BART pride
I spotted this guy at a Whole Foods Market in Silver Spring, Maryland. That's a BART farecard on his t-shirt. He said he had just been in the Baja Fresh restaurant a couple of blocks away and that a person there also recognized the farecard. He says the t-shirts are also made with "San Francisco."
I told him that of course WMATA and BART are sort of cousins: they both were among the first to use magnetic fare collection media, and WMATA's last general manager came from BART. They both strike me as commuter rail systems of sorts, with widely spaced stations (contrast New York, with many of its stations separated by much shorter distances.)
A week or two ago I also saw a guy walking down the street in Chinatown, D.C., with a t-shirt sporting a 6 in a big green circle. "Ah, the Lexington Avenue local," I said.
WMATA does sell t-shirts, but not much is available. I can't imagine any area resident who would wear one, though, and the whole point of them would be lost on any of the tourists, who much prefer their FBI sweatshirts.
Post Author:
massysett | 8:47 PM |
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BART is a heavy rail system that has many commuter rail charachteristics. WMATA on the other hand is hybrid, functioning more like a conventional subway in the central core, but like a commuter railroad outside the core. They do share much in common, in fact the farecards on both systems are from the same manufacturer and I heard in the early going of WMATA they were even inadverdently usable on both systems.
I'm a little embarrased to admit that I wear my Metro shirt all the time.
