The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) today [23 October] heard a proposal for a toll increase that would be used only to pay for the maintenance, rehabilitation and operation of a collection of several its bridges.
BATA is required by state law to fund projects to preserve and protect the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges.
If approved by BATA later this year, the toll increase would be phased in over five years, beginning Jan. 1, 2026.
The bridges affected include:
- San Francisco-Oakland Bay
- Antioch
- Benicia-Martinez
- Carquinez
- Dumbarton
- Richmond-San Rafael
- San Mateo-Hayward
The toll increase proposal includes a tiered rate structure aimed at encouraging more customers to pay electronically with FasTrak toll tags.
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Under the proposal, customers would pay a premium for using a pre-registered license plate account or for invoiced tolling.
To give customers ample time to sign up for FasTrak, this premium would not begin until 2027.
The proposed toll hike is separate from the $3 (£2.34) 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 (£0.78) Regional Measure 3 toll increases went into effect in 2019, followed by another in 2022.
The last of the toll hikes will go into effect 1 January 2025, bringing the toll for regular two-axle cars and trucks to $8 (£6.25).
Under the proposed toll increase, tolls for large freight trucks and other vehicle/trailer combinations with three or more axles would rise by $0.50 (£0.39) per axle each year from 2026 through 2030.
Chair of BATA and the the Metropolitan Transportation Commission Alfredo Pedroza said: “I’m sensitive to the overall cost of living in the Bay Area.
“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.”
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