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Thread started 08/02/12 12:28pm

sexton

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San Francisco transit escalators shut down after being used as toilets

Escalators in San Francisco’s BART transit system shut down after being treated as toilets

Homeless people are leaving feces and urine on the moving stairs that are supposed to ferry passengers to the Bay Area Rapid Transit stations and leaving them inoperable, a problem so bad it's shutting down some escalators and requiring the need for a haz-mat unit.

BY ERIK ORTIZ / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2012, 9:19 AM

Escalators are getting clogged in San Francisco’s transit system — and it’s something to hold your nose at.

People are actually treating the moving stairs as a toilet, leaving Bay Area Rapid Transit workers to discover so much human excrement at one broken Civic Center Station escalator last month that a haz-mat unit was summoned, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday.

Combatting human waste is one that BART officials and police recognize as more than a potty problem.

“Nobody wants to be walking in urine and feces, I know that, (but) if we don’t see it, or the person doesn’t admit to it, they can just say it was someone else,” BART police spokeswoman Officer Era Jenkins told The Chronicle. “Certain crimes you don’t see, you can’t enforce.”

Station surveillance cameras aren’t typically observed when the stations shut down for the night, she added.

Station stairwells become nighttime refuges for the homeless, who are likely relieving themselves when no one’s around.

But there’s a larger issue of homelessness that can be difficult to address — especially for a transit agency, the Chronicle said.

“As much as we like to have an oasis from the rest of the world, we don’t look at (these issues) in isolation, we look at (them) as part of a puzzle,” BART spokesman Jim Allison told the newspaper.

There were five escalators shutdown in the city’s downtown train system this week. While it’s unclear the exact causes, the late-night mucking up of the machinery is linked to a lack of public restrooms in the area, officials said.

Until something can be done, the system’s 105 million users will have to deal with the breakdowns.

Last month, BART officials said 28 of its 179 escalators were out of service — a record, ABC affiliate KGO-TV reported.

Officials are spending about $200,000 to rehab them, the station said.

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I've never thought of using an escalator as a toilet. hmmm

RodeoSchro	This never happens in Houston. I think San Francisco is VERY cool, but perhaps their escalator toilets was the factor keeping them from being named Coolest City in America.
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morningsong	Sounds like folks are trying to make a statement. Give us bathrooms, now.
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nursev	Ain't that some shit
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luvsexy4all	NDRU said: PurpleJedi said: it's practically IMPOSSIBLE to find a public bathroom in NYC. Yes, what do they expect people to do? not true.....all parks have bathrooms....bryant park has the BEST facility......or tons of local libraries
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Nob Hill bus stop becomes woman's bathroom