So, the BART board had a meeting last night. They all said "hooray" to a contract to provide new vinyl seats to replace those nasty-ass blue wool seats that carry the lice and contagions of yesteryear in their folds. "We're getting rid of the diseased seats," said BART director Lynette Sweet, except the contract will only be for 200 rail cars, starting with just 100 of them like everything else around here, we have to make sure that everyone likes them before the other 100 get installed. As for the design of the new seat cushions, we're a little scared: It's called "Water, Waves and Wine." "It features the bay, wine and the cascading Alamere Falls at Point Reyes. The seats will be jade the color of the bay in the late evening, according to the designers with pinot noir accents in a linear pattern inspired by the waterfall and waves."
The pricetag for the seat upgrade, which is only going to cover about a third of the fleet of rail cars, is $1.9 million, less than the $2.6 million budgeted. Look for the new seats to make their first appearance in April.
It remains mind-boggling to us that BART's maintenance crews can't give up that 20 minutes -- let alone an hour, once a week -- but perhaps we just don't understand the incredibly strict, time-sensitive work they're doing every Friday night.
PREVIOUSLY: BART May Have Figured Out Late-Night Friday Service
BART Still Pussy-Footing Around the Late-Night Service Thing