page_title: San Francisco congestion pricing
section_title: Bay Bridge congestion tolls
hierarchical_section_title: San Francisco congestion pricing / Background / Bay Bridge congestion tolls
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Luftaufnahme der Innenstadt San Franciscos und des westlichen Endes der Bay Bridge English: The San Francisco skyline and the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge taken from the air. 中文: 舊金山-奧克蘭海灣大橋. العربية: جسر سان فرانسيسكو-أوكلاند.
context_page_description: San Francisco congestion pricing is a proposed traffic congestion user fee for vehicles traveling into the most congested areas of the city of San Francisco at certain periods of peak demand. The charge would be combined with other traffic reduction projects. The proposed congestion pricing charge is part of a mobility and pricing study being carried out by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to reduce congestion at and near central locations and to reduce its associated environmental impacts, including cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The funds raised through the charge will be used for public transit improvement projects, and for pedestrian and bike infrastructure and enhancements.
  This initiative is supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The initial charging scenarios considered were presented in public meetings held in December 2008 and the final draft proposal, which called for implementation of a six-month to one-year trial in 2015, was discussed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in December 2010.
context_section_description: In July 2010 congestion pricing tolls were implemented at the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The Bay Bridge congestion pricing scheme charges a US$6 toll from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. During weekends cars pay US$5. Carpools before the implementation were exempted but now they pay US$2.50. The toll remained at the previous toll of US$4 at all other times on weekdays.
  The Bay Area Toll Authority reported that by October 2010 fewer users are driving during the peak hours and more vehicles are crossing the Bay Bridge before and after the 5–10 a.m. period in which the congestion toll goes into effect. According to a study contracted to the University of California, Berkeley, commute delays in the first six months have dropped by an average of 15 percent compared with 2009. When the congestion tolls were proposed, the agency expected the scheme to produce a 20 to 30 percent drop in commute traffic. The study also found a decrease in the number of carpools since the first fee for carpools was introduced, with a reduction of 10,800 carpoolers when figures from September 2009 and 2010 are compared. The UC Berkeley study also provides evidence that some people are using BART to get to work in San Francisco instead of paying the higher tolls on the Bay Bridge during rush hour.
caption: The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge has congestion based-tolling since July 2010.
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