garrison beau scott

There’s something cool about an airport. The world at your feet, the people coming and going. That being said, a train platform, even if it’s only a commuter rail like this one at an Oakland B.A.R.T. station is just as cool, if not more so for a few different reasons.

At the airport, for the most part, you get on a plane with everyone else, arrive at your destination with everyone else, and that’s that. Return your seat to the upright position. Unless you’re trying to make a connecting flight, and there’s not a lot of fun involved with that endeavor.

On a train, people come and go, it’s a much more organic flow of travel. Departures and arrivals happening simultaneously, you witness them, and become part of it. On a train, you can get up, change your seat, change your point of view and those who you share it with. On a train you can get off, have a look around and get back on. On a train you don’t have to take your shoes off to get on.

Growing up in Southern California, public transportation was always something people without a car used. I know how that sounds, but the system is flawed and nothing sucks more than waiting for a bus. When I got to San Francisco and discovered B.A.R.T., my whole perspective on mass transit changed. I had experience with NYC’s system during my greyhound trips and had pined for that kind of service ever since.

Traveling on B.A.R.T. though quickly became something other than a means of getting from point A to point B. There were days where I’d travel the train to get to new places just so that I could photograph them, and soon enough I realized I didn’t even need to leave the station to find interesting imagery.