Hacker News Reader

Comment by bobo13579 | Hacker News Reader

The average pay for a Bay Area worker is $65K. That worker is a professional with a college degree. Why does unskilled transit work deserve so much pay?

View on HN

Are we confusing a college degree with skill?

I can't speak to what all of BART's employees do - but electricians, mechanics, machinists, etc, all do not require a college degree, but are all very much skilled work. Hell, as a bit of a transit nut I also know that driving a train is way more complicated than pushing the throttle up.

Again, what does a college degree have to do with anything?

*>"Why does unskilled transit work deserve so much pay?"

You can certainly argue about the overall cost and efficiency of the system and specific rates, but it's pretty silly to suggest that a 104 mile rail system which moves 370,000 passengers per day is entirely operated and maintained by "unskilled" workers.

They provide a great service to people like you and I who use their transport, washrooms etc. If they were not paid well they would not do their jobs and the BART system would be in disarray. They deserve pay increases just like everyone else.

Clearly you have never used a BART washroom, my friend. Though, the confusion is understandable, since BART stations tend to smell like washrooms outside the washrooms too.

Tell me more about what a good job BART employees do.

BART has public washrooms? I thought they were all closed to the public. (I've only been in a handful of stations, and don't usually check out the washrooms, but I believe the montgomery street one has a sign on the door to that effect.)

I was under the impression that many of them were closed after 9-11. I was told by a BART employee that that is why the Berkeley BART bathroom has been closed for years.

There's an open one in Rockridge BART at least. Now that I think of it, that's the only station I've been in that has a bathroom.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com