Shorter trains make BART more crowded

BART trains and station platforms in downtown San Francisco in recent days have looked like they did during pre-pandemic peak morning and afternoon commute hours: packed to the brim as people stand shoulderto-shoulder with no empty seats in sight, grasping hand straps and poles as they scroll their phones.

Those crowded trains, though, have less to do with a sudden spike in BART ridership than the fact that the regional rail agency is still grappling with the residual impacts from the recent storms that pummeled the Bay Area with rain.

For weeks, BART has been running shorter trains — eight cars instead of 10 — as mechanics work to repair flat spots on train wheels that developed on 101 cars because of slippery rail tracks. Several canceled trains have also compounded the issue, leading to overly crowded trains during rush-hour commutes.

The shorter trains during peak commute hours have irritated BART riders who’ve also experienced a slew of cancellations in recent weeks, leading some to ask BART on Twitter why there’s service impacts weeks after the storms subsided.

As of last week, the agency said it remained 40 cars short of the 636 train cars needed for regular weekday service with 10car trains. It takes BART mechanics up to 20 hours to reshape the wheels on each car to recirculate them back into service, according to the agency.

It’s unclear when the issue will get fully resolved, though Shane Edwards, BART’s assistant general manager of operations, said BART is gradually adding more 10-car trains during peak travel times as cars get repaired.

BART officials acknowledged riders’ frustrations at Thursday’s Board of Directors meeting, and said the shorter trains coupled with cancellations have created a recipe for jam-packed trains, even as BART ridership remains about 60% below 2019 levels.

BART ridership has remained mostly flat since late summer, at about 40% of pre-pandemic levels, and was 7% below the agency’s projections through December. The unrelenting storms also led to a dip in BART ridership during the first two weeks of new year.