Full service resumed on BART on Friday, but riders faced “major delays” hours after a computer networking problem forced the complete shutdown of the system.
All stations were open and trains were running on all lines around 9:20 a.m., an agency spokesperson said. But there were delays of 20 minutes.
BART blamed the disruption on an issue with its train-control system and computer networking problems.
“Earlier this morning, BART was unable to properly power up our train control system which prevented us from safely operating trains,” said Filippi.
Muni and AC Transit were providing mutual aid for stranded passengers. Muni said later that it was not experiencing any “major impacts” on its service and that it was running extra buses and an extra train. Larger boats would be running on the San Francisco Bay Ferry’s routes to accommodate extra riders as well.
At the Powell Street station, travelers toted rolling suitcases, backpacks, and neck pillows as they waited at the gates.
“I was going to ride BART to go to the airport,” said Darick, who was visiting from Mexico. He and a friend planned to use Uber to get to SFO instead.
Ron Rodriguez was trying to use BART to get to his job with Hertz in San Bruno.
“I came here to go to work, found a bunch of people standing around, all the gates were closed,” said Rodriguez.
Commuters trying to reach San Francisco from Berkeley, Oakland and other parts of the East Bay crowded into AC Transit buses that were headed to the downtown Salesforce Transit Center. Would-be riders in West Oakland were prevented from boarding one bus that had passengers jockeying for limited space in the aisle.
“We apologize for the disruptive morning and not having train service to get people where they need to go,” BART General Manager Bob Powers said in a statement Friday expressing resolve toward improvement and gratitude to partnering transit agencies. “Reliability is our brand, and we understand the impact when the system isn’t working. This came down to the fact our control room did not have visibility of our system, and we will not run service if we can’t guarantee safety.”
Noah Baustin contributed reporting.