Most of the tweets can't be reprinted, but Bay Area commuters were fuming early Friday over a sudden BART shutdown that left many stranded or scrambling for alternative modes of transportation.
Computer glitches reported just after midnight caused BART's central control station to lose the ability to flip track switches, said agency spokesperson Jim Allison. The glitch affected 19 trains with between 500 and 1,000 passengers aboard and with some commuters reportedly trapped in BART cars. There was no service from 4 a.m. Pacific time to about 7:15 a.m. when the trains began running on a limited basis.
The glitch is the latest blow for the transit agency, which has suffered two strikes in six months and just this Thursday voted to approve a tentative contract agreement with its two largest unions, but only if a controversial family-leave clause is removed. It's now up to the unions to decide if they will consider the contract without the clause, and if they don't, the Bay Area could be facing its third strike this year.