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The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) — which is required by state law to fund projects to preserve and protect the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges — today heard a proposal for a toll increase that would be used only to pay for the maintenance, rehabilitation and operation of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. If approved by BATA later this year, the toll increase would be phased in over five years, beginning Jan. 1, 2026. 

The toll increase proposal includes a tiered rate structure aimed at encouraging more customers to pay electronically with FasTrak® toll tags,(link is external, opens in a new window) as this form of payment carries lower administrative costs than payment through a license plate account or returning payment with an invoice received by mail. Under the proposal, customers would pay a premium for using a pre-registered license plate account or for invoiced tolling. To give customers ample time to sign up for FasTrak, this premium would not begin until 2027. 

The proposed toll hike is separate from the $3 increase approved by Bay Area voters in 2018 through Regional Measure 3 to finance a comprehensive suite of highway and transit improvements around the region. The first of the three $1 Regional Measure 3 toll increases went into effect in 2019, followed by another in 2022. The last of the RM 3 toll hikes will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, bringing the toll for regular two-axle cars and trucks to $8.

The proposal heard today by BATA calls for tolls for all regular two-axle cars and trucks to increase to $8.50 on Jan. 1, 2026. Tolls for customers who pay with FasTrak tags would then rise to $9 in 2027; to $9.50 in 2028; to $10 in 2029; and then to $10.50 in 2030. Tolls for customers who use a pre-registered license plate account would rise to $9.25 in 2027; to $9.75 in 2028; to $10.25 in 2029 and to $10.75 in 2030. Invoiced tolls would rise to $10 in 2027; $10.50 in 2028; $11 in 2029; and $11.50 in 2030. The Golden Gate Bridge has used a tiered pricing schedule since 2014. Golden Gate Bridge tolls by July 2028 will range from  $11.25 for FasTrak to $11.50 for license plate accounts to $12.25 for invoice customers.

Under the proposed toll increase, tolls for large freight trucks and other vehicle/trailer combinations with three or more axles would rise by 50 cents per axle each year from 2026 through 2030. 

“I’m sensitive to the overall cost of living in the Bay Area,” acknowledged Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza, who also serves as chair of both BATA and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). “Working families really feel the impact, not just in transportation but back at home with utilities, groceries, children. This one is hard. But it’s the right thing to do.”

BATA and MTC invite members of the public to weigh in on the proposed toll increase during a comment period that begins Monday, Nov.4, and continues through 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Comments may be sent via email to info@bayareametro.gov. BATA and MTC also will host a public webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 13, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to present more details about the proposed toll hike and will hold a public hearing at 9:35 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20, in San Francisco to hear testimony about the proposal from Bay Area residents, businesses and other interested parties. The hearing will be conducted as part of BATA’s regular November meeting. Members of the public will be able to participate in person or via Zoom. 

Today’s presentation by BATA and MTC staff also proposed updates to the policies for high-occupancy vehicles on approaches to the Bay Area’s state-owned toll bridges. These updates would take effect Jan. 1, 2026, concurrent with the proposed toll increase. BATA’s  existing toll schedule allows vehicles with three or more occupants (HOV 3+) a discounted toll, with a two-person (HOV 2) occupancy requirement for half-price tolls at the Dumbarton and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. BATA and MTC staff propose to establish a uniform three-person occupancy requirement for half-price tolls during weekday commute periods at all seven bridges. Carpool vehicles at all state-owned bridges must use a dedicated carpool lane and pay their tolls with a FasTrak Flex toll tag set to the ‘3’ position to receive the 50 percent discount available weekdays from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The proposed carpool policy changes also would allow vehicles with two occupants and a switchable FasTrak Flex toll tag set to the ‘2’ position to use the carpool lanes on the approaches to the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael  and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. These two-occupant vehicles would not receive the 50 percent carpool discount but would be able to use the carpool lanes to save time traveling through the toll plazas. Use of the carpool lanes on approaches to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge still would require a minimum of three occupants.

The new carpool policy proposals are designed to improve safety on the toll bridge approaches by minimizing ‘weaving’ between lanes and to increase person-throughput by prioritizing access for buses and carpools. The policy change also would optimize lane configurations as now-obsolete toll booths are removed as part of the coming transition to open-road tolling.  

BATA, which is directed by the same policy board as MTC, administers toll revenues from the Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges. Toll revenues from the Golden Gate Bridge are administered by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, which joined with BATA to operate a single regional FasTrak customer service center in San Francisco. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

Longtime Deputy Executive Director Succeeds Therese W. McMillan

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) today named Andrew B. Fremier as its new Executive Director. This position also serves as the top executive for the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).

