Nick Pilch

Technologist. Environmentalist. Transportation and housing advocate. Politician, Former Mayor of Albany CA.

[Nick Pilch @npilch]

Love this! More ART at BART!

[BART @SFBART]

A new exhibition at 19th St. Oakland Station has been installed in the light boxes, featuring site specific reinterpretations of artworks by four Bay Area artists.

[Nick Pilch @npilch]

I'm attending a @theactionnet event: Emergency Rally to Tell Gov Newsom Don't Rob Transit and Housing to Fund Giveaways to Big Oil. RSVP here: https://t.co/DGtDyq6YVn

[BART @SFBART]

BART runs a Sunday schedule today for Memorial Day.

This means BART will be operating from around 8am until around midnight. All five lines will be in service until around 9pm. After 9pm, BART will run three-line (Yellow, Blue, and Orange) service.

[CAL FIRE @CAL_FIRE]

🚩 RED FLAG WARNING EXTENDED‼️

The Red Flag Warning has now been expanded to include additional areas across Central California as dangerous fire weather conditions continue through the weekend.

Gusty winds, critically low humidity, and dry vegetation could cause any new fire to spread rapidly, especially in grass and brush.

Avoid anything that could spark a fire, and prepare now in case conditions worsen.

✔ Review your evacuation plan
✔ Charge phones and essential devices
✔ Pack go-bags
✔ Stay alert for emergency updates

#RedFlagWarning #ReadyForWildfire #CAwx

[Albany Scanner @AlbanyScanner]

Three months ago today, we asked for help to "Bring News Back to Albany." The community showed up! In the end, we raised nearly $65,000, exceeding our goal. Here's what happens next: https://t.co/ri4uL3nbHS

[California Transportation Commission (CTC) @California_CTC]

Please join us tomorrow in person or virtually for Day 1 of our May Commission Meeting in San Jose at 12 PM. More Info at: https://t.co/SULJJTNJju #transportation #sanjoseca #california

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

BREAKING: New information has leaked indicating that in 2022 The president’s oldest son, Hunter Biden traveled with his father to China to meet President Xi, while, running a business that his father had the majority ownership in.

Oops, never mind, that was Eric Trump today.

[Suzie rizzio @Suzierizzo1]

Every single American taxpayer should be outraged by this! 🤬🤬

[Albany Scanner @AlbanyScanner]

We have just one week left to raise $22,000 thanks to a generous matching pool. "Let’s make sure Albany does not leave its news and history behind," says local historian Karen Sorensen. MORE: https://t.co/bzpTmllxT3

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

BART spent $90 million on new fare gates. They're recovering about $10 million a year in fares.

That's a 9-year payback on paper. The actual return hit in six months.

Embarcadero station went from 112 hours of corrective maintenance in the six months before installation to 2 hours after. Daly City saved 109. Balboa Park saved 75. Across the system, 961 hours of cleanup work disappeared. Corrective maintenance is the term BART uses for graffiti, heavy soiling, vandalism, the damage that needs a crew not a janitor. At several stations it dropped to zero.

Crime fell 41% year over year. Riders who reported seeing fare evasion on their trip dropped from 22% to 10%. Citations issued by BART police went from 2,200 in January to under 1,000 in July, because there was nothing to cite.

The gates were a filtering project disguised as a revenue project.

Old BART gates were waist-high orange fins designed in the 1970s. You could hop them in under a second. That made the station effectively a public space, and the rider mix reflected that. The new gates are 72 inches of polycarbonate with 3D sensors that detect tailgating. You either pay or you don't enter. Once you don't enter, you also don't smoke on the platform, sleep in the elevator, or harass other riders.

BART tried hiring more police for years. Blitz operations at high-traffic stations. Increased patrols. Dedicated transit cops. None of it moved the numbers the way six feet of polycarbonate did.

The $10 million in recovered fares is the smallest line in the return. Fare revenue used to cover 70% of BART operations. After the pandemic it collapsed to 22%. The gates won't fix that gap directly. They fix the precondition for fixing it: a system that office workers, families, and tourists are willing to use again. Ridership growth at stations with new gates outpaced ungated ones before the rollout finished.

A $400 million annual deficit is heading to voters in November as a sales tax measure. Voters don't approve sales taxes for transit agencies they don't feel safe in. The $90 million on gates is buying BART the right to ask the public for more money.

That's the real return on six feet of polycarbonate.

[Joey Politano 🏳️‍🌈 @JosephPolitano]

Early 2026 transit data is in today, & SF is seeing a mini rail boom with Muni ridership up 15% & BART ridership up 12% compared to last year

SEPTA (Philly, 9.2%) and WMATA (DC, +6.8%) are also seeing strong growth, while the MBTA (Boston) & MTS (San Diego) are losing riders🧵

[Dewayne Deams @curtisalvin]

@dwarvenmonk @JosephPolitano New trains, new fare gates, better emphasis on keeping trains and stations clean, more fare enforcement have all helped improved things.

[Sillyparty @dwarvenmonk]

@JosephPolitano I took bart from pleasanton to sf for the first time in probably a decade about a month ago. Was shocked how much cleaner it was than I remember and how easy it was overall. Def plan on using it in the future, driving in sf blows

[Harry Eccles @Heccles94]

RT if you agree

[Nature Vid @naturevid2]

Trump in 2008: Anyone who invades the Middle East under false pretenses should be impeached.

Let’s make sure it goes viral here.

[The Berkeley Scanner @BerkeleyScanner]

Albany made headlines this week with the announcement that Golden Gate Fields may one day become a park — but Albany had no homegrown news site to cover it. Help us change that! MORE: https://t.co/kfqqLCuLuk

[Nick Pilch @npilch]

@rideact I want this to not be April Fools.

[AC Transit @rideact]

It’s #TransitEmployeeAppreciationDay

We’re recognizing the employees who keep the East Bay moving and uphold a legacy of excellence.

Had a great experience with an Operator, Customer Service Rep, or another AC Transit staff member?

Leave a compliment: https://t.co/4kjdLmGLIw

[AC Transit @rideact]

National Transit Employee Appreciation Day is this week on March 18.

We're honoring the amazing stories of our employees!

Learn how Keith, a third-generation bus Operator, was able to assist a distressed lost child find their way home: https://t.co/KfQ86D22sK