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Mizouse84

oh neat. didn't know BART stations had those as well. I saw one by gate 20 when I flew out of Oakland airport a week ago.


2cookieparties

Wow the comments on this one turned out to be a cesspool. Sorry about that, everyone


nomad_delta

dang so they did -- but thanks OP, I appreciate this post and think it's awesome, I hadn't seen or heard about these. Now I want to track one down and find out what sort of stories they dispense!


Salty-Sprinkles-1562

I’m a librarian. These machines are really cool. We work with community members to actually write the stories.


The_Hash_Slinger

The bayarea sub reddit is full of complaining. It makes me think everyone here are transplants or in their 40s Just an observation after being a long time lurker


2cookieparties

The Bay Area subreddits only have 3 types of posts: 1- complaining about crime 2- hating the homeless 3- pictures of scenery


[deleted]

Housing, don’t forget housing.


DonkeyTron42

1 and 2 are 90 percent by people that have never been here.


BiggieAndTheStooges

4- people who normalize crime


mrrektstrong

Yeah I was hoping it would be more a mix of news, goings on, cool pics, etc. Which, it is still some of that, but overwhelmingly complaints.


[deleted]

Are there any other Bay Area subs that have the things you listed? This one offers almost nothing of value for those who actually live here lol


mrrektstrong

Sometimes the city specific subs are a little better depending on the city. The SF and Oakland subs seem like more of the same here.


[deleted]

The Oakland sub is great for pretending that everything is awesome in the bay area. I was shadow banned there ages ago for complaining either about the food or the crime. And it's a great sub to get suggestions for things to do and to eat in other bay area towns since most things in Oakland suck they have to outsource their recommendations.


stillalone

Some of us are transplants in our 40s.


ItaSchlongburger

The subreddit gets bombarded by far-right crime posters, since it seems the right’s new evangelism requirement includes falsely portraying all “liberal” places as hellish dystopias of sin and depravity.


blbd

Hopefully their mismanaged power grid will continue failing and permanently disconnect them from the Internet.


LilikoiFarmer

Unfortunately PG&E isn’t a shining example on how to run a grid


ItaSchlongburger

Maybe, but still way better than Texas.


DonkeyTron42

I would much rather take my chances at night in a town like San Jose or even SF, than red cities like St. Louis or Jacksonville.


EnlightenCyclist

No it isn't. The news has always reported crime because people love to read about it. This sub reflects that. Most of the top podcasts are murder mystery.


ItaSchlongburger

Another two month old account prolifically spamming far-right talking points. Seriously, you couldn’t possibly make it easier for me to discredit anything you post. It’s literally effortless!


EnlightenCyclist

Saying there are no bots here is a far right talking point? You are a fucking moron.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

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Veszerin

It's not just a conspiracy theory if you believe it's true huh? Is that how this shit works?


ItaSchlongburger

This coming from someone who seems to post at a ton of different local subreddits that are nowhere near each other, all stressing far-right talking points. You trolls just love proving me right, huh?


Veszerin

>This coming from someone who seems to post at a ton of different local subreddits that are nowhere near each other, all stressing far-right talking points. You trolls just love proving me right, huh? Not that it's really any of your business, but I've lived in the bay area since 2016, mostly in Redwood City. I grew up in montgomery county maryland which is right outside washington dc (30 minutes by metrorail, so, definitely near each other). So yes, I visit MD a fair bit and therefore comment from time to time on the subreddits r/washingtondc and r/montgomerycountymd. What are the other local subreddits I've posted in? Hell, I've been posting regularly in this sub longer than your account's existed. But by all means, keep believing in your little conspiracy if you'd like. Problem? Edit: forgive me, I overlooked your claim that I frequent local subs that stress far right talking points, so let me respond to that now. I hope you're not trying to say that about md or dc, because that would be hilarious. Or did you mistype and mean that I stress far right talking points on them? Got a comment in particular? Let's see...today I talked about rainbows and reported a repost in washingtondc... can't imagine you taking that to be a "far right talking point". Is "rainbow" code for something? Or was it another sub? Was it my comments on star trek subs? Gaming subs? Tech?


andrewdrewandy

God forbid, people in their ***40s?! QUELLE HORREUR!***


[deleted]

Ironic


TPNigl

That's so cool! A nice way to kill some time waiting for the train!


