The Scottish Government has revised its travel plan for cross-Forth travel just one day after its launch.
Extra bus and train services are to be added after commuters overwhelmed the public transport network on Monday morning.
Those travelling by car reported long delays after the first morning of using the recommended diversion via Kincardine.
While the rail network coped with a huge increase in passenger numbers, many carriages were close to capacity as travellers between Fife and Edinburgh attempted to find a new way to work.
After launching a travel plan to deal with the closure of the Forth Road Bridge on Sunday, Transport Minister Derek Mackay said revisions were already clearly necessary.
“I believe our comprehensive travel plan has been effective but will be subject to constant monitoring, review, and adaptation,” he said.
“We recognise many people are travelling earlier, therefore an early morning train will be added to the timetable by ScotRail, along with 8,000 extra seats. Full details will be available on their website.For further coverage, see Tuesday’s Courier“I appreciate many commuters and businesses are facing longer journeys, queues, disruption and delays, and are generally being inconvenienced by the necessary closure.
“I have to stress that without this closure at this time it’s highly likely we would need to eventually close the bridge for a much longer period.”
The new train service will run at 5.52am from Inverkeithing to Waverley and has been arranged in response to the swathe of commuters who left their homes early on Monday morning.
However, there was better news for bus users, with the Scottish Government claiming that services were arriving half an hour earlier than predicted.
Mr Mackay added: “Although the extra train and bus services have helped ease the strain, delays are inevitable during December.
“This morning, there was extra capacity on the buses from Halbeath and Ferrytoll and we would encourage people to consider using these services.
“Bus journey times are also quicker than expected, thanks to the priority route on the A985.”