BART Issues Rare Public Apology Following Service Meltdowns

The BART Board of Directors issued a public apology Thursday 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 Aug. 29, 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. According to manager of operations Shane Edwards, a second train, traveling from San Francisco to Antioch,