Bay Area bridge tolls to hit $10, picking drivers’…
The price of commuting across the San Francisco Bay Area is only going to get more costly once New Year’s Day hits.
Drivers crossing seven different bridges in the area might have to fork over up to $10 per crossing, a ramp up from the current commonplace $8.50 price. The bridges are the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Mateo-Hayward and San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridges.
The price increase was truly permitted in 2024 but delayed to next yr, according to FasTrak, the state’s digital toll assortment system.
Cars stop at the Carquinez Bridge Toll Plaza to pay tolls in Vallejo, Calif., Saturday, April 14, 2018. Sundry Photography – stock.adobe.com
Traffic backs up on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in Oakland, California, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. Getty Images
The $10 price tag, however, will be prevented under a new tiered pricing construction. Those drivers with a FasTrak toll tag will only pay $9, while those with a pre-paid license plate account pays just $9.25.
The aim, officers said, is to encourage drivers to signal up for FasTrak, as it carries “lower administrative costs” than a buyer receiving an bill through the mail.
It prices time and money to look up license plates in DMV databases and then ship a paper invoice in the mail.
John Goodwin, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, told the San Francisco Chronicle that about three-quarters of Bay Area bridge drivers use FasTrak.
The tiered construction comes as the area seems to be to do away with toll cubicles and enable for seamless journey on the bridges, with mounted cameras and sensors up high mechanically studying FasTrak tags. The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is predicted to be the first bridge to perform that imaginative and prescient after April.
A board shows the new toll price for automobiles driving toward San Francisco across the Bay Bridge in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Dusk falls over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in Marin County, California, on Saturday, March 25, 2017. Yuval Helfman – stock.adobe.com
Toll costs have been steadily going up over the past years and will continue to do so to keep up with more and more costly upkeep prices for the large bridges.
Tolls on the seven bridges paid with FasTrak will rise to $9 in 2027, $9.50 in 2028, $10 in 2029 and $10.50 in 2030. Invoiced tolls will continue to carry the one-dollar premium.
FasTrak and money lane designation indicators stand before the toll plaza for the Benicia-Martinez Bridge in the north San Francisco Bay Area on Monday, April 22, 2019. Sundry Photography – stock.adobe.com
Drivers already struggling with the state’s high price of residing indicated they’re not glad with price will increase.
“It’s Satanic,” Frank Remlinger of Vallejo told the Chronicle. He crosses two bridges every day during his work commute.”
“It’s a lot already – I guess I’m just cheap,” another driver, Tairat Asuni, told the newspaper, but she acknowledged it is likely to be a mandatory price to pay to keep the bridges, that are important for getting around the Bay Area.
Another bridge — the more well-known Golden Gate Bridge — has also seen its honest share of toll will increase. This past July, toll costs have been up to date to a whopping $11.25, far more costly than the others.
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