A bridge toll hike could save BART. But what about low-income workers who must drive?

San Francisco and Oakland state lawmakers are pushing a bill through the Legislature that would raise tolls by $1.50 on seven Bay Area bridges starting next year and direct the revenue toward the region’s public transit systems that have been struggling to survive post-pandemic.

Without this infusion of an estimated $900 million, they say BART would enter its own death spiral and be forced to cut hours and staff — and further crush any hope that San Francisco will crawl out of its so-called doom loop. The people most hurt by public transit’s demise, they say, would mostly be low-income people of color who rely on public transit to get to work.