$1 Golden Gate bridge toll increase likely
Dateline:
07/11/2008SAN FRANCISCO -- The toll to cross the Golden Gate Bridge likely will increase by $1 on Sept. 1 following approval Thursday by a key committee of the bridge board of directors.
The first increase since 2002 will bring the cash toll to $6 and the electronic FasTrak toll to $5. The full board is expected to ratify the increase today.
"We are now a step away from a toll increase being implemented on the Golden Gate Bridge," bridge spokeswoman Mary Currie said.
The hike was proposed earlier this year to cover a five-year, $91 million budget deficit that is worsening with rising fuel prices. The district operates a fleet of 200 buses and five ferries that are heavily subsidized by tolls.
Auditor-controller Joseph Wire told members of the finance committee Thursday that any postponement of the increase would add to the shortfall at the rate of about $1.5 million a month.
About 46 cents of every dollar collected at the bridge supports the transit service, which despite rising fares does not pay for itself, Currie said.
Raising the toll on the more than 50,000 southbound vehicles each day is expected to generate about $18 million a year, Wire said.
The proposed hike also affects vehicles with more than two axles as well as the disabled, who will see tolls increase from the current $1.50 to $3, the first increase since 1991.
"As we have seen, prices for fuel have gone up," Wire said. "This will meet a substantial portion of that."
The finance committee did not consider a separate $1 toll increase that would take effect during peak traffic hours.
Bridge general manager Celia Kupersmith said federal Department of Transportation officials have rejected the so-called congestion pricing plan and asked to meet with regional officials next week to discuss alternatives.
The bridge had proposed to increase tolls during the morning commute and at certain times on weekends to fulfill a requirement of a federal grant that would help pay the $1 billion reconstruction of Doyle Drive, the southern approach to the bridge.
But federal officials said the scheme fails to address specific bottlenecks along the corridor, Kupersmith said.
"The issue of the congestion toll is very much up in the air right now," Kupersmith said.
Speakers at the meeting Thursday included David Schonbrunn, president of the San Rafael nonprofit Transportation Solutions Education Fund, who urged any increase be tabled until the congestion toll issue is decided.
He offered an all-in-one solution that called for suspension of the FasTrak discount and a $2 increase in cash tolls at peak traffic times.
Pursuing two different tolls was wrong, he said.
"We think it makes no sense to proceed today with the knowledge that you are moving toward a congestion toll," he said.
Also Thursday, bridge officials released the results of a public survey on toll increases.
Of the 574 comments received since the beginning of the year, 66 percent said they opposed a hike in the base toll and 8 percent supported it. Sixteen percent of the comments indicated no position. About 1 percent of respondents complained specifically about increases for disabled people.
Opposition to the congestion toll was about 2-to-1. About 2 percent of respondents said they wanted no toll increases at all.
Bridge officials also released new figures Thursday on bridge traffic and bus use that appeared to be influenced by gas prices.
The number of vehicles that crossed southbound over the famous span dropped 2.5 percent last month compared with June 2007, while bus ridership was up 7.7 percent over the same period. Ferry use was nearly flat.
You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.
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