Computer problems plague BART again; service restored after 7 hours

The Brief

• BART service was suspended for seven hours due to a computer equipment malfunction.

• This incident marks the fourth major disruption to BART service since May.

• The service interruption forced commuters to seek alternative transportation options.

OAKLAND, Calif. – A computer problem grounded BART trains for nearly seven hours Friday morning, dealing another blow to an agency struggling with aging infrastructure.

The disruption began before the start of service at 5 a.m., and limited service didn’t resume until approximately 9:30 a.m. Full service was restored just before noon.

Computer equipment problem 

BART spokesman Chris Filippi stated that the issue stemmed from “a computer equipment problem that follows some network upgrade work that happened overnight.”

Fillipi acknowledged the frustration, saying BART takes “a lot of pride in being on time and providing reliable service, that is clearly not the case today. It’s very frustrating and we all take it very personally, because we know this is disruptive to thousands of people.”

The agency advised commuters to find alternative means of transport.

Stations were empty, with trains sitting idle. Traffic began to increase significantly near the Bay Bridge toll plaza by 6 a.m.

What commuters say 

Commuters resorted to ride-sharing services and buses to reach their destinations.

Elijah Jacobs of Millbrae, who was trying to drop his son off at school at the Daly City BART station, expressed his frustration.

“It’s going to take too long now because I have to go to work,” he said, “so now I have to drop him off at Grandma’s, and he’s going to miss a day at school.”

Sam Juarez, headed to San Francisco International Airport, took the disruption in stride.

“As long as I have a trip to the airport and I’m not missing my flight, it’s whatever, things happen, it’s OK,” Juarez said.

Gino Graziani of San Mateo described BART issues as “like a common occurrence.”

“You get on BART, there might be a problem, there might not be,” he said. “You just gotta’ roll with the punches and deal with it as a comes.”

4th BART outage in 4 months

This is the fourth significant disruption to BART service in the past four months.

In May, a control center failure resulted in a four-hour system-wide shutdown. 

The severity of that outage prompted New York Times to issue a breaking news alert.

Also in May, the red line was halted due to a cable fire in San Leandro.

Most recently, on Aug. 29, an equipment malfunction disrupted service in the Transbay Tube.

BART data indicates that approximately 170,000 passengers use BART trains on a typical Friday.

State senator weighs in

“The frequency of these BART meltdowns in recent months is unacceptable. While occasional disruptions are inevitable, they are happening too often. BART needs to take serious action to upgrade the system and prevent these incidents,” stated Democratic State Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco.

Wiener emphasized the vital role of BART and similar systems in daily life.

“That’s why we’re fighting so hard to prevent service cuts by getting more funding into these systems to stabilize them.”