Twisted Titan
20th December 2010, 02:48 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localsfo/20101117/ts_yblog_localsfo/san-francisco-plans-tolls-between-peninsula-and-the-city
Welcome to San Francisco. That'll be three bucks to enter, and three more bucks to leave.
Sound nuts? Not to the San Francisco Transportation Authority. The agency is considering a proposal to turn the line with San Mateo County into a virtual toll plaza, charging rush-hour commuters up to $6 each weekday to cross into -- and out of -- the city by the bay.
Nearly half a million drivers cross from San Mateo County into San Francisco each day on one of five highways, according to Caltrans. And San Francisco officials hear the ka-ching of $60 million to $80 million in profits each year to improve the city's roads, transit, and bicycle and pedestrian networks.
Drivers everywhere else -- especially to the south -- see a raw deal.
[Related: Public relations hit would be significant.]
"It's absolutely nonsensical," said Daly City Councilman David Canepa, who also called the plan terrible, atrocious and egregious. "It's a slap in all of our faces."
San Francisco officials said they would spend $60 million to $100 million to set up the electronic system, coupled with local transit improvements, starting in 2015. It would be the first local "congestion pricing" system in the country and could begin as a 6- to 12-month pilot program that, if successful, could become permanent.
Under the plan, drivers leaving or entering San Francisco at the southern border would pay $3 from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. and another $3 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, with a daily cap of $6. Commuters would pay up to $130 per month, or about $1,500 in a year.
"That would cover all my utility bills. It would be a new bill that I cannot afford," said Loraine Lee, 28, who lives in Daly City two blocks from San Francisco and commutes to a property management company on Treasure Island. She said because of the hours of her job and lack of transit options, she'd have no choice but to pay the toll. "I think this whole toll is ridiculous," she said.
Noncommuters like Daly City's Annie Lyn and Mary Tevis, who travel to San Francisco daily for shopping and other trips, would have to change their lifestyles to avoid the toll times.
San Mateo County residents also wondered why San Francisco would be getting all the money even though the border is shared by both counties. And what would stop other cities from copying San Francisco?
"We could do the same thing; it'd be a nightmare," Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, said of a toll at the same boundary to fund Peninsula projects, or tolls at each of the borders of all local cities. "It sounds like another crazy idea. Where do you stop nickel-and-diming people? You should be able to travel from city to city without paying a toll."
Taxis and emergency vehicles would be exempt, while some other drivers, such as low-income residents or those who already crossed a toll bridge that day, could receive discounts. Tolls would be collected electronically, via FasTrak and cameras, for those crossing on highways and major arterial streets. There are also dozens of local residential streets that cross the border, although there are no plans to charge tolls there.
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority said the pilot program could take place either at the southern border or in the northeast part of the city.
Tilly Chang, a deputy director at the agency, argued that the toll would decrease traffic because people would alter their commute times and take transit to save money. The authority predicts that with tolls, traffic at the city's southern border would drop 20 percent during commute times.
"The cost of anything needs to be taken in context," Chang said. "It's not free right now. People are paying in time and having to pad their trip."
The authority's board could approve further study at its meeting next month and the city's supervisors would need to endorse the finished plan. The state would also have to pass legislation allowing it, and it's possible voters would need to approve the charges.
Another hurdle is the upfront cost, although the federal government previously offered New York City $350 million in hopes of persuading that city to launch the nation's first congestion tolling program. That plan died. Similar tolls are used abroad in Stockholm, London and Rome.
Welcome to San Francisco. That'll be three bucks to enter, and three more bucks to leave.
Sound nuts? Not to the San Francisco Transportation Authority. The agency is considering a proposal to turn the line with San Mateo County into a virtual toll plaza, charging rush-hour commuters up to $6 each weekday to cross into -- and out of -- the city by the bay.
Nearly half a million drivers cross from San Mateo County into San Francisco each day on one of five highways, according to Caltrans. And San Francisco officials hear the ka-ching of $60 million to $80 million in profits each year to improve the city's roads, transit, and bicycle and pedestrian networks.
Drivers everywhere else -- especially to the south -- see a raw deal.
[Related: Public relations hit would be significant.]
"It's absolutely nonsensical," said Daly City Councilman David Canepa, who also called the plan terrible, atrocious and egregious. "It's a slap in all of our faces."
San Francisco officials said they would spend $60 million to $100 million to set up the electronic system, coupled with local transit improvements, starting in 2015. It would be the first local "congestion pricing" system in the country and could begin as a 6- to 12-month pilot program that, if successful, could become permanent.
Under the plan, drivers leaving or entering San Francisco at the southern border would pay $3 from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. and another $3 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, with a daily cap of $6. Commuters would pay up to $130 per month, or about $1,500 in a year.
"That would cover all my utility bills. It would be a new bill that I cannot afford," said Loraine Lee, 28, who lives in Daly City two blocks from San Francisco and commutes to a property management company on Treasure Island. She said because of the hours of her job and lack of transit options, she'd have no choice but to pay the toll. "I think this whole toll is ridiculous," she said.
Noncommuters like Daly City's Annie Lyn and Mary Tevis, who travel to San Francisco daily for shopping and other trips, would have to change their lifestyles to avoid the toll times.
San Mateo County residents also wondered why San Francisco would be getting all the money even though the border is shared by both counties. And what would stop other cities from copying San Francisco?
"We could do the same thing; it'd be a nightmare," Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, said of a toll at the same boundary to fund Peninsula projects, or tolls at each of the borders of all local cities. "It sounds like another crazy idea. Where do you stop nickel-and-diming people? You should be able to travel from city to city without paying a toll."
Taxis and emergency vehicles would be exempt, while some other drivers, such as low-income residents or those who already crossed a toll bridge that day, could receive discounts. Tolls would be collected electronically, via FasTrak and cameras, for those crossing on highways and major arterial streets. There are also dozens of local residential streets that cross the border, although there are no plans to charge tolls there.
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority said the pilot program could take place either at the southern border or in the northeast part of the city.
Tilly Chang, a deputy director at the agency, argued that the toll would decrease traffic because people would alter their commute times and take transit to save money. The authority predicts that with tolls, traffic at the city's southern border would drop 20 percent during commute times.
"The cost of anything needs to be taken in context," Chang said. "It's not free right now. People are paying in time and having to pad their trip."
The authority's board could approve further study at its meeting next month and the city's supervisors would need to endorse the finished plan. The state would also have to pass legislation allowing it, and it's possible voters would need to approve the charges.
Another hurdle is the upfront cost, although the federal government previously offered New York City $350 million in hopes of persuading that city to launch the nation's first congestion tolling program. That plan died. Similar tolls are used abroad in Stockholm, London and Rome.