Mr. Fremier, who has served since 2005 as an MTC deputy executive director, succeeds Therese W. McMillan, who retired Feb. 1 after four years as Executive Director and after a nearly four-decade career in public service that included a combined 29 years at MTC, seven years on the Federal Transit Administration’s executive leadership team during the administration of former president Barack Obama and three years as planning chief for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Prior to joining MTC, Mr. Fremier served as the Chief Deputy District Director for Caltrans’ Oakland-based District 4. A licensed civil engineer, Fremier held a variety of positions during his 20 years at Caltrans, including leading the Toll Bridge and Highway construction program and developing the state Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program.

After joining the MTC staff, Mr. Fremier served as a member of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee’s project management team throughout its 2005-18 existence, helping the committee implement new project supervision and control processes and a comprehensive risk management program credited with avoiding years of potential delays and more than $455 million in potential costs during the replacement of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span and the Bay Bridge West Approach, demolition of the original Bay Bridge East Span, construction of the new Benicia-Martinez Bridge that opened in 2007, and the retrofits of the original 1962 Benicia-Martinez Bridge, the 1958 Carquinez Bridge and the Antioch, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael and San Mateo-Hayward bridges.

Mr. Fremier managed the seismic retrofit of the former U.S. Postal Service facility in San Francisco acquired by MTC’s Bay Area Headquarters Authority affiliate in 2011 and the five-year redevelopment project that transformed the previously hulking World War II-era building into the airy and light-filled Bay Area Metro Center, which now houses the headquarters for MTC, ABAG, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

As MTC’s Deputy Executive Director for Operations, Mr. Fremier has served as Deputy Executive Director of the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA), supervising administration of all toll revenue from the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges. His management portfolio also has included MTC’s Design & Project Delivery, Electronic Payments, Facilities & Contract Services, Field Operations & Asset Management, and Technology Services sections, overseeing initiatives such as the Clipper® electronic transit-fare card program, the 511 traveler information system, the FasTrak® electronic tolling system and MTC’s growing network of freeway Express Lanes, which are operated by the Bay Area Infrastructure Financing Authority. Already in operation are Express Lanes on Interstate 880 in Alameda County and Interstate 680 in Contra Costa County, with construction now underway on Express Lanes in both directions of Interstate 80 between Cordelia and Vacaville in Solano County.

Mr. Fremier is the current president of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association and a former chair of the California Toll Operators Committee. He also is a member of the board of directors for San Francisco’s Ferry Bocce League and a San Francisco Giants season ticket holder. Mr. Fremier earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

Free Crossings for Eligible Veterans Begin Jan. 1, Penalty-Waiver Program Coming

The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) and the Golden Gate Bridge District today announced two new bridge toll assistance programs that will benefit customers from lower-income households as well as eligible military veterans, beginning in 2023.

By July 1, 2023, BATA and the Golden Gate Bridge District will institute a policy for toll bridge customers whose household income is no more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level (approximately $55,000 for a family of four) to receive a waiver of any penalties assessed for late or missed payments of toll invoices and toll evasion notices incurred for toll bridge crossings between March 20, 2020 and Jan. 1, 2023. The waiver applies to the Golden Gate Bridge and to the state-owned Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. The waiver will not apply to Express Lanes.

The Low-Income COVID Waiver program — created by Assembly Bill 2594, which was authored by San Francisco Assembly member Phil Ting and enacted earlier this year — will allow qualifying motorists to request from FasTrak® a waiver of outstanding bridge toll violation penalties. Waiver recipients will be required to pay tolls and any fees charged by the Department of Motor Vehicles for vehicle registration holds due to the non-payment of  penalties.

Another new state law — AB 2949, authored by Assembly member Alex Lee of San Jose — goes into effect Jan. 1, 2023, granting eligible veterans of the U.S. armed forces free tolls on California toll bridges. These include the Golden Gate Bridge as well as the state-owned Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. The free-passage benefit does not apply to Express Lanes.

To be eligible for free travel across California toll bridges, vehicles registered to military veterans must have a license plate with one of the following designations: Congressional Medal of Honor, Disabled Veteran, Legion of Valor, Pearl Harbor Survivor, Ex-Prisoner of War, or Purple Heart.

Eligible veterans do not currently need to have a FasTrak electronic toll payment account to qualify for free passage, although a FasTrak-enrollment requirement will be instituted in the future. To avoid being charged a toll, veterans who already are FasTrak customers must place their FasTrak tag in a Mylar bag when traveling through bridge toll plazas. Customers may request a bag by logging into their FasTrak account, clicking ‘Vehicles and Tags’, and selecting ‘Request Toll Tag Supplies.’ Veterans also may request a Mylar bag by calling the FasTrak customer service center at 877-BAY-TOLL (877-229-8655). These bags are free of charge.

BATA administers all toll revenues from the San Francisco Bay Area’s  seven state-owned toll bridges. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District owns and operates the Golden Gate Bridge.