How to Get a Seat on BART

After a recent experience, I realized there might be a lot of people who have never had to ask for a seat on public transit before. Here’s a step by step guide for those of you who have never been disabled, elderly, or pregnant and might be curious as to what commuting seat-askers go through 1–2 times a day.

This advice is based on my personal experiences using public transit everyday as a now-obviously pregnant woman. During my first pregnancy I fainted a couple times, standing on crowded BART trains on my commute home. It was during my first trimester: I hadn’t even told anyone I knew I was pregnant yet and I didn’t LOOK pregnant, so I was extremely uncomfortable demanding seats of strangers despite needing one very much. After the second fainting spell I started adjusting my commute to make sure I got a seat.

My intention with this guide is educational. I truly get annoyed at the “I wish they would just ask” attitude, as it puts the onus on those who need the seat to get it, and strikes me as lightly victim-blamey. Try to have more empathy for your fellow transit-riders and stay alert, especially if you are in one of the priority seats.

*- “Don’t Give a Fuck” I generally define these as sleeping transients or someone with dead eyes who looks like they might snap you in half if you talk to them.

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