Fiscal crisis may push Golden Gate Bridge tolls to $10
Golden Gate Bridge Heard ‘Singing’ Over San Francisco Bay
The auditory effect was captured in this video filmed by local resident Brianne Howell. She told Storyful she “started hearing a strange sound at random times for the past month or so while walking through Land’s End”, a coastal strip on the Golden Gate strait known for its walking tracks.
SAN FRANCISCO - The Golden Gate Bridge is feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and may pass the problem onto drivers.
Members of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District on Friday will discuss possibly raising tolls another $2 or laying off workers. That means "pay-as-you-go" drivers would pay more than $10 to cross the landmark.
Since the pandemic started in early March, travel across the Golden Gate Bridge has dropped 30%. On average, the bridge is losing about $2 million in tolls and transit fares every week, the district said in a recent report. The district still faces a $48 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year.
The district has been using federal emergy relief aid to pay its employees but that funding will run out at the end of November, so district officials are weighing three options.
One option is to eliminate 205 job positions, freeing up some revenue.
Another possibility would be to establish a temporary COVID-19 toll surcharge of $2. If that surcharge is not approved by the board at its meeting on Dec. 4, layoffs would occur.
The last recourse would be to establish a temporary surcharge of $1.25, but only if unions agreed to a one-day-a-week unpaid furlough of employees.
Right now, drivers with FasTrak pay $7.70 to cross the bridge, and pay-as-you-go drivers pay $8.40.
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