BART continues to face issues as push for regional transportation funding measure underway

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- BART General Manager Bob Powers was hopeful at last week's BART board of directors meeting.

"2026 is going to be our year," Powers said.

But that hope was short-lived for some BART riders on Wednesday after the yellow line service between Concord and Orinda was out. It happened just before 5 a.m.

BART officials say a power loss issue involving the third rail between the impacted stations led to the outage. Service was restored around 6:40 a.m., leaving passengers scrambling.

The transit agency wouldn't comment on camera, telling ABC7 News "service resumed before the peak commute."

RELATED: BART power issues cause major delays, frustrations after yet another disruption

The timing of BART's problems could be instrumental in a push for the SF Bay Area Regional Transit Funding Measure.

Jeff Cretan is spokesperson for Connect Bay Area, which launched in October to place a regional transportation funding measure on the November 2026 ballot.

The measure would bring a five-county sales tax to the ballot to support public transit in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

"Right now, our public transit agencies are facing a fiscal cliff," Cretan said.

Without it, BART could shut down two of its five lines, reducing service from 4,500 trains per week to just 500, with trains running only hourly and no weekend service.

MORE: Gov. Newsom approves $750M loan for Bay Area public transit

"It would basically become a much less reliable service for people who need it every day to get around, people who don't have cars," Cretan said.

Caltrain, Muni and AC Transit would also face reductions without new and sustainable operations funding.

"This would be devastating for public transit in the Bay Area," Cretan said.

Cretan said it's not too late to make 2026 the year for Bay Area public transportation.

"People in the Bay Area love public transit," he said.

Connect Bay Area is planning to release some fundraising news Thursday. Cretan said a recent poll of likely November 2026 voters showed strong majority support for the measure.

Here's a look at ABC7's past BART coverage.