Turns out there's a reason the BART escalators are so crappy
people are crapping in them. Seriesly.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Human-waste-shuts-down-BART-escalators-3735981.php
While the sheer volume of human waste was surprising, its presence was not. Once the stations close, the bottom of BART station stairwells in downtown San Francisco are often a prime location for homeless people to camp for the night or find a private place to relieve themselves.
All those biological excretions can gum up the wheels and gears of BART's escalators, shutting them down for long periods of extended repairs, increasing station cleaning costs and creating an unpleasant aroma for morning commuters....
"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," Jenkins said. "Certain crimes you don't see, you can't enforce."
So when a San Franciscan tells you her commute stinks, she's not just yanking your chain.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I've always wondered who was the optimist who decided to place the escalators outside in the first place. UN Plaza is pretty much a campground after dark, too.
There was a reporter for channel 2 on the scene this morning, I may have been caught on camera sleepwalking down the stairs
I mean sure there's a part of me that wishes I could micturate down the Wheaton escalator, the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere, because who doesn't want to watch a stream of their pee that hasn't yet hit the bottom by the time they're done peeing, just a translucent yellow fluid arcing through space. 
But I can't because the escalator-pit is behind the locked gate...and I'm glad because even as Metro deprives me of some great fun, it also keeps my station clean and nice.
