Frustrated commuters struggle to board crowded BART trains after power issue causes delays

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- An equipment problem in San Francisco forced several BART lines to shut down Monday morning, causing a transit nightmare that's become all too familiar for riders.

BART is back up and running, but it caused headaches for commuters and delays can be expected on all lines Monday.

It's the latest incident that has crippled the morning commute for riders over the past few weeks and months.

"I'd like to get to work on time, but it's not happening," Chelsea from Berkeley said.

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At peak commute times Monday, the transit agency had to restrict transbay travel. Though service was restored around 9 a.m., passengers said they are fed up.

"It's not reliable," Bill Alexander of Berkeley said.

Since the spring, BART has had multiple issues that have caused other major delays.

From systemwide outages due to computer issues, and an electrical fire and vandalism, the reasons for the delays may vary, but the impact to riders is the same.

Chelsea says her commute has been impacted before by BART delays.

"Like pretty much every time, when there was a fire at Civic Center, I was stuck in the tunnel for a while, ended up late to work that day. So it's not that long ago. I wish it wasn't repetitively happening," she said.

Even once a train came that could take some of these travelers to their destination, they found that boarding it was extremely difficult.

ABC7 News followed as Chelsea tried to find space on a train that was more packed than normal, with riders funneling onto the line that was running at the time. These were train cars that other riders wanted to avoid, even if it meant a longer delay.

"Overly packed. You can't, I'm a kind of big guy, so when you get a step in, there's no room. So I just rather wait for another train," Alexander said.

Even though Alexander said his employer has been understanding, he has a call to action to BART officials.

"Just get it together, do something," he said. "I mean, you're raising prices, but service is going down, you know, make that make sense."

2025 BART ISSUES

This disruption adds to a long list of others going back months.

On November 25, an electrical fire on one of the tracks at the Civic Center BART station caused delays on the San Francisco line.

The day before, on November 24, an East Bay equipment problem shut down the Red and Green lines.

Days earlier on November 21 vandalism was believed to be behind a disruption. BART says that it was not connected to other disruptions this year.

Other recent disruptions include October 20 and 27, when there were issues on the Transbay Tube.

On September 5, there was a computer-related issue that caused systemwide delays.

On August 29, riders were left stranded after the brakes overheated and smoke filled the Transbay Tube.

And on May 20, there was a fire on the tracks, shutting down the Green Line service for days.