Commuters on the southern stretch of BART hit a wall today when the agency halted trains between the South Hayward, Bay Fair and Castro Valley stations because of an equipment problem on the track. Service in that segment was suspended, and riders were urged to find alternative routes while crews worked to resolve the issue.
Buses stepping in to bridge the gap
According to BART Alert, AC Transit is filling in with bus service on route 9 between South Hayward and Bay Fair and on route 93 between Castro Valley and Bay Fair. AC Transit schedule pages at AC Transit for route 9 and AC Transit for route 93 show that both lines already serve the connecting stops, giving riders a built-in parallel option when the trains are not running.
BART service has stopped between South Hayward, Bay Fair, and Castro Valley due to an equipment problem on the track. A/C Transit is providing bus service on route 9 between South Hayward and Bayfair and route 93 between Castro Valley and Bayfair.
— BART Alert (@SFBARTalert) June 25, 2026
How the outage affects commuters
Equipment and wayside failures have forced similar stoppages this year, bringing long delays and bus bridges while crews made repairs, according to reporting by KQED. Those earlier slowdowns underline how quickly a seemingly local equipment problem can ripple across the system and stretch commute times far beyond the closed segment.
Where to get updates
Riders trying to navigate around the shutdown are encouraged to follow BART's alerts feed and AC Transit's RealTime tools for up-to-the-minute departure information and bus schedules. BART posts official service notices on its online alerts hub, which lists active advisories and real-time options, and it also updates its X account when conditions change; see BART for the agency's latest guidance.
