When it comes to innovation in the Bay Area most people wouldn’t think of BART, but the transit agency has launched a new, innovative partnership with a company called Short Edition.

Through this company, BART commuters have access to free stories that can be read by commuters during their ride. These one, three, and five minute stories are a great way for commuters to pass time and read flash fiction by various local authors.

Murillo Oliveira ’22, a regular BART commuter said,“I think these stories are very creative and are a good way to pass time, waiting for my train.”

Not everyone is one 100 percent sold on the short story idea. Brian Kosewic ’16, an English teacher and a flash fiction skeptic said, “I do think Flash Fiction is an important medium for people with limited time and chaotic lives. Also, the people who design the software we interact with every day on our phones and wearable devices are profiting handsomely off of shortening our attention spans and whittling away our minds’ abilities to focus.”

Kosewic followed up his statement by claiming, “Presenting short fiction in an easily consumable and portable format could be an interesting intervention in this process. The stories being printed at BART are easy to read, but they could function as a literary gateway ‘drug’ to make people more inclined to pick up a short story collection or an actual novel.”