Bridge tolls increasing on January 1st

It will cost you more to cross the Bay Bridge starting in the next year. The toll across the Bay Bridge going up to $10 starting on January 1st for people paying by invoice or $9 if you're using a fast track transponder. For more, we're joined now live by John Goodwin with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. John, nice to see you again. No one likes it when something goes up. True. This is not a popular adjustment. This is the second of five stepped increases, the first of which went into effect January 1 of this year, the second January 1 of 2027. But what is different this time is that there will be tiered pricing. So you will have a definite I'm savings by paying your toll With a license plate account or especially relative with FastTrack rather than to paying via invoice, returning the invoice by mail. to Now, John, a lot of people on my social media are asking, speak why does it cost so much? After all, the bridge has been paid for. But I think I know the answer. This money goes to maintenance, right? now. This money goes to maintenance. And your earlier piece about today being the 90th birthday of the Bay Bridge. Thank Is a case in point, the bridges are getting older and they need to be they need to be maintained, preserved and improved. So where does the money go? It's really three big categories. One is painting. There's a. you. There's a lot of steel on those bridges and it's a harsh marine environment, so a lot of paint is used to protect them. We've got some big painting jobs already underway on the Bay Bridge and on others. There's the basic integrity of the bridges. That includes the installation of a new fender system at the Bay Bridge. And then the third category relates to facilities. It's the electrical mechanical systems. It's the transition to open road tolling, which takes a big step forward this weekend. Put it all together. It is a two plus billion dollar 10 year capital improvement program that these tolls are going for. John, I know that they're doing the gantry at the Richmond Bridge, where basically you don't have toll booths anymore. You have a steel structure that you go underneath, and it basically takes your info and charges you that way. That's coming to all the bridges, is it? It is coming to all of the bridges. The Richmond-San Rafael will be the first to make the conversion. The other bridges will come online over the next several years. The last thing I want to ask you is, look, I realize that you have to pay for maintenance. This is somewhat regressive, though, and I know this is not you. You're not the policymaker. You're just, you know, the spokesperson. But do the policymakers ever think that this is a very regressive way to get maintenance? Because, you know, obviously if you're, you know, kind of living on a low income, this is huge for you. Look, it's a fair point. And to to that point, the policymakers made a deliberate decision to make this a series of stepped up 50 cent increases over five years rather than raising tolls by two dollars and 50 cents all at once. All right. John Goodwin with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. I guess I should say happy birthday of the opening of the Bay Bridge, John. Happy birthday to the Bay Bridge. All right. Thank you, John. Thank you for joining us.