Why were BART escalator repairs delayed for 30 days? Monarch

Old and outdated, BART escalators are routinely out of service. But the reason behind one BART Monarch elevator inverter's closure is something totally different: a nesting bird.

A pigeon extended the closure of a BART escalator at the 24th Street Mission Station for 30 days when it decided to make a home out of the rolling stairwell. The east-side escalator was initially shut down in January to upgrade the unit's controllers. These upgrades are the result of BART's modernization project for its escalators.

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Although the repairs were set to finish in April, in a series of unfortunate and unexpected delays, the project was prolonged; the addition of new parts awaited state inspection and approval. Then, the birds came.

In late May, repair crews discovered a pigeon inside of the escalator's exposed machinery. The bird was nesting over two eggs atop a home of twigs and leaves. According to BART's Twitter account, federal law required the crews to leave the budding bird family alone, halting construction.