What better way to celebrate the new BART fare hikes than a 30 minute train delay on the first official day of work in 2008? It kind of threw the new train schedule a little out of whack too.

We haven't been able to find anything officially reported on the delay yet, but from what we gleaned from the PA system, it sounded like a train got stuck at 24th Street with a jammed door. This somehow caused all the trains going in both directions through San Francisco to stop entirely -- though, as if to taunt us, the signs kept flashing "MILLBRAE 2 MINUTES" on one side and "FREMONT 2 MINUTES" on the other. We kept thinking, "we didn't even want to go into work this morning."

The 16th Street BART station platform was packed shoulder to shoulder with anxious commuters who were already cutting it a little close to getting into work by 9 a.m. And, adding to the excitement, there was also a man in some sort of mental distress on the platform, pacing back and forth from end to end and periodically shouting phrases like "Stop staring at me!" and "OH NO! OH NO!" right by the edge of the platform. There was much studious avoiding of eye contact and surreptitious moving away from the edge of the platform as he orbited by.