Tuesday’s San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting ended with a surprise twist when a resolution supporting Senate Bill 532, which would increase bridge tolls in the Bay Area by $1.50 over the next five years, was ratified to help finance troubled transport companies was referred back to committee.
Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents Bayview and other southeastern boroughs, moved the motion to refer the resolution back to the board’s Land Use and Transportation Committee. Supervisor Connie Chan, representing Richmond County, also supported the move.
Supervisor Shaman Walton | Michaela Vatcheva for The Standard
The resolution is non-binding, but Tuesday’s action nonetheless signals opposition to the toll increase bill introduced by Senator Scott Wiener and public transit advocates to save local transit companies like BART and Muni from a post-Covid “fiscal cliff”.
Walton pointed to the potential negative impact of a toll increase on low-income people who depend on the bridges to get to work or otherwise.
“I support this bill, but it definitely deserves discussion in committee because of the negative impact it will have on low-income communities, communities of color, and people who are struggling,” Walton said Tuesday. “I think the community should have the opportunity to learn more about the impact.”
Ironically, the bill had already garnered the support of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority’s board of directors, whose members are identical to the board of directors.
The board of directors of the Transportation Authority voted 7-1 in support of SB 532 at its July 11 meeting, with Chan opposed and members Rafael Mandelman, Hillary Ronen and Ahsha Safaí absent.
Returning the resolution to committee means the full board likely won’t be able to comment on the bill until it returns from recess in September. By that time, the Senate vote may have already taken place, as Mandelman pointed out on Tuesday.
“I guess I’d be curious what the expectations would be for what might be presented at a committee hearing on this issue, assuming it’s still active when we come back in September,” Mandelman said.
Meanwhile, Chan reiterated her opposition.
Supervisor Connie Chan | Juliana Yamada/The Standard
“I continue to not support the increase in bridge tolls… Many essential workers come to San Francisco not only by public transportation but also by car. [and the] The bridge toll will be a financial burden for many.”
Chan also referenced comments by San Francisco chief economist Ted Egan in a July 6 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, in which he said that increasing bridge tolls “could exacerbate the problem downtown.”
The opposition of Chan and Walton, or at least his constituents, also reflects their boroughs’ historical transportation patterns: Richmond residents continue to prefer driving, and Bayview residents claim their community is still underserved by public transportation.
Both Walton and Chan also took opposing sides on another contentious issue involving the dispute between public transit drivers and motorists. That was last year’s successful campaign to permanently close John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park to traffic.
SB 532 would increase tolls on most regional bridges by $1.50 over five years, raising up to $900 million in rescue funds for regional transit companies facing a post-Covid “death spiral.” Returns in which service cuts further depress ridership and revenue in a cycle of decline.
Jeffrey Tumlin, director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said the fiscal cliff his agency faces in 2025 would require cutting as many as 20 Muni bus lines as early as this summer.
California State Senator Scott Wiener speaks during the official opening of the new Bus Rapid Transit corridor on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco April 1, 2022. | Nick Otto
SB 532 sponsor Wiener responded to Tuesday’s events to The Standard that his office is “already working to include equitable tolling measures in the bill and we intend to include more.” I’m confident we’ll address the concerns we’ve raised can [Chan and Walton].”
He added, “We all agree that the true justice disaster would be to collapse public transit in the Bay Area, and that’s exactly what we wanted to prevent with SB 532.”
