San Francisco toll hike to fund BART rail-car purchase

San Francisco Bay Area residents on Tuesday passed a toll increase to fund $4.45 billion worth of transit and highway improvements, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announced yesterday. The vote was held during California's statewide primary elections.

Fifty-four percent of residents in a nine-county area approved the Regional Measure 3, which will increase tolls on the region's seven state-owned toll bridges. The measure required a simple majority to pass, MTC officials said in an update yesterday.

Major projects to be funded include the purchase of new Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) cars to accommodate growing ridership, as well as BART's Silicon Valley extension to downtown San Jose. The measure will provide $500 million toward BART's vehicle purchase, according to MTC's expenditure plan.

The measure also will provide $325 million to extend Caltrain to downtown San Francisco and expand the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's fleet and facilities.

Regional Measure 3 will raise tolls on the region's toll bridges by $1 starting Jan. 1, 2019. That would be followed by another $1 increase in 2022 and a final $1 increase in 2025.

Tolls haven't been increased on the seven state-owned bridges since 2010, according to the MTC.