“Do you cross the bridge / or do you fade away?”
Image by PickPik. Subhead based on Elton John’s stripped-down 2006 song “The Bridge,” in which he entreats listeners to “risk it all” for their ambitions—”or die trying.”
So asked Elton John almost 20 years ago—and today, his question's being echoed by Bay Areans concerned about BATA's proposed toll hike to $10.50 (or $11.50 for folks not pre-registered or using FasTrak) by 2030. {BATA's rationale? Bridge maintenance.} If this all sounds familiar, says Contra Costa News, it should: via 2018's RM 3, we've already recently increased Bay Area tolls by a whopping 60%.
The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) — which is required by state law to fund projects to preserve and protect the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges — today heard a proposal for a toll increase that would be used only to pay for the maintenance, rehabilitation and operation of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael and San Mateo-Hayward bridges.
If approved by BATA later this year, the toll increase would be phased in over five years, beginning Jan. 1, 2026. …
The proposed toll hike is separate from the $3 increase approved by Bay Area voters in 2018 through Regional Measure 3 to finance a comprehensive suite of highway and transit improvements around the region. The first of the three $1 Regional Measure 3 toll increases went into effect in 2019, followed by another in 2022. The last of the RM 3 toll hikes will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, bringing the toll for regular two-axle cars and trucks to $8.
The proposal heard today by BATA calls for tolls for all regular two-axle cars and trucks to increase to $8.50 on Jan. 1, 2026.
Tolls for customers who pay with FasTrak tags would then rise to
$9 in 2027
$9.50 in 2028
$10 in 2029
$10.50 in 2030
Tolls for customers who use a pre-registered license plate account would rise to
$9.25 in 2027
$9.75 in 2028
$10.25 in 2029
$10.75 in 2030
Invoiced tolls would rise to
$10 in 2027
$10.50 in 2028
$11 in 2029
$11.50 in 2030
The Golden Gate Bridge has used a tiered pricing schedule since 2014. Golden Gate Bridge tolls by July 2028 will range from $11.25 for FasTrak to $11.50 for license plate accounts to $12.25 for invoice customers.
Under the proposed toll increase, tolls for large freight trucks and other vehicle/trailer combinations with three or more axles would rise by 50 cents per axle each year from 2026 through 2030.
“I’m sensitive to the overall cost of living in the Bay Area,” acknowledged Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza, who also serves as chair of both BATA and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). “Working families really feel the impact, not just in transportation but back at home with utilities, groceries, children. This one is hard. But it’s the right thing to do.”
BATA and MTC invite members of the public to weigh in on the proposed toll increase during a comment period that begins Monday, Nov.4, and continues through 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Comments may be sent via email to info@bayareametro.gov. BATA and MTC also will host a public webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 13, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to present more details about the proposed toll hike and will hold a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20, in San Francisco to hear testimony about the proposal from Bay Area residents, businesses and other interested parties. The hearing will be conducted as part of BATA’s regular November meeting. Members of the public will be able to participate in person or via Zoom.
Read the whole thing here.
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