We just received word that the Golden Gate Bridge District is considering a toll on people biking and walking over the bridge, and we need your help before this Friday morning.
This proposal is déjà vu for those of you who have been biking in the Bay Area for a while. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Marin County Bicycle Coalition have fought this bad idea before, and we’ll need your help again to make sure this anti-biking, anti-walking proposal does not move forward.
We need your help before this Friday to stop this bad idea. Please take three quick actions now:
- Sign our petition below to let the Golden Gate Bridge District know you don’t support tolling people on foot and on bikes!
- Come to the meeting this Friday (October 24th) at 10AM at the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza. We’ll have talking points on hand!
- Tweet to @ggbridge and ask them not to introduce a bike/ped toll.
Simply put: Charging a toll for people biking and walking is antithetical to San Francisco and Marin County’s goals of improving our air quality, encouraging physical activity and improving public access to our most treasured places. Not to mention that this contradicts the Bridge District’s own “green” goals and the State’s significant commitments to cut carbon emissions and lessen traffic congestion.
While we acknowledge that the Bridge District faces significant financial challenges, this is a poor decision, even from a financial standpoint. The District’s own past studies show that the cost of implementing a bicyclist/pedestrian toll is so high that little revenue would actually be raised.
In addition, imposing this toll unfairly burdens people biking and walking with an inequitable portion of the costs. For instance, if the average vehicle weighs 4,500 pounds and is charged a $6 toll, then the average bicycle at 20 pounds should be charged 2.5¢. Flipping this equation around, if a $1 toll is levied on bicyclists, this would equate to a $240 toll on auto drivers.