Peninsula commuters affected by the BART strike are flocking to Caltrain and filling up SamTrans shuttles, a transit agency spokeswoman said this morning.
Preliminary estimates indicate that Caltrain accommodated an additional 3,000 riders on Monday, agency officials said.
Caltrain has added stops at the Millbrae station to many of its express trains, which run between San Jose and San Francisco, in order to pick up commuters who would normally board BART, Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn said.
So far, Dunn said, there has been enough room on Caltrain to accommodate the extra passengers.
That could change if the BART strike continues into next week, when passengers who have been on vacation this week for the Fourth of July holiday return to work, she said.
SamTrans is temporarily providing free shuttles from the Daly City and Colma BART stations to Evergreen Avenue and Mission Street in Daly City, where passengers can transfer to San Francisco Municipal Railway buses.
As many as 500 passengers used the free shuttles during peak commute periods on Monday, Dunn said.
SamTrans is continuing to monitor its service during the BART strike to see if certain bus lines experience spikes in ridership and require added service, Dunn said.
