In an effort to ease crowding on trains and help the system run more efficiently, BART is implementing longer trains during peak times on some lines, streamlining the schedule to reduce transfer wait times, and addressing bottlenecking at Daly City.

Starting July 20, BART will begin running longer trains during peak commute hours, with the expanded train lengths carrying over when the agency's new schedule takes effect August 10, according to a news release. The biggest capacity increases will come on the Red Line serving Richmond, Millbrae, and SFO, along with select Yellow Line trains to Antioch, while some shorter trains will run during off-peak hours and on the Orange Line.

Richmond-bound Red and Yellow line trains leaving San Francisco will arrive at more consistent intervals, giving East Bay riders a more predictable choice between a direct Red Line train or transferring to the Orange Line at 19th Street/Oakland. Blue and Green line service toward Dublin/Pleasanton and Berryessa will also be spaced more evenly, reducing long waits and crowding on platforms and trains.

Several transfers will also get significantly faster. Riders traveling between the Blue and Orange lines at Bay Fair will have a new cross-platform transfer for trips between Dublin/Pleasanton and Berryessa, while Yellow Line riders from Antioch headed to Berkeley, El Cerrito, or Richmond will see transfer waits at MacArthur cut from 17 minutes to about four.

Better-timed Yellow and Orange line connections in Oakland are also expected to improve transfers to the eBART service in Pittsburg, while Red and Yellow line trains at SFO will be staggered to reduce confusion over which East Bay-bound train departs first.

BART's overhaul also includes a new operating pattern at Daly City Station, which will switch to a center-platform layout with all San Francisco-bound trains departing from the same platform. BART says the change eliminates a longstanding bottleneck that has caused delays to ripple across the system. Riders continuing from Daly City to SFO or Millbrae will be encouraged to transfer at Balboa Park for an easier same-platform connection.

Additionally, some departure and arrival times at Millbrae will shift to better align with Caltrain schedules as part of the Bay Area's “Big Sync” initiative, in which local transit agencies coordinate major schedule changes twice a year to improve regional transfers.

Related: $590M In State Loan Funds Come Through For Struggling BART and Muni Systems

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