to st cloud", depending on who you ask) is shutting down Jan 3 or 4 in 2026, so I wouldn't be surprised to see articles on it and/or the met council before then.

BART specifically is also a kind of lighting rod of the political, social, economic fissure that runs through American culture; the difference in perspective of the adversarial camps, like different tribes.

It is a microcosm, a bit of a litmus test, and an ideological battlefield of the embattled sides. But this example specifically is also a kind of infighting, of the more anarcho-libertarian tech camp that enjoys highlighting and dripping with self-righteousness about any tech related failure of government, i.e., or at least government that does not align with their ideology or control over it.

This fault line of America runs right through things like BART like an effigy or idol that America performs a kind of ritual form of battle on as proxies for all out civil war. Think of tribes you may have seen videos of where they do all kinds of elaborate dances and blustering displays and fake charges to demonstrate their power.

The glee about this outage happening to BART is very much because the libertarian tech progressive types are amused and validated by it, where something more like rashes of violent attacks on BART riders by menaces to society might be something that the "heartland" may become gleeful about, as evidence for how the ideology of SF is messed up. In the cases of violent attacks on BART riders, another camp/tribe would come out and demonstrate their fierceness; the "socially liberal" types from all over the country and even world, would rush to the defense of their ideological idols with a bewildering storm of rationalization, delusion, and excuse making for violent attackers and in defense of their ideology/cult.

It's just elaborate war dances around an idol/ideology to demonstrate how fierce and powerful each party is. BART is just one of the idols in America around which these displays of simulated conflicts happen.

That's a shame. The Twin Cities set a relatively high bar for American public transit, too. The light rail is fantastic. I only wish you could take the green line all the way out to SLP or Plymouth.

Back when I lived in the cities 15 or so years ago, it was still notably slower than driving, so many if not most people still drove everywhere.

Public transit wasn't as gross as stories I've heard of elsewhere, but it also wasn't something I wanted to take on a regular basis if I could help it. I think I used it regularly for about six months or so one year in particular, and the lack of warm bus stops meant standing in freezing rain, sleet, snow and more.

Maybe things have improved since I lived there, but hearing that they are the high bar is pretty sad.

I lived there from mid-2016 through late 2020, about 4.5 years in all. I know the Green Line was a relatively new thing when I was there.

> it was still notably slower than driving, so many if not most people still drove everywhere

I'd argue that those folks are missing the point. Sure, when I was commuting by Minneapolis public transit, it was slower than driving. But you know what I wasn't doing while I was on the bus/train? Driving! I was reading, writing, daydreaming, sleeping, any number of activities more pleasant than sitting on I-94.

Standing out there in the winter could be brutal, I'll admit. Then again, the light rail stops were heated, and the park & ride I transferred at in Plymouth had a nice climate-controlled lobby. The only time I was really out there was standing in the driveway in front of my office, waiting for the shuttle to pick me up.

Twin Cities public transit is a damn sight better than what we have in Milwaukee, that's for sure. Low bar, but the Twin Cities clear it handily.

Ah yeah, that makes more sense. I lived about half a mile or a mile south of where the green line now runs and had to take a bus down university ave.

Sadly, my neighborhood had long waits between buses that connected to university ave, and neither my neighborhood or university ave had heated stops. So, odds were pretty good that I'd suffer the weather for 20-30 minutes each trip.

I also tend to get motion sickness if I read or use a laptop in cars or busses, so there really wasn't anything I could do on them that I couldn't do by driving anyway.