Breaking news-major Bart delays this morning systemwide. I am live at the millbrae Bart station @kron4news pic.twitter.com/WtLEDG52sL
— Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) May 30, 2017
It's hard enough to force oneself back to work after a long weekend, but multiple BART issues turned today's typical holiday slog into a delayed mess that likely forced some commuters to question why they got out of bed at all.
It all began at around 6:45 a.m., when a Richmond-bound BART train apparently gave up on life at the East Bay mouth of the Transbay Tunnel, "blocking trains from going into or out of San Francisco" Bay City News reports.
The train gave up the ghost at "an interlocking area called the 'Y' just outside of the Transbay Tube near the West Oakland station. The switch would not respond to remote commands so it had to be manually switched," CBS 5 reports.
Now tempers starting to flare. Hour stuck on a train. A few verbal arguments can be heard among passengers. How's your day going? @CBSSF pic.twitter.com/TTOyJUIpmu
— Ryan Quintana (@Ryan_Quintana) May 30, 2017
By 7:30, another train had been called out to push the disabled train back to the 12th Street Station, where its 60 passengers were evacuated to another train, KRON 4 reports. As you might imagine, some riders took to Twitter to express their wrath.
@SFBART How about paying me for being late to work and having to use my PTO to cover it. We payhow much for this crap!!
— Mimi (@mimimorrow1030) May 30, 2017
@SFBART Are you going to pay for time I missed at work
— Mike Williams (@Thegoonies510) May 30, 2017
@SFBART What do you want? A pat on the back? Get ALL the trains running. Refund our money.
— Michael Barnett (@m3arnett) May 30, 2017
CBS 5 reports that "BART crews were inspecting the area where the train broke down to make sure no equipment was damaged. The stalled train will also be inspected once it is taken to a maintenance yard to try to find out the cause of the problem."
Trains were then able to single-track through the area, the Chron reports, but delays persisted.
"We do have delays right now because trains are moving at a slower speed and we have a backup of train traffic" BART spokesperson Jim Allison told the Chron.
In addition, reports the Chron, service elsewhere was slowed by "switching problems on various trains in the West Oakland area and several medical emergencies on different trains." All in all, a fantastic way to start the week.