LOL
I wouldn't mind paying 10 bucks, it's a beautiful bridge.
But I only use it to leave the City, that way it is always free.
I like looking at it from Tiburon...
Posted on 02/09/2005 5:03:03 PM PST by Citizen James
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Users of the Golden Gate Bridge could see yet another toll increase under a plan by the Golden Gate Bridge District to help the agency climb out of debt.
The district already has cut its deficit -- which once was $454 million -- in part by raising cash tolls from $3 to $5 in 2002.
Officials now say the toll hike wasn't enough, and have proposed raising it to $6 in July 2006. Bicyclists and pedestrians also might face tolls under the new plan.
"We are looking at a combination of things, but we will probably have to ratchet up the tolls," said Dietrich Stroeh, a Marin member on the Golden Gate Bridge District Board of Directors.
The bridge district faces a $108 million deficit over the next five years. Much of the deficit needs have been addressed, but there is still a $69 million hole, officials said.
The board of directors was set to meet Friday to discuss options.
Toll increases "are likely, but maybe they (the board) will come up with something else," said Mary Currie, district spokeswoman. "Anything we do will have full public involvement."
Fares for the district's ferry and bus operations also are likely to increase.
"I don't know if there is a magic bullet out there to avoid toll hikes," Stroeh said. "We are looking for it."
The toll money doesn't just go for maintenance of the bridge. It goes to pay the members of the Golden Gate Bridge District, and they also run a bus system, and, I think, ferries. From what I've gathered over the years, they are soaking the drivers to subsidize the buses and ferries. I'm sure if I'm wrong about that, someone will correct me.
> Discount for suicidals?
Actually, they want to stop that.
So they need to charge the walkers and bikers $100,
and refund $99 at the other side.
Get the jumpers to pay a small part of the costs they
incur every time one goes over the side.
If it gets any worse, someone will have to start a ferry service ... which shouldn't be very hard in San Francisco.
Just make it $10 and get it over with.
Toll taker pension plans, Toll taker health and dental coverage, Toll taker peer counseling and recreation center, Toll taker administration oversight committee expenses. Painters, Iron workers, Cone putter downers, Cone pickum uppers I and II, The guys that sit in a truck looking at other guys standing around. Seagull fecal removal squads. Fecal removal squad observers. Janitors, accountants, personnel directors, Substance abuse mitigation counseling committee members, Body bag purchasing agents, Water hose operators, water hose coil up technicians....
I was going to say that.
"In November 1930, the proposal for a $35,000,000 Bond issue was submitted to the voters of the counties comprising the district, and the issue carried overwhelmingly. Bidding plans were prepared, and first bids received in July 1931. A taxpayers suit followed before the word was awarded, and a final court decision favoring the district was given in July 1932. On January 5, 1933, actual construction of the Bridge was begun."
So, a 35 million dollar bond in 1930 hasn't been paid off yet?
Also:
Currently, 50 percent of bus and ferry operations are funded by Bridge tolls, with another 30 percent coming from transit fares, and the remainder being met by federal and state subsidies. While many Bay Area counties have enacted local sales taxes to support public transit, Marin and Sonoma counties have not. Further, the Golden Gate Bridge District does not have the authority to levy taxes. Therefore, the use of surplus Bridge toll revenue has been the only local means available to support financial shortfalls of the operation of the District's bus and ferry services.
====
So the tolls are used to pay for Mass Transit that is going broke...got it.
...not to mention the buses and ferries that are run by the Golden Gate Bridge District and subsidized by the tolls paid by the drivers.
your right....The ferry system and the buses are all running a large deficit......When the bridge was built, the tolls were to pay for the bonds and for maintenance. The bonds were paid decades ago and a $0.25 toll would pay for the paint.....
It's the Bridge Board that for years has always looked for ways for them to milk the District to enable them to keep their jobs....all over a $100k/year with a ONCE A MONTH MEETING requirement.......If there were no ferries or buses, they'd be out of a job.....
Well even the buses and ferries generate revenues from fares, so they shouldn't be draining THAT much from the bridge. It would be interesting to see a detailed breakdown of where the money's coming from and where it's going to. But chances are the accountants have made it totally indecipherable.
The GG Bridge toll hikes are "never enough". Incrementalist taxing. The libs in SF power said they would do it. I think it was Willie Brown and his group thought that those driving into "SF" for business should also pay taxes in SF (as well as their own county). I guess San Francisco is planning to secede from the state of CA.
Post #27 gives some idea where the tolls go. It looks like the mass transit is running a huge deficit, and is subsized by the bridge tolls, as I've heard reported, not read for myself. It seems that they've been reluctant to charge riders of the transit a fare that would prevent the huge deficits - their main concern is that people would just decide to drive if the fares get too high.
damn..and I thought a coupel bucks for the PA Turnpike was bad..
I think it's still free to drive into San Francisco from the south, but from points north or east that would mean driving all the way down to San Jose first and would probably cost more in gasoline than the bridge toll.
I would think that the traffic jams would motivate the people back to the buses and ferries.
This outfit isn't intertwined with BART, is it?
I'm from San Jose, so when I go to the North Bay, I take the GGBridge north at no toll. On the way back, I take the San Rafael Bridge (no toll that direction) and drive back down I-880
Of course, any consideration of cutting back on money losing busses and ferries is not on the table. If they were serious about being solvent, they would have it all on the table and not resort to this.
"But I'm cute."
You know the rules. We demand pictorial proof.
LOL
I wouldn't mind paying 10 bucks, it's a beautiful bridge.
But I only use it to leave the City, that way it is always free.
I like looking at it from Tiburon...
You, of all people, should already know the answer to that question: The money is needed to subsidize mass transit systems run by the Bridge District, whether the ferries that they promised would run as hydrofoils (but never did), or the bus system in Marin County, it's mass transit that is sinking the GG Bridge District.
You have impaled yourself on your own petard.
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