Shortstory dispensers give BART riders a quick read
BART has installed shortstorydispensing kiosks at a handful of its stations meant to give riders a little literature to dig into as they wait for or ride a train.
The dispensers print out stories estimated to take one, three or five minutes to read — and they’re printed on recyclable receipt paper, according to BART. The receipts, even for a fiveminute story, are noticeably shorter than a typical CVS receipt.
The free stories and dispensers are part of the flash fiction or microfiction scene, in which authors write bitesize literary nuggets sometimes shorter than this sentence.
The dispensers and short stories are available inside the paid areas at the Fruitvale, Richmond and Pleasant Hill stations with one at Montgomery Station coming soon.
The introduction of the dispensers was timed to coincide with National Reading Month, which concludes next week.
But there’s plenty of time to get to a BART station and read a free short story since the program will last for at least a year. To try some free microfiction, riders pass through the fare gates, find the dispensers and hover their fingertips over the button offering the desiredlength story they hope to read. The machine spits out the story for the readers to take on their rides.
Some of the works come from noted authors like D.H. Lawrence or William Blake while others are winners of competitions. Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman, said the works will include Bay Area authors,
and contests are likely to be held to choose more local offerings. All authors are paid for their work, she said.
BART paid $40,000 to Short Edition, a French company that operates as a publisher using the kiosks instead of a press or online platform. The money, from the transit system’s arts program, paid for the four kiosks, miles and miles of receipt paper and the publisher’s library of content. The purchase was made before the pandemic, Trost said, but the rollout was delayed while BART focused on keeping its trains running.
The transit system announced the arrival of the veryshortstory kiosks in a series of tweets Thursday morning. Trost said that hundreds of people have used the kiosks since they were plugged in on Wednesday.
The response on Twitter was swift — and mostly snarky. While some folks called the initiative “brilliant,” “amazing” or “really cool,” many predictably called out BART for spending money on short stories instead of cleaner trains, public safety, wheels that don’t screech and shorter waits for trains.
Jennifer Easton, BART’s art program manager, said the shortstory printers are appropriate for the bookloving Bay Area and that riders will appreciate the gift of a short story.
Trost defended the program as a reward for riders who’ve stuck with BART through the pandemic and those who are coming back as the economy recovers and the Bay Area continues reopening.
“We could have canceled the whole thing,” she said, “but we saw it as an as opportunity that can bring some joy as we bring riders back, that can show riders a new side of BART, something playful and fun.”