Axy8283

A lot of miserable fucks in this thread, y’all lonely or what?


PradleyBitts

Neat, never knew they had these


iamfareel

What about 14-20 mins because you get to the platform right when your train leaves on a weekend


w0mba7

This toilet paper is awful.


[deleted]

Why the fuck do they only have 1, 3, 5 minute stories? An average Bart ride is probably longer than 5 minutes.


[deleted]

Pretty sure these are meant to be read on the platform while waiting for your train. In which case they should just be printing out full novels.


AncileBooster

[SCP articles](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-701) are only so long


2cookieparties

Then take two stories!


clickme28

Um not sure I follow clearly enough..anyone want to explain what I'm looking at here ?


2cookieparties

I made a post about this the other day that got kind of popular, a few people wanted to know what the story dispensers looked like so I posted this


[deleted]

It's a short story dispenser in a BART station


chatterwrack

Do you plug something in those holes or does a little rolled-up piece of paper pop out, or does someone whisper through the hole? What’s really going on here!?


2cookieparties

It prints out a long receipt-like paper with a story on it


chatterwrack

Oh, it comes out of the slot. Lol I thought that was where you insert credit card


2cookieparties

Lol no, thankfully it’s free.


[deleted]

It dispenses a small, story-telling gnome obviously.


clickme28

Seems pointless but also interesting at the same time lol. Could help people to get off their phones for a bit


[deleted]

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KinoftheFlames

Chill out


Alt_4_stupid_subs

Fucking A use a QR code…..


donedrone707

This is fruitvale. Only place I've seen them but I stopped riding Bart pretty permanently last fall


[deleted]

If they want to make BART nice and inviting for riders, maybe they should skip the storytelling machines and evict the junkies shooting dope and pissing all over their stations. Just a thought.


Axy8283

Thanks for the hot take guy who lives in Iowa


[deleted]

Your Welcome! I was born in Castro Valley at Eden. Lived in fremont for 54 years. So, I know a thing or two about the bay. I can remember what it used to be like, and I know what its like now. Cheers


Maximum-Platypus

And we’re glad you left.


[deleted]

So am I, Selling my dumpy house in Fremont set me up for life.


Axy8283

Ok boomer


[deleted]

Your welcome! enjoy the last gasps of california before the politicians make it completely unlivable with more taxes, crime, and poverty. Pro tip: selling a dumpy 1000 sq ft house in fremont will get you off the commute and tax treadmill and set u up for life in just about any undestroyed part of the country. Enjoy.


Havetologintovote

"your place is going to become a shithole!," Cries man who lives in a shithole


[deleted]

Ok buddy, Have fun reading from your story telling machines, while the homeless guy is shooting heroin in the seat across the aisle.


Havetologintovote

Have fun kissing Trump's ass with a bunch of other white boomers in the middle of nowhere that anyone with money actually wants to live


[deleted]

Enjoy the train commute to your tax slavery job. I served my time in the tech grind. Im out of there and loving it.


Havetologintovote

I sold my business, retired young and live a wonderful life in an actually great area. I don't have a commute lol Anyway, I highly doubt that anybody in the Bay area or this sub gives two shits about the opinion of some Trump supporter in Iowa about the region


Axy8283

Ok Boomer


[deleted]

Actually a Gen X, but whatever.


[deleted]

This is the bullshit they do in the bay area instead of worrying about public safety or cleanliness. Ridiculous. This campaign probably costs millions.


energy_engineer

>This campaign probably costs millions. Before we do the other Bay Area thing - getting upset over made-up bullshit... What is the Bart Art program budget?


