Washington, DC – In a letter they co-led to Governor Newsom and State Senate and Assembly Leaders, Representatives DeSaulnier and Eshoo expressed their concerns about SB532, a bill that would raise tolls by $1.50 on seven Bay Area bridges in 2024 and unfairly impact Bay Area residents.
They were joined in sending the letter by Representatives Garamendi, Lee, Sánchez, Swalwell, and Thompson.
If passed, SB532 would implement the fourth increase of toll prices on affected Bay Area bridges over six years, and would result in drivers paying $9.50 to cross just one bridge by 2025. Analysis of bridge toll users convey that these costs are unfairly being borne in part by low to moderate-income, car-dependent Bay Area residents who must commute across bridges because they cannot afford to live near where they work.
In the letter, the members wrote, “the Safe, Clean, and Reliable Bay Area Public Transportation Emergency Act (SB-532) would temporarily raise bridge tolls by $1.50 on state-owned bridges in the Bay Area from 2024 to 2028…However, we’re concerned that this legislation will disproportionately impact our constituents and low-income communities who depend on driving for their transportation to and from work, and ultimately does not provide long-term, sustainable solutions for some of the operating issues of the Bay Area public transit agencies.
Data from bridge toll transactions shows that 59% of toll payers on the Bay Area bridges come from just three East Bay counties: Alameda County (27.5%), Contra Costa County (19.7%), and Solano County (11.8%). On the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge alone, where over 31 million toll transactions occurred in one year, 52% of the toll payers came from Alameda County and Contra Costa County. Further, the percentage of bridge drivers originating from Contra Costa County, San Mateo County, and Santa Clara County has increased since 2015, and now accounts for almost 31% of toll transactions.”
The members continued, “An analysis of toll fines shows that low-income communities across the Bay Area have much higher rates of unpaid tolls than wealthier zip codes, indicating the disproportionate impact an increase in tolls will continue to put on communities that are already financially strapped and have a tough time paying for them. Four of the five zip codes with the most unpaid toll violations are majority non-white, have higher rates of limited English speaking households, and have higher rates of poverty than the Bay Area as a whole, and four of them are located in Contra Costa and Solano Counties. Given the crossover between this data and the information on the geographic concentration of toll payers, we believe that the proposed toll increase would have a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged populations throughout the Bay Area…
Overall, we do not believe that SB-532 is in the best interest of Bay Area residents and do not think it has been properly evaluated. In that regard, we hope you consider providing the following information to us, prior to passage of this potential toll increase:
- Cost-benefit analysis of the impact of the proposed increase in bridge tolls on the average daily driver of these affected Bay Area bridges;
- Your plan for independent oversight of both the distribution of funds by MTC to the Bay Area transit agencies and the usage of funds by Bay Area transit agencies;
- Analysis of which transit agencies will receive support from these funds, and their areas of service, compared to the drivers that pay the tolls;
- Impact of this type of short-term funding source on finding sustainable long-term solutions, without substantial external aid/bailouts (including emergency federal aid), to support the operations of Bay Area transit agencies; and
- Impact analysis of low-income or car-dependent commuters.
…The impacts on all constituents in the Bay Area must be considered. Many employees now have the advantage to do their work from home. There are others, the working people of the Bay Area, that don’t share this advantage, and the proposed toll hike comes straight out of their wallets.”
The letter has received support from The Bay Area Council. “The Bay Area Council, which has led and supported numerous major investments in transportation over the generations strongly opposes SB 532,” said Jim Wunderman, Bay Area Council President and CEO. “Before yet again asking motorists to dig deep and pay more in tolls, let’s have a complete and honest review of our region’s transit system, and ensure that we are delivering on reliability, efficiency, safety and connectivity among the 27 operating agencies. The public deserves nothing less.”
The full text of the letter can be found here.
- June 30: BART Board Votes to Support Raising Bridge Tolls
(This was a 6-2 in support of SB 532 with Ames and Allen dissenting.) - June 27: Senator Glazer’s Statement on Proposal to Raise Bridge Toll Fees
- June 27: Bill Would Raise Bridge Tolls to Fund Bay Area Transit Operation
3 comments
Boo Fing Hoo! These people don’t pay because they know California will simply offer a poor me day and erase their unpaid toll debt. Just like they did a couple weeks ago. Stop with the hand holding.
If the goal is to see more people leave California because of yet another price hike on something that, to the point of this article, has strong opposition with valid reasons, then continue on to fulfill this vision.
Remember last year’s change to the way solar is used and exported? All changes now benefit PG&E!!!
Every year there is enough nonsense going on that hundreds of thousands are leaving the state. If the state’s response is to charge and tax even more to make up for this difference, yet more people will go and then a crisis in California will have been realized — all of its own doing, largely because of misappropriation, enforcement and mismanagement of its function and funding. Full Stop!
The proposed toll increase is simply a scheme to subsidize BART on the financial backs of drivers. At the same time, our progressive-left politicians fail to to take the tough steps needed to really reform the mismanaged fiasco that is BART. They even want to “decriminalize” fare evasion. What a bunch of fools.
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