If you've set foot in Montgomery Station recently — or really any time in the last decade — you already know the vibe. It's the kind of place that makes you question every life choice that led you to depend on public transit in one of the richest cities on the planet.

We don't have a lot of details on what specifically prompted the latest round of frustration from riders, but honestly, does it matter? The list of grievances at Montgomery is a choose-your-own-adventure of urban dysfunction: broken escalators that stay broken for months, the unmistakable aroma of a station that hasn't seen a deep clean since the Obama administration, fare gates that work on a suggestions-only basis, and a general atmosphere that screams "we stopped trying."

As one SF resident put it with admirable brevity: "I hate these."

Same.

Here's what's maddening. BART's operating budget is north of $2.5 billion. The agency has received billions more in pandemic-era emergency funding from state and federal sources. Riders are paying fares — those who bother to, anyway — and taxpayers are backstopping the rest. And yet the product delivered at a flagship downtown station feels like something a transit system half the budget would be embarrassed by.

This isn't a funding problem. It's an accountability problem. BART has the resources. What it lacks is any meaningful consequence for delivering a subpar experience. Ridership is still well below pre-pandemic levels, and instead of winning people back with a clean, safe, reliable system, the agency seems content to limp along while lobbying Sacramento for its next bailout.

Montgomery Station sits in the heart of San Francisco's financial district. It should be a showcase. Instead, it's a daily reminder that when government agencies face no competition and no real oversight, the customer — that's you, the taxpayer and rider — comes last.

You deserve better. Start demanding it.