> The poor bear the brunt of them.

Going to need a citation for that, because it seems the wealth(ier) and/or business-classes would bear the most significant burden of toll roads.

Typically, in my experience, tolls are assessed at boundaries of cities, regions, and intra-region/city transit is toll-free.

Businesses that use the toll road (think trucking/freight, etc) pay tolls because they come from outside of the boundary. Wealthier individuals may commute into the boundary for work, also paying tolls.

One can live inside the city of San Francisco and never pay a toll - but someone that lives outside and commutes in for work or business pays tolls every day.

Other states, such as Illinois have a vast amount of toll roads - where tolls are trivial (typically) but also still only assessed at boundaries. The roads are often much more well maintained than government roads, since the toll collector has a direct financial interest in maintaining traffic on the roads.