BART apologizes to rider for recent service stoppages

The BART Board of Directors issued a public apology yesterday after two recent major service disruptions that left one of the Bay Area's most expansive transit agencies paralyzed and stranded hundreds of thousands of riders across the region.

During the regular board meeting, BART staff broke down the mechanical and human errors that led to the suspension of service in the last two weeks and how the agency could learn from both cases while investigations continue. 

On August 29th, a train traveling from San Francisco to Dublin stopped inside the Transbay Tube after an insulator between the track and electric third rail caused smoke just before the train arrived at the West Oakland station. 

A second train, traveling from San Francisco to Antioch, stopped just after leaving the Embarcadero station. This resulted in two trains with passengers remaining inside the tunnel.

Last Friday, an overnight computer upgrade project meant to phase out outdated equipment led to an unexpected network malfunction across the system.

The service disruptions tarnished a positive trajectory for BART. The transit agency had seen a record-low number of disruptions in June, as compared to the start of the year.