Traffic & Transit

Major BART Change Expected To Impact Wait Times

Ten-car trains are being added to the Red Line and Yellow Line during peak periods.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — On Monday, BART began incorporating 10-car trains into its regular service for the first time in more than six years.

The 10-car trains are being added to the Red Line and Yellow Line during peak periods. Some of the Green Line and Blue Line's busiest morning and afternoon trains will also increase from six to eight cars.

Ridership rose by almost 19% in June when compared to the previous year, ending BART's 2025-2026 fiscal year on a high. The transit agency's top five highest ridership days since the pandemic were all in June 2026.

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"Pride and the World Cup were two factors in our ridership increase, but they were far from alone," said Chris Filippi, a BART spokesperson. "I would even say not necessarily the largest drivers of our June increase. We saw big gains when it came to a variety of public events. That includes the Giants, Valkyries, concerts, many of them happening on the same night."

Filippi said that the data indicates increased ridership at morning and afternoon peak commute times, so BART is targeting those times with longer trains to accommodate people going to and from work.

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"A lot of our ridership increase is actually driven by changes in remote work and hybrid schedules," Filippi said.

In addition to the 10-car trains, there will be several BART service changes beginning Aug. 10 intended to reduce wait times and crowding. BART encourages riders to check their website for the new schedules at bart.gov/schedules/pdfs.

Other transit agencies have also experienced record ridership recently. Caltrain said Monday that its monthly ridership surpassed 1 million in March 2026, the earliest that goal has been met since electrification. They continued breaking that record every subsequent month through June.

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