Parking Nightmare at BART

Since my wife was in an out-of-town conference the last few days, I had the task of taking my son to school. Well, it shouldn't be a big deal, right? But if you're commuting by BART, especially from the beginning of the line (like Fremont), then you'd know that IT IS probably a big deal.

What made my situation a little more complicated was the fact that I couldn't drop off my son at school no earlier than 7:30am. School policy. Although it only takes about 10-12 minutes to get to BART from there, those precious minutes equate to, easily, over 100 cars filling up BART's parking lot.

On these drop-off runs, I normally purchase single-day permits, which allows me to park at the Reserve Parking Lot right in front of the terminal. I was able to do so in the first couple of days, but not yesterday. Big mistake. The night before, I realized I had not purchased the permit, so I tried. I already had a bad feeling things wouldn't turn out right. I was right. No spots were available at the Fremont station. No permit.

Numerous scenarios played in my mind. If the past 2 days were any indication of how this Wednesday  morning would turn out, then I knew I wouldn't be able to find a parking spot. Immediately, my thoughts processed various options -- to park at one of the open lots at the commercial complex across BART, or to proceed to one of the residential streets and park there. I even toyed with the idea of taking my chances at the next closest BART station -- Union City. But I knew I wouldn't be lucky.

After  leaving the Fremont station and rounding the block, I decided on option #1 and parked at the lot of 24 Hour Fitness (at a complex across BART). It was quite a walk but beggars can't be choosers. In all these years that I have ridden BART, I have not parked anywhere outside any of its premises. This made me a little bit anxious, to say the least. But, what can I do. Just hoped for the best.

As I got off the train at the end of the day, my anxiety crept back. I wanted to get to my car as quickly as I could. I wanted to see what fate lied ahead. I couldn't be bogged down by any mishap, like a flat tire, a smashed window, or even a missing car, because I still had to rush and pick up my son from school before 6:00pm. It was 5:25pm.

There was a sigh of relief when I spotted the car where I left it. Erase Scare #3. As I circled it, I grinned. Almost ecstatic. No flat tire. No smashed windows. All good. Then, I was off to get my son.