Bay Area Says NO To Carpool Charges

Monday, August 2, 2010 - 8:00am PDT by Irvin Dawid

While carpooling dropped 30% on the Bay Bridge after the first-time carpool charges were applied July 1, the Golden Gate Bridge reported a 68% drop, though it may be tied to confusion over which lane carpoolers should use with Fastrak requirement.

The seven state-owned bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area began charging $2.50 for carpools (previously free) during peak times, while tolled at full rate during off-peak and weekends. The six-county, district-owned Golden Gate Bridge applied its first-time, peak-time carpooling charge of $3 also on July 1.

"The result has been a 68 percent drop in the number of carpool users on the Golden Gate Bridge from about 2,085 to 665 daily compared to this time last year.

While the number of carpoolers has dropped, the number of cars crossing the span has been stable since the beginning of the month.

Bridge officials believe some carpools might be going through the FasTrak lanes but not stopping, and they are being charged a regular $5 toll. Carpools must have a FasTrak device, then go into a lane with a toll taker, who then counts the number of people in the car and punches in the discount."

Thanks to MTC Headlines

Full Story: Sharp decline in carpools as bridges impose tolls for first time

Published on Friday, July 30, 2010 in Marin Independent Journal

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