WAIT!

Most of the time, when Katie and I get to the MUNI stop at Casto and Market, there is a large crowd waiting on the platform.  Sometimes the train is late, and sometimes we just arrive at the ass end of the schedule, and sometimes there are just a lot of people who want to take a MUNI at 9:30 in the morning.   Whatever the reason, it is almost always very crowded on the platform while we wait for the next train.

We wait, and it is crowded, and I don't like it.  People don't look at one another, and it is eerily quiet because nobody talks, not even to the people who they are with.   When people do talk, it feels like everyone is watching and judging them, so I whisper to Katie things like, "I hate people" and "Oh my god, I think my ebola is really kicking in now."

And then the train arrives, and the train is crowded too.  I can always see as the train whizzes into the station that all the seats are already filled and there are already people hanging on to the overhead bars.   But when the doors slide open, everyone in the station piles into the train.  They pile in to the middle of the car, and to the end of the car.  Then they pile into the doorway, past the yellow TO NOT STAND PAST THIS LINE line.  Most of the time, just as the doors are about to close, a few more people leap into the train, pressing themselves up against the already crowded crowd. 

The door alarm rings because someone's backpack or coat sleeve is blocking the door, and people inside the train grumble and people at the door try to scoot just a half inch closer so that the door will close and seal them in to the train with all the other people.

Katie and I stand on the platform and watch this happen almost every day.  The train zips out of the station, and two minutes later, another train zips in that is virtually empty.  And almost every single day, I turn to Katie and ask her why more people don't just wait, because without fail, it is always worth it.  Neither of us have a good answer.