BART, packed with record crowds, to expand service

Passenger board a BART train in the Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. BART shuts down the Transbay Tube for work on the West Oakland approach to the tube over the weekend of August 1st and 2nd. less Passenger board a BART train in the Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. BART shuts down the Transbay Tube for work on the West Oakland approach to the tube over the ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close BART, packed with record crowds, to expand service 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A little relief for BART riders weary of packing onto trains and standing elbow to belly button will pull up at the platform Monday morning.

The regional transit agency — struggling to handle record crowds, especially during the commute — will run longer trains, run a few more of them, and operate some later into the evening.

It’s all part of an effort to soothe commuter discontent and cope with growing ridership that now stands at about 430,000 trips per weekday.

BART has new trains on the way, but they won’t arrive in significant numbers until 2017. With few railcars to spare, the agency has beefed up its maintenance staff to get the cars out of the shop and on the tracks more quickly, and has repaired some damaged cars.

BART also completed a new set of crossover tracks in Contra Costa County that give it more flexibility.

“This is just the last inch we can squeeze out of our existing fleet while we wait for the fleet of the future to arrive,” said Taylor Huckaby, a BART spokesman.

Here’s what commuters can expect to see Monday — and beyond:

Pittsburg/Bay Point line: Commuters on BART’s busiest line will see the most improvements.

All trains heading to San Francisco International Airport will be lengthened to the maximum 10 cars. And BART plans to keep the cars at that length for an extra 15 minutes on weekday mornings to better handle the expanding morning commute.

More rush-hour trips will also be added to the line. BART’s supplemental rush-hour trains, which now turn around at Concord and head back into service to San Francisco, will begin using the Contra Costa crossover in Pleasant Hill.

The quicker turnaround allows BART to run more trains. Riders who board in Concord, however, will have to wait about five minutes longer for a train.

In the reverse commute direction, as part of the effort to speed train turnarounds, BART will run some limited-service trains in the morning that skip the Rockridge, Orinda and Lafayette stations en route to Pleasant Hill. The trains will be labeled “Pleasant Hill/Limited.”

Richmond-to-Millbrae line: Direct trains between Richmond and Millbrae will run an hour later, increasing capacity and reducing the need for Richmond-line passengers to transfer in Oakland. The last direct train for Richmond will leave Millbrae at 9:01 p.m., stopping at Embarcadero at 9:33 p.m.

Richmond-to-Fremont line: Repeat after me: no more three-car trains. All trains will be lengthened to at least four cars during non-commute hours — something riders of the line have long wanted.

Dublin/Pleasanton line: All trains on the Dublin/Pleasanton line will be lengthened to nine cars during commute hours. BART will keep running those trains an extra 15 minutes on weekday mornings.

Fremont-to-Daly City line: Two of the most crowded rush-hour trains in the morning and evening will be lengthened. BART also plans to maintain commute-length trains for an additional 15 minutes on weekday mornings.

Oakland Airport Connector: BART will run its special trains between the Coliseum and Oakland Airport stations more frequently. Trains will run every six minutes until 11 p.m., then go to every 20 minutes.

For more information on the changes, go to www.bart.gov.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan