Bay Area lawmakers oppose raising bridge toll fees to bail out BART, transit.
San Francisco Chronicle / July 2, 2023
Several Bay Area lawmakers say they don’t support a bill that would temporarily raise tolls on seven state-owned bridges to give BART and other transit agencies more money to avoid service cuts.
That’s the main aim of Senate Bill 532 by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener, unveiled June 23. The proposal, if passed by two-thirds of the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would increase bridge tolls by $1.50 — resulting in $9.50 tolls through 2028 — to raise $900 million for regional transit agencies struggling to recover riders after the pandemic.
SNIP
Seven Bay Area legislators signed on as coauthors to Wiener’s bill, including Assembly Members Phil Ting and Matt Haney of San Francisco and Buffy Wicks and Mia Bonta of Oakland.
However, at least six Bay Area lawmakers representing constituents who would be most affected by the toll increases told The Chronicle they oppose SB532.
LINK (paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/bay-area-lawmakers-oppose-raising-bridge-tolls-18176112.php
Six Bay Area Democrats opposed (I'm sure there will be more) representing districts outside the Bay Area’s urban core:
- Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda
- State Senator Bill Dodd of Napa
- State Senator Steve Glazer of Orinda
- Assembly Member Timothy Grayson of Concord
- Damon Connolly of San Rafael
- Lori Wilson of Suisun City.
According to the link, nine other Bay Area lawmakers did not respond to The Chronicle’s inquiries.
$9.50?
Maybe service cuts are a better idea?
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More from the link: most automobile tolls would increase to $8.50 by 2024. Add $1.00 in 2025 for the already approved Regional Measure 3 (from 2018), which pays for transit and highway infrastructure projects. There's our $9.50.
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