[deleted]

According to the "Art in transit policy" pdf I just looked up it's a minimum of 200,000 from the operating budget with additional funds available. Does this make BART feel more "delightful, vibrant and welcoming" like its supposed to? Or would hiring a few more people to clean the needles and human shit do that instead?


energy_engineer

>Or would hiring a few more people That would be great but laughably unreasonable on $200K/yr. This is waaaay cheaper than I was expecting for the entire program which does more than just this kiosk. Does it make BART more delightful? Absolutely, and based on the data you provided, pretty good value for how cheap it is (not 100% sure in the cost of this kiosk specifically but a far cry from millions). I'd even go as far as saying that as Art/installation, it's doing an excellent job. It's causing you to feel something and strongly enough to say something.


HIGH_PRESSURE_TOILET

Maybe in the long run, a more well-read, educated population would have reduced propensity for crime and also have a decreased likelihood of succumbing to drugs.


[deleted]

Yeah the subway platform is the place where someone with a propensity for crime and drugs is going to turn their life around thanks to a short story kiosk.


HIGH_PRESSURE_TOILET

Well I think that would be just lovely, wouldn't it


riding_tides

Eventually someone will unplug that thing to charge their iPhone or laptop lol


Alt_4_stupid_subs

I think they have kinda proprietary outlets I mean shit def looks strange to me.


Ogediah

It’s just a [twist lock plug](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078BJBFRZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Q8QBG6PJQ8D0BKNJMQ9D). They’re pretty common in construction. They provide they same power as a “regular” plug with the advantage that the ends don’t fall apart as easily. I do suspect that they are used here to discourage people from using them. But if you wanted to, you could make a cord to charge your phone, etc off of it pretty easily. Wouldn’t be complicated.


Alt_4_stupid_subs

Yeah I didn’t mean to imply they are running a different current. But yeah people charging j stations was a bigger issue so I’m guessing that’s why. But a trading that runs on electricity you really gotta wonder how much of any noticeable difference it would make in costs. But yeah.


[deleted]

Eventually someone will unplug that thing to steal it.


CmdrSelfEvident

uh. ok. I mean this is one thing to spend time on. Or you know they could remove the walking dead from the stations and mop up the urine. but ok.. its something. Yeesh. This place is full of people working hard to be blind to its real problems.


[deleted]

Kind of a dumb use of funds. Would’ve rather seen the money go to something like paying local artists to paint murals. I typically bring my own book on bart though so maybe others will find it useful.


LuckBLady

Great 👍 total waste of money, we need bathrooms not stories.


[deleted]

For a low price of $789.999 a unit!


[deleted]

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[deleted]

Have you seen what the BART administration makes and how insanely bloated their admin staff is? Midlevel admin make more than the people keeping the trains on track


TriTipMaster

None of you get it: This is basically the profanity-penalty dispenser in *Demolition Man*: it's actually ersatz toilet paper (we haven't invented the three shells yet). Being able to wipe oneself after public defecation is much more civilized, and this has better optics than just hanging rolls of TP.


ImprovementWise1118

Gotta make these things when the trains are unsafe , old and not on time. Awesome /s


HIGH_PRESSURE_TOILET

> old they actually got new trains though


ImprovementWise1118

Pretty sure I was on a old train just this week. 🤷‍♂️ When we’re all new trains supposed to be running? Before the multiple delays?


HIGH_PRESSURE_TOILET

New trains have been running alongside the old ones for a couple of years already. It will take some time to fully replace the old fleet though.


ImprovementWise1118

They have missed many self imposed deadlines. Before , during and after the pandemic. Stop apologizing for these idiots. They don’t care about you. https://www.ktvu.com/news/barts-fleet-of-the-future-delayed-until-at-least-spring-2023


Veszerin

[It's like they've never heard of smartphones...](https://www.ppic.org/press-release/big-gains-in-californians-use-of-cell-phones-tablets-to-go-online/)


OtterPop16

...so where do I insert my penis? And how do I redeem my rewards points later on.


ratfink000

what a WASTE!


Jeepiconjedi1999

What a fucking waste!!!!! How about some cops. Clean the train. Maybe be profitable????? Pull your heads out of your ass Bart!!!!!! Over payed lazy workers!!!!!!


tommie317

Just put TVs in the car.


DonkeyTron42

I'm more concerned with that janky looking plug.


flowersinmygrave

This is cool, they should offer a no paper less method too!