SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – If you’ve ever squeezed onto BART and wondered how an entire platform’s worth of people managed to follow you inside, you likely don’t know the half of it.
The true max capacity of a BART train is pretty chocking.
A full-length, ten-car train made up of BART’s older cars could theoretically carry more than 2,000 people under extremely crowded conditions.
That calculation comes from BART’s own descriptions of its legacy fleet: individual cars could carry more than 200 passengers in what the agency calls a “crush load.” Multiply that by ten cars, and you’re moving a crowd of more than 2,000 in a single train.
Imagine putting those passengers into cars instead. Even with four people in every vehicle, 2,000 riders would fill 500 cars.
Keep a couple things in mind, though. The figure describes packed conditions and was based on the last generation of cars, rather than a comfortable ride or a published capacity rating for today’s Fleet of the Future.
BART began using only its newer cars for the base schedule in September 2023. The last legacy cars were removed from its Ready Reserve Fleet in March 2024, and the agency hasn’t published an updated “crush capacity” figure.
Still, the older fleet’s specifications reveal just how many people a train can move, and they’re likely fairly comparable (if not higher) for today’s more modern trains. It’s also why counting seats gives you only part of the picture.
BART listed 60 seats in an A2 car and 56 in its C1 and C2 cars. With more than 200 passengers aboard, most people would be standing. A car could have every seat occupied and still have room for well over 100 additional riders under crush-load conditions.
Today’s trains approach the crowding problem with a different design. Fleet of the Future cars have three doorways on each side, giving passengers 50% more doors for boarding and exiting than the older cars.
BART says the new layout also makes room for wheelchair users, bicycles and standing passengers. Its explanation of the design notes that extra doors, crash-safety buffer zones and accessible spaces all affect how many seats can fit inside.
Train length matters, too. A five-car train and a ten-car train offer very different amounts of space, even when the individual cars are identical.
That distinction has become especially relevant for East Bay commuters this year. Beginning July 20, BART lengthened eight of its busiest morning Yellow Line trains and six of its busiest afternoon trains from nine cars to ten. Peak-period Red Line trains also increased to ten cars.
The agency’s longer-term plans go beyond adding a car here and there. Its Transbay Corridor Core Capacity Program is designed to eventually allow up to 30 ten-car trains per hour in each direction through the existing Transbay Tube. That requires additional railcars, upgraded train controls, storage and electrical infrastructure.
And for anyone watching a long BART train disappear into a tunnel, the old fleet’s numbers offer a remarkable sense of scale. Under packed conditions, one train could carry more than 2,000 people.
