BART to offer longer trains, improvements and efficiencies, reducing delays and crowding

BART’s schedule will change on Aug. 10, with targeted improvements that will enhance reliability and reduce wait times for some riders, the agency announced Thursday.

By making a change in how trains travel through Daly City Station and operating it as a center platform station, service will be improved throughout the system with more even headways, better transfers, and less train congestion, BART said.  

With these improvements, some departure times will shift by a few minutes, and BART is encouraging riders to check the schedule before Aug.10 to see how trips are impacted.

Beginning Monday, July 20, BART will begin to run some longer trains on the Red, Yellow, Blue and Green lines during peak commute hours with some shorter trains running during non-peak hours and on the Orange Line. 

• For the Red Line, peak period trains will run as 10-car trains (currently 8-and 6-cars) with 5-car trains during non-peak (currently 6-cars).  
• For the Yellow Line, eight of the busiest morning trains and six of the busiest afternoon trains will be increased to 10-cars during the peak periods (currently 9-cars). 
• For the Green Line, two additional morning trains toward San Francisco will be 8-cars in length (currently four trains run as 8-cars and the rest are 6-cars).  
• For the Blue Line, one additional afternoon Blue Line train toward the East Bay will be 8-cars in length (currently four trains run as 8-cars and the rest are 6-cars). 
• For the Orange Line, four trains will run as 5-cars and the rest will remain 6-cars. 

These longer trains will carry over to the August 10 schedule change. 

Even spacing for Berkeley, El Cerrito, and Richmond-bound riders 

Trains will be more evenly spaced apart for Richmond-bound riders coming from San Francisco, which means wait times will be reduced and trains will have less crowding. Yellow Line and Red Line trains will be spaced 10 minutes apart instead of 5 and 15 minutes today. This gives riders the option to take a Yellow Line train and transfer at 19th Street/Oakland to a Richmond-bound Orange Line train or they can take the direct Red Line train. This will more evenly distribute riders in San Francisco and ease crowding. 

Better spacing for Dublin and Berryessa-bound riders 

Dublin- and Berryessa-bound riders will also have better spacing between Green and Blue line trains, from 3 and 17 minutes today to 8 and 12 minutes. This will reduce wait times on the platform and crowding on trains. Currently some riders are waiting 17 minutes in San Francisco between trains heading towards Bay Fair, leading to platform and train crowding. Now the wait time for these riders will be no more than 12 minutes. 

New and shorter transfers wait times 

Riders who transfer will experience improvements. 

Dublin to/from San Jose  

There will be a new cross-platform transfer at Bay Fair for Dublin (Blue Line) to Berryessa (Orange Line) riders and the reverse trip. This improves service for riders commuting from Dublin and the Altamont Pass to San Jose. Currently the transfer is 19 minutes, now the trains will pull up together. 

Antioch to/from Berkeley/El Cerrito/Richmond  

Riders coming from Antioch (Yellow Line) transferring toward Richmond (Orange or Red Line) will save 17 minutes with a new four-minute transfer at MacArthur from Platform 4 to Platform 1.   

BART to Antioch Transfer Platform 

Yellow Line riders who transfer to and from the BART to Antioch service will experience better connections at the transfer platform in Pittsburg. Currently, regular Antioch-bound Yellow Line BART trains are often slightly delayed because they hold for an Orange Line train at 19th Street/Oakland. This is causing compounding delays further up the Yellow Line at the BART to Antioch transfer platform for riders connecting to and from a DMU train. This schedule change will now have the Orange Line train coming in sooner to meet the Yellow Line train improving on time performance and thus improving the timed connection at the transfer platform.  

Reduced confusion at SFO Station     

Red and Yellow line trains coming in and out of SFO Station will now be better spaced apart, reducing confusion over which train to board and which train will leave first. Currently, a Yellow Line train towards the city and the East Bay arrives first to the platform but holds longer due to a change in train operators. While a Red Line train coming from Millbrae arrives at the platform and then departs before the Yellow Line train following a brief dwell time. This pattern is frustrating to riders who have boarded the Yellow Line train thinking it will leave first. This schedule change will reduce the frequency in which both the Yellow and Red line trains are at the platform for boarding at the same time. 

Changes at Daly City Station unlock benefits 

The improvements being rolled out in the schedule change are cost neutral. They are realized due to creative train movement efficiencies development by BART’s Operations Planning Department. By changing how trains come in and out of the Daly City Station, the entire BART network will become more resilient because Day City Station’s current configuration, and the location and use of several track switches north of the platform, can be a choke point for train congestion and service volatility, causing ripple effects on the entire system.  

The Daly City Station will now operate as a center platform station, like other stations in San Francisco, simplifying the rider experience.  All San Francisco-bound trains will depart from a single platform. Platform 3 will now be a terminal for the Blue and Green lines, meaning it will be an exit only platform for riders getting off at Daly City and then those trains will head out of service to the nearby yard. Boarding trains will now only occur on Platforms 1 and 2 where Yellow and Red line trains will have a clear path for through service without being delayed by Blue and Green line trains being taking out of service to the yard.  

Blue and Green line riders heading beyond Daly City, to the SFO Airport for example, should transfer to a Red or Yellow line SFO or Millbrae train at Balboa Park to ensure an easy transfer on the same platform. If they transfer at Daly City, it will require changing platforms. 

Transfer to Caltrain at Millbrae   

Some of the BART trains that currently line up with Caltrain at Millbrae will change. BART has coordinated with Caltrain on these changes. Connecting riders should review the new BART/Caltrain transfer timetable for trip planning to reduce transfer wait times.  

Construction delays from Communications-Based Train Control  

The schedule accommodates continued late evening construction between Daly City and Millbrae to replace BART’s aged train control system with a state-of-the art Communications Based Train Control System. Riders will continue to experience delays Sunday-Thursday through the area after 9pm.  

Regional Coordination – The Big Sync 
Bay Area transit agencies have been syncing schedules in a whole new way to make riding transit even faster and improve transfer reliability and timing as part of the ongoing implementation of the Bay Area Transit Transformation Action Plan approved by MTC in 2021, 

Transit agencies from across the region are rolling out new schedules in mid-August in coordination with each other and have now aligned the timing of schedule changes twice each year, once in summer (mid-August) and once in winter (mid-January). 

Agencies met in February 2026 for the Big Sync to share planned changes and to look for opportunities to improve transfers. This gives agencies enough time to make changes to ensure buses and rail connect.  

Advancing schedule change alignment is a key priority for Bay Area transit general managers who meet on a weekly basis to make transit more rider-focused and efficient.