Golden Gate tolls rise to bridge gap in funds
The toll is going up by at least 25 cents on the Golden Gate Bridge, the latest step in a series of increases designed to meet a long-running budget shortfall by the overseer of the iconic span.
Starting Monday, the majority of bridge traffic — twoaxle cars — will be charged the increased rate to cross one of the world’s most famous bridges, according to the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.
A discount will remain on FasTrak electronic passes as an incentive for Bay Area motorists to use them. Under the new rates, FasTrak users will pay $6.75 per crossing.
For those without FasTrak, the bridge’s automatic license plate scanner — which snaps a photo of license plates and mails an invoice, even to outof-state motorists — will go from $7.50 to $7.75. The toll gates are cashless.
The toll hikes were initially approved in February 2014 by the bridge agency’s directors, who said they needed the additional funding to recover from a budget deficit.
Bridge overseers have enacted regular, similarly sized toll increases since then, with annual rate rises scheduled through 2018.
An October 2013 report by the bridge district projected a $142 million deficit over the next five years.
The board has since said that toll hikes approved since then will also support needed maintenance to the aging bridge, which first opened for business in 1937.
It will also become more expensive for carpoolers to cross the Golden Gate, with the toll going from $4.50 to $4.75 per car.
Rates are also scheduled to increase for larger vehicles — including buses, tractor-trailers and vehicles towing boats — by similar margins.
It’s significantly more expensive to drive larger vehicles, which generate more wear and tear on the suspension bridge’s roadway.
The FasTrak price for the largest big rigs on the roads, vehicles with seven or more axles, will increase from $45.50 to $47.25 per crossing.