Milestone is a Cause for Celebration at Operations Center
North Berkeley BART witnessed a milestone on Thursday when the 19:57 Richmond train arrived at the platform on time. The milestone marked the first 24 hour period since the BART Service Advisory Program was initiated that no alerts were necessary. “24 hours of on-time (defined as less than a 10 minute delay) and incident free operations, now that’s a cause for celebration!” according to the regional operations manager.
According to a BART spokesperson, a confluence of factors contributed to incident-free operations. “Limited ridership has been a real gamechanger. It allows us to use fewer and more modern trains, so the chance of a mechanical is way down.” In addition, on those pre-pandemic packed trains running the Transbay someone would inevitably pass out. I mean when did you not hear the announcement “medical emergency at Embarcadero?” These days the major issue is people blocking doors because the next train is 20 minutes out. “Thursday was a lucky stretch in that regard.” The spate of unusually dry days and warm temperatures also appears to have reduced “weather related” incidents.
BART Bob, a regular rider, was worried by the absence of any service advisories. “As a regular rider, I pay extra attention to those advisories. After a day without updates, I thought my email server was down, so I contacted my ISP.”
After a day without updates, I thought my email server was down, so I contacted my ISP.”
BART Bob
Back at the Operations Center there was cause for celebrations. The Regional Manager made a congratulatory speech to the agency’s employees over BART’s public address system. “24 hours without a Service Advisory; this is the stuff bonuses are made of, congratulations team.”
Shortly after the 19:57 departed North Berkeley station, a service alert was issued stating “There is a 10-minute delay on the Richmond Line in the Millbrae direction due to an equipment problem on a train.”