Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): We are. Gonna wait a couple of minutes to get started to allow people to join so we will come back in about another minute or 2.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you for attending.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): You will give this just one more minute to allow folks to join and then we'll get started, so we'll start at 6 34.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Good evening, and thank you for attending tonight's webinar for the Bay Area toll. Authority's proposed toll increase in high occupancy or Hov. Policy changes for State owned bridges.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): My name is Veronica Cummings, and I am an Mtc. Abag principal Public Information Officer, and I will be facilitating tonight's Webinar.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): I am joined by the following, Mtcabac staff.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Derek Hansel, chief financial officer.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Lisa Klein.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Deputy executive director for mobility.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Lynn Valdivia, section director for tolling services and revenue.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Peter Lee.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): assistant director in field operations and asset management.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): and Rebecca long section director for legislation and public affairs.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Next slide, please.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): This webinar is scheduled for 90 min, and we'll begin with this welcome and a review of the agenda and logistics.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): We will show a video that provides some background on the Bay Area's state-owned toll bridges
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): describes the work that is involved in keeping them in good condition and outlines. The proposed toll increase in Hov Lane policy changes.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): After the video concludes we will move on to the presentations.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): First, st there will be a presentation on the proposed toll increase by Rebecca, long followed by a. Q. And a session that I will facilitate.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): and after that Rebecca will then present on the Hov. Policy changes, which will be followed by another Q. And a session
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): before we review next steps and conclude the webinar
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): next slide. Please
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): let's go over a few logistics before we get into before we start the video.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): First, st if you need technical technical support, please send a message to staff via the chat feature.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): there will be an opportunity to ask questions following the presentation that Rebecca will be giving. If you have questions, please enter your questions in the Q. And A. Box. Do not enter questions or comments into the chat.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Written comments may be submitted by email to info@bayareametro.gov.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): And profanity, offensive and or culturally insensitive language will not be tolerated
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): if members of the public are watching on Youtube, please enter your questions there.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): And lastly, this webinar is being recorded, and it will be posted online
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): next slide, please.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Now, let's watch the video.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay,
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): it looks like we're having audio issues. So we're gonna take a moment to restart this video so that the audio can work.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, it looks like we are still having a few audio issues.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): So what we will do is
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Let's see, let's go ahead and pause the video.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): And we're gonna we're gonna skip the video and move on into an overview of data that Rebecca Long will present. So let's go to the next slide, and Rebecca, go ahead.
Rebecca Long: Okay, thank you, Veronica, and sorry everyone that the video didn't work. We are gonna be able to post that on our website. So you will get to watch the video and see the beautiful
Rebecca Long: shots of our bridges by our skilled videographer, Mark Jones on the upside. We have more time, and it won't be as repetitive because the video really is quite comprehensive. But for starters again, thank you so much for joining this evening, and I'm going to start with an overview of what is the Bay Area toll authority. Since Bata is the organization that is proposing this toll increase.
Rebecca Long: we wanted to take a minute to explain what and who Bada is.
Rebecca Long: Bata was created by the California Legislature in 1997 to administer the toll revenues from the 7 State owned toll bridges, so the bridges they are owned by the State, but Bata administers them. The bridges are shown here in the map.
Rebecca Long: I'll just quickly run through them. They're the Antioch, Benicia, Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond, San Rafael, San Francisco Bay, and the San Mateo Hayward bridges the Golden Gate, Bridge while it is a toll bridge, it is separately administered.
Rebecca Long: Bata has responsibility for these bridges in terms of collecting the tolls, and we're also charged with responsibility for funding their upkeep through toll revenue.
Rebecca Long: That's a requirement in State law
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: So let's turn next to the important question of how existing bridge tolls are used. The current bridge. Toll for passenger vehicles is $7, and it's a higher amount for multi axle vehicles which are heavier and have more wear and tear on the bridges. Tolls are used for bridge operations and maintenance bridge preservation.
Rebecca Long: the seismic retrofit of the bridges, much of that is repaying for bonds that were issued to do that seismic retrofit. And we'll talk about that a little bit more
Rebecca Long: as well as voter approved regional measures. 1, 2, and 3. That's right. Bay area voters have approved 3 regional measures to raise tolls.
Rebecca Long: and those have funded many important highway and transit capital projects plus transit operations for very specific service. So all of the regional measures had specified projects, and that revenue from those toll increases is going specifically to those projects as approved by the voters. Next slide.
Rebecca Long: This slide provides a visual history of the toll increases since 1989, and I'm old enough to remember when the toll was less than a dollar, and people paid in coins, but it was standardized at $1 in 1989.
Rebecca Long: The next dollar was added about 10 years later to help pay for seismic retrofit of the bridges.
Rebecca Long: In 2,003 the Legislature passed a bill authorizing placement of regional measure, 2 on the ballot, which, raised tolls by $1,
Rebecca Long: and funded a host of transportation improvements, including Ebart Highway, 4 widening as well as Bart, to Warm Springs, and was approved by the voters in 2,004,
Rebecca Long: then in 2,007 and 2010, a second and a 3rd dollar was added for seismic retrofit, bringing the total toll to $5 by 2010.
Rebecca Long: In 2017 the State Legislature passed a bill allowing the placement of regional measure 3 on the ballot, which voters approved in 2018, and regional measure 3, as you may recall, is a $3 increase, but it was phased in over a 6 year period.
Rebecca Long: and you'll see here the very last column, where it adds up to $8. We do have an Rm. 3. Toll increase, taking effect. January 1, st 2025, so the toll will be $8 in about a month and a half from now.
Rebecca Long: Next slide.
Rebecca Long: These pie charts show Bata's revenue and expenses for the current fiscal year. Bata is a 1 billion dollars a year enterprise on the revenue side. On the left. The vast majority is toll revenue, as you'd expect. Some of the other slices include interest from investments and toll violation revenue.
Rebecca Long: What jumps out on the expenditure side on the right is a 56% dark blue slice there, and that is debt service for the bonds that Bata has issued to fund construction projects, including for bridge work like the new east span of the Bay Bridge, as well as capital projects funded by the regional measures as well as some rehabilitation and preservation work.
Rebecca Long: The next 2 biggest slices are transfers to capital and reserves and toll bridge and tolling operations and maintenance.
Rebecca Long: Next next slide, please.
Rebecca Long: In its history Bata has spent 15 billion dollars on capital projects, and you can see that the pie is outlined. There's a kind of Pac-man reverse Pac-man Shaped outline there, which is is bridge work, and so about 12.8 billion dollars of this capital investment has gone back into the bridges themselves
Rebecca Long: through the seismic program. The rehab program again, that's preservation work to keep the bridges in a state of good repair, and then regional measure. One included the actual construction of some new bridges.
Rebecca Long: Next slide
Rebecca Long: Bata and