On BART Trains, the Seats Are Taken (by Bacteria)

New York Times ^ | March 5, 2011 | By ZUSHA ELINSON

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Carrie Nee prefers to stand during her half-hour commute on BART from San Leandro to downtown San Francisco. Although the trains’ blue fabric seats are plush and comfortable, Ms. Nee refuses to sit on them.

As Bob Franklin, the BART board president, acknowledged, “People don’t know what’s in there.”

Now they do.

Fecal and skin-borne bacteria resistant to antibiotics were found in a seat on a train headed from Daly City to Dublin/Pleasanton. Further testing on the skin-borne bacteria showed characteristics of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, the drug-resistant bacterium that causes potentially lethal infections, although Ms. Franklin cautioned that the MRSA findings were preliminary.

High concentrations of at least nine bacteria strains and several types of mold were found on the seat. Even after Ms. Franklin cleaned the cushion with an alcohol wipe, potentially harmful bacteria were found growing in the fabric.

MRSA is known as the “superbug” because it is resistant to antibiotics. It infects people through open wounds, attacking the immune system; 19,000 deaths each year are related to MRSA infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“There’s a probability that it is MRSA, but more tests would need to be done,” Ms. Franklin said. “Somebody probably was wearing shorts and had an infection, and there you go. It is concerning.”

[Ramius]

The whole world has germs. Better to just accept it.

[buccaneer81]

I used to leave the shopping cart child seat extended and put fragile stuff like eggs there rather than down in the cart. UNTIL...I was at the store and witnessed a woman changing a baby on that spot. Now I fold up the seat and I use the sanitary wipes at the entrance by the carts and wipe the handle and the bottom of the cart. People look at me like I’m nuts, but that’s fine by me.

[Gaffer]

I don’t use the big carts with seats. I only use the small ones with no rug-rat seat.....anyway what you said is good to remember.

[bgill]

Agree with you on the public toilets. Gross doesn’t even begin. I’ll cross my legs before using a public toilet. Just get me home quickly.

It’s also not just the grocery cart handles but the seat where little kids and their dirty diapers sit. And then we plop our fresh produce there...

As for the gal from the article, ick. Honey, if you’d put on some clothes, you might not catch something and you might not give someone else whatever is crawling out from those panties.

[Gaffer]

If that was my daughter showing her ass (and whatever else) like that in public I’d tan her butt......

[libertarian27]

BART Trains

should change their name to -

MRSA Trains

It’s catchy.....

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

” like money.”
Singles are the filthiest! They only last for a matter of months, then are shredded and dumped in landfills. And when you get the ones that have been “sanitized” and perfumed? Puke! Gimme dollar coins. They last for decades, and the actual metals used have bactericide properties.

[GladesGuru]

“That chick is the dictionary definition of “Cool while utter chaos reigns in a confined space.””

Also, situationally unaware, while Not Carrying.

[xp38]

The biggest problem with public transit is that it is public.

[Terry Mross]

Think about all the germs going through airport security. Everyone takes their shoes off and puts them in a plastic container. Then the containers get recycled and you put your stuff in one. It sickens me to think of what’s in those containers.

I’ve made the decision to never fly again unless hog tied and forced to do so. If I’d thought of the creepy crawlers getting on my watch and wallet I’d probably have stopped flying long ago. And I don’t even want to think of what’s on the seat upholstery.

[quadrant]

If you think BART is bad, you should try MUNI, the SF city transit system.
Not only are the buses (and trains) dirty, you can be packed so tightly that its all but impossible not to breathe in what the person next to you has exhaled.
The worst is the 38 or the 38L bus. This is an exaggeration of course, but when riding on the 38 or 38L, one senses a little of what was experienced by those poor people packed on cattle cars on the way to concentration camps.

[upchuck]

Did anybody else notice that the person named Franklin in the article changes sex in the article. Unless the lady is named Bob.

[Ditter]

Upholstered seating anywhere the public sits is pretty stupid. Metal, wood, plastic or if it needs padding, vinyl. I remember a few years ago, after the new higher backed movie theater seats became popular, that adults were getting head lice from the seat backs. ugh! I remember when B&N Bookstores opened they had upholstered arm chairs sitting around the store. The bums and street people moved in like it was their living room and the chairs were quickly so nasty ONLY the bums would sit there. Now the chairs are gone and the bums lay on the floor.

[count-your-change]

The old movie theater I used to go to as a kid had what appeared to be smooth plastic covered seats. “appeared” since at one time they were plush too.

[newzjunkey]

Now I fold up the seat and I use the sanitary wipes at the entrance by the carts and wipe the handle and the bottom of the cart. People look at me like I’m nuts, but that’s fine by me.

Many chain grocery stores in California provide sanitary wipes at the cart corral precisely so you can wipe them down.

[buccaneer81]

Kroger does that here in Ohio.

[hattend]

I wouldn’t pick up a 5 dollar bill if I dropped in San Francisco.

[newzjunkey]

As for the gal from the article, ick. Honey, if you’d put on some clothes

I had the same thought. She's indecent!

Agree with you on the public toilets. Gross doesn’t even begin.

Amen!

[TXnMA]

"Also, situationally unaware, while Not Carrying."

She has her hand on (or in) that bag over her shoulder...ya never know -- and that's a good thing... ;-)