San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system suffered a systemwide outage early Friday, halting all train service and stranding thousands of commuters during the critical morning rush hour. The shutdown was triggered by a "computer networking problem," according to BART officials, and comes amid ongoing concerns about aging infrastructure across U.S. transportation networks.
At approximately 4:25 a.m. local time, BART posted on social media: "Due to a train control system problem BART service is suspended system wide until further notice. Seek alternate means of transportation." The collapse of the 131-mile system paralyzed mobility throughout the Bay Area, with no estimated time of restoration by midday.
BART spokesperson Alicia Trost said crews are troubleshooting a "computer networking problem". She explained that the system failed to power up following routine overnight shutdown procedures. "It does happen from time to time, our system is over 50 years old," Trost said. "We don't have an ETA as to when the trains will go because part of that is identifying the location of the problem."
The outage forced commuters to flood already congested roads and seek limited bus alternatives. Gridlock was reported on both the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges. "Now I have to take the bus, and I never take the bus," said commuter Patrick Dunn. "I'll be late by an half hour or so."
David Meland told the San Francisco Chronicle that he waited an hour to see if service would resume. "It's happened a lot. BART's just too inconsistent. This is pretty bad."
Officials said all system servers had been restarted as technicians worked to isolate the fault. The outage was not immediately believed to be caused by a cyberattack.
BART, which carries more than 174,000 daily riders, is currently undergoing a modernization effort funded through Measure RR and federal infrastructure grants. "The good news is we're in the process of replacing it," Trost said. "But it's awful news that the Bay Area can't rely on BART as of this moment."
