BART riders faced a frustrating commute on Friday as vandalism-related service issues caused trains to be grounded between the East and South Bay. The disruptions, which began around 7 am, left thousands of passengers stranded at various stations across the affected area.
"I'm originally from New York, so with the systems here, at this point now, they have to have a protocol in case that happens," said Pittsburg resident Richard Dawkins, who was trying to get to work. "It's a problem."
The trouble started when fare gates at the South Hayward station were found down, and a sign informed passengers about the service disruption. The cause of the issue was later revealed to be vandalism to equipment in the trackway.
BART spokesperson Chris Filippi explained that the damage was not related to a networking issue but rather an act of malicious vandalism aimed at disrupting the entire system. "There's no indication at this point that it is a networking issue... All indications are that there was damage that was done to wayside equipment," he said.
Filippi emphasized that the outage would not have been possible if the damaged equipment had not been in use, and BART crews were working diligently to make repairs. However, the process proved complicated due to the complexity of the system.
The incident has raised concerns among commuters about the reliability of BART's systems. "We need this system to be a little bit more reliable," said Oakland resident Christopher Ney. "I feel like over time it's getting worse and worse."
This is not the first time that BART has faced issues with equipment failure or technical glitches, but Filippi assured that Friday's outage was distinct from previous incidents.
BART police are investigating the suspected vandalism, and Filippi stressed that they would do everything in their power to prevent similar incidents in the future.
"I'm originally from New York, so with the systems here, at this point now, they have to have a protocol in case that happens," said Pittsburg resident Richard Dawkins, who was trying to get to work. "It's a problem."
The trouble started when fare gates at the South Hayward station were found down, and a sign informed passengers about the service disruption. The cause of the issue was later revealed to be vandalism to equipment in the trackway.
BART spokesperson Chris Filippi explained that the damage was not related to a networking issue but rather an act of malicious vandalism aimed at disrupting the entire system. "There's no indication at this point that it is a networking issue... All indications are that there was damage that was done to wayside equipment," he said.
Filippi emphasized that the outage would not have been possible if the damaged equipment had not been in use, and BART crews were working diligently to make repairs. However, the process proved complicated due to the complexity of the system.
The incident has raised concerns among commuters about the reliability of BART's systems. "We need this system to be a little bit more reliable," said Oakland resident Christopher Ney. "I feel like over time it's getting worse and worse."
This is not the first time that BART has faced issues with equipment failure or technical glitches, but Filippi assured that Friday's outage was distinct from previous incidents.
BART police are investigating the suspected vandalism, and Filippi stressed that they would do everything in their power to prevent similar incidents in the future.
. Like, I get that equipment failures can be frustrating, but intentional vandalism? That's just sad 
. I mean, who vandalizes a train system? It's like they're trying to mess with people's lives, you know? 
It's just common sense, you know?
I mean, I've had issues with my phone, my laptop, even just a simple toaster... but you don't see me trying to hack into the internet to cause chaos 
. Come on, BART! Get your act together, man!
, can you even imagine having to deal with that? And now I'm gonna have to spend even more time trying to plan my route and schedule around all this, it's just so frustrating 
.
! Can't they just get their act together?! 
The layout is all wrong for a system this complex, it's like they're expecting people to magically know where everything is 
. I mean, I get it, accidents happen, but this is getting ridiculous 
. It's not like they're asking for perfection, just a reliable system that can handle the demands of thousands of commuters 
. Like, what's the point of even having a protocol for these situations if it's just going to get ignored? And now commuters are worried about the reliability of the system - I'm right there with you, Chris 
. It's not like this is the first time we've had issues, but it feels like every time something goes wrong, it's always someone else's fault 
Shouldn't we be looking into why this keeps happening instead of just throwing more money at repairs?
. Anyways, here's a simple flowchart of how this whole thing went down:
. I'm glad they're looking into preventing these incidents, but it would be awesome if we could figure out a more reliable system 
. I've seen this happen before and it always seems like a domino effect... one thing breaks, then another, then another... it's like they need to go back to basics 
. Anyway, fingers crossed that BART gets their act together and fixes these issues ASAP 
. i'm so over the excuses about it being vandalism vs networking issue... just fix the problem already 
. Like we need a reliable system not this drama all the time! 
They gotta step up their game and fix these issues ASAP 
. It's not that hard, BART! 
. anywayz, glad dey're lookin into it & tryna prevent dis from happenin again 
. But seriously, thousands of people stuck at stations for hours? That's just not okay. The system just can't seem to get its act together 
. Fingers crossed they can figure out what went wrong and fix it for good 
.