Golden Gate Bridge Board votes on charging to bike, walk the span

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- On a busy day, there are as many as 10,000 pedestrians and 6,000 cyclists on the Golden Gate Bridge. On Friday, the Bridge's Board of Directors voted to explore the idea of charging people who bike or walk on the span. The board sees it as an untapped source of revenue and would raise much needed cash.

"I'd probably pay five and under at most," suggested one pedestrian.

"I don't know, a dollar to walk across?" said another.

"Even if it's just a reduced amount like 25 or 50 cents a pop, I think that would be worth it," said yet another.

The Golden Gate Bridge District's Board of Directors is far from coming up with a price. The vote on Friday gives their staff up to three years to explore the idea of a sidewalk toll - from how much to charge to how to go about collecting it.

Several Board members like San Francisco Supervisor David Campos says charging people who walk and ride goes against Bay Area values. "We actually want to encourage people to walk, we want to encourage people to bike," said Campos.

But others on the Board say with the Bridge District facing a five-year, $33 million budget shortfall, exploring the idea of a sidewalk toll makes sense.

"One should do the math about if you had a one dollar pedestrian fee, what that would mean for the bottom line for the bridge. There is a philosophical part of that, but you don't know it unless you study it," explained Brian Sobel.

The Golden Gate Bridge did have a sidewalk toll for decades. People inserted coins in turnstiles which were ultimately removed in 1970 for not making enough money. Bicycling advocates say they hope history will work in their favor. "We believe that as they study it, they're going to find as they have in the past that it's not a viable solution," said Kristin Smith, with the San Francisco Bike Coalition.

The vote was close. Board members voted 10-9 to keep the sidewalk fee in the plan and 14-5 to approve the entire plan that contains 45 initiatives to raise money or reduce expenses, District spokeswoman Priya David Clemens said.

The district's staff has until 2017 to present their study.