In BART's biennial survey of its regular riders, complaints are up about noise and lack of places to sit, and unsurprisingly given BART's delay- and breakdown-plagued 2016, overall satisfaction with the system is down a full five percent. This is, if you ask the Chronicle, or ABC 7, an "all-time low" of 69 percent, or if you ask the Business Times it's a 20-year low, but still if we're being real here, how many public transit systems do we think have a 69 percent satisfaction rate? Perhaps we've just been spoiled with too much comfort and reliability? When the survey was last done in 2014, 74 percent expressed overall satisfaction.

The survey was conducted in person during BART trips between September 9 and October 9, with 5,432 riders being handed questionnaires to fill out during their rides. Not shockingly the satisfaction rate of those who managed to get a seat was higher, at 74 percent, compared to those who were stuck standing (61 percent). BART’s chief marketing officer Aaron Weinstein tells the Business Times "It’s that difference that has driven the [downward] change [in satisfaction] over the past two years."

Of those who said they were satisfied, only 24 percent were "very satisfied," and 45 percent were "somewhat satisfied." There were declines in ratings across all categories, including things like personal safety, enforcement of fare evasion, and elevator cleanliness.

That would be ignoring those systemwide delays and greatly overcrowded trains last March and April caused by a mysterious "voltage spike" that cropped in at least two locations, knocking dozens of trains out of service. The problem cost BART $2.5 million and their experts still never got to the bottom of it, though it disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared.

Also, a plague of broken escalators and elevators has people pissed off too.

BART remains popular enough and vital enough to commuters that voters approved a $3.5 billion infrastructure bond in November which required a two-thirds majority. But reps for BART spent much of last year preparing us for worse times to come as the 40+-year-old system has suffered from a lot of deferred maintenance as it ages.

At least we have some new BART cars to look forward to, which should be rolling out slowly (maybe?) starting later this year.

Grace Crunican, BART’s general manager, thinks that the new cars and various infrastructure improvements will bring happiness levels up among BART riders, "But," she tells the Chronicle, "it will take a couple of years."

Related: BART Bond Passes, $3.5 Billion To Go Toward Infrastructure