You might balk at the prospect of riding BART for over six hours.
You are not Miles Taylor.
Taylor, a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania senior by way of Boston, rode every mile of the transit line's trackage in 6 hours, 9 minutes and 51 seconds on Monday, starting with the Antioch station and ending at Dublin/Pleasanton.
"I'm a completionist when it comes to transit systems," Taylor told KCBS Radio on Tuesday, joking that riding transit is, to an extent, his "happy place."
Taylor has had a lifelong love of it. As a 13-year-old, he started a blog with the aim of reviewing every train station and bus route on Boston’s MBTA. As a college student, he has interned for the MBTA and Philadelphia’s SEPTA transit system.
So when he visited his girlfriend, who lives in Walnut Creek, this week, Taylor naturally wanted to try a record-setting speed run on one of the Bay Area’s transit systems.
Taylor wanted to knock it out in one morning, and he said BART was the most obvious fit. BART said the unofficial record belongs to Jim Yu, who rode the system in 5 hours and 37 minutes in 2012 when there were six fewer stations.
Taylor chronicled his experiences in a Twitter thread and will, ultimately, post a video of the day to his YouTube page. Anyone who has rode BART can attest the 21-year-old got a full taste of the transit system in just over six hours.
Ever wonder if you'll ever ride in one of the newer cars? So did Taylor.
Taylor also contended with noisy trains and transferring between them, the latter of which might or might not have bested an MLB All-Star earlier this year.
While Taylor "genuinely felt sick" riding from Berryessa to transfer at Bay Fair station, he was "psyched" to make his stop. Had he realized before his conversation with BART officials his was a timed transfer, Taylor admitted he would’ve been much more relaxed.
As pleasantly surprised as he was to make his stop, he was even more stunned to have said conversation. BART caught wind of his plans, greeting him at his final stop and gifting him a bag of BART-branded goodies.
Taylor also spoke with BART General Manager Bob Powers, telling him the system could benefit from integrating its fares with other rail systems, lowering costs or offering a monthly pass. He said Powers was an attentive listener.
"I was really happy that they wanted to hear feedback, and that … they published some of the complaints that I mentioned and talked about how they were planning on fixing those," Taylor said, referring to a story on BART's own website.
With BART under his belt, Taylor has ambitions for the Bay Area and beyond.
He'd love to ride as many Clipper systems as he could in one day, with particular fondness for "quirky" Bay Area transit systems like the Dumbarton Express and Union City Transit. Visiting the least-used Amtrak station in every state would allow him to see cool parts of the country, while riding Chicago's trains and setting the New York City subway speed-run record are also on the bucket list.
Taylor’s advice for Bay Area commuters? Appreciate what you have in what he tweeted is a "FANTASTIC" regional rail system by American standards. He said it beats sitting in traffic, and even the old trains have perks.
Especially the "floofy" seats that made his six-hour journey across the Bay Area an enjoyable one.
"If you’re on there for a long time, the old trains are kind of nice because every seat is so comfy," Taylor said.
Related
