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BART riders frustrated following Fridays 7-hour shutdown
The outage, caused by a computer problem, is just the latest in a series of problems impacting BART service over the past several months.
OAKLAND, Calif. - BART trains did not run for nearly seven hours on Friday morning because of a computer problem, the latest blow to an agency beleaguered by aging equipment.
Trains never even made it out of the gate at 5 a.m., the agency said, and limited service resumed about 9:30 a.m. Full BART service was restored just before noon.
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Computer problems plague BART again; service restored after 7 hours
BART trains did not run for nearly seven hours on Friday morning because of a computer problem, the latest blow to an agency beleaguered by aging equipment.
Computer equipment problem
In an interview, BART spokesman Chris Filippi said "essentially what we're dealing with is a computer equipment problem that follows some netowrk upgrade work that happened overnight."
Fillipi said that BART takes "a lot of pride in being on time and providing reliable service, that is clearly not the case today. It's very frustrating and we all take it very personally, because we know this is disruptive to thousands of people."
Stranded BART passengers at the Daly City station after service didn't start because of a computer problem. Sept. 5, 2025
The agency advised that commuters seek another mode of transportation.
At every station, BART trains sat in the dark, no riders were on the platform. And by 6 a.m., traffic started to get heavy approaching the Bay Bridge toll plaza.
What commuters say
Here's what traffic looks like approaching the Bay Bridge toll plaza since no BART trains are running. Sept. 5, 2025
As commuters started to show up, they began to hail Ubers and hop on buses to get to their destinations.
Elijah Jacobs of Millbrae was frustrated, as he showed up to the Daly City BART station to drop his son off at school.
"It's going to take too long now because I have to go to work," he said, "so now I have to drop him off at Grandma's, and he's going to miss a day at school."
Sam Juarez was headed to San Francisco International Airport and took the news in stride.
"As long as I have a trip to the airport and I'm not missing my flight, it's whatever, things happen, it's OK," Juarez said.
Gino Graziani of San Mateo said that BART issues seem "like a common occurrence."
"You get on BART, there might be a problem, there might not be," he said. "You just gotta' roll with the punches and deal with it as a comes."
Commuters in Daly City has to take a bus instead of BART because of a computer problem. Sept. 5, 2025
4th BART outage in 4 months
This is the fourth major BART outage in less than four months.
In May, BART's control center also went down, causing a stoppage for four hours.
The news crippled the system and was such a big deal that even the New York Times sent a breaking news alert about the stoppage.
That month also saw the red line canceled because of a fire in San Leandro from cable problems.
And the most recent issue was on Aug. 29, when there was an outage in the Transbay Tube because of an equipment problem.
According to BART data, about 170,000 people ride BART trains on a typical Friday.
State senator weighs in
"We've seen a few of these BART meltdowns in the last few months, and it's not okay. It's going to happen from time to time. It's happening in my view too much. And I know BART is taking it seriously in terms of figuring out what they need to do to upgrade the system so it stops happening," said Democratic State Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco.
Wiener says days like this underscore the essential role systems like BART play in day-to-day life.
"That's why we're fighting so hard to prevent service cuts by getting more funding into these systems to stabilize them."