State lawmakers are proposing a bridge toll hike to help public transportation agencies that are experiencing dire financial struggles.
Bay Area mass transportation rider numbers plummeted during the pandemic, and they’re still very low. Some say transit systems such as BART could fall off a “fiscal cliff” if they’re not bailed out.
Two lawmakers from the Bay Area say they have a plan that would help, but it’s going to cost drivers: State Sens. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Josh Becker (D-San Mateo) on Monday will introduce a bill to raise bridge tolls $1.50.
The increase, if passed, would put tolls at all Bay Area bridges — except the Golden Gate — at $8.50.
More than 220,000 cars per day go through the Bay Bridge toll plaza on average, so that rate hike would raise $330,000 a day just on that span.
Wiener said transit systems across the region face a $2.5 billion shortfall over the next five years. Senate Bill 532 would bring in nearly $1 billion for the systems over five years.
Wiener told the San Francisco Chronicle that losing transit agencies would be devastating for the Bay Area.
The toll increase would apply to the Bay, San Mateo-Hayward, Richmond-San Rafael, Dumbarton, Carquinez, Benicia and Antioch bridges.
The two senators were expected to release more details during a news conference from Sacramento later Monday.
Source: NBC Bay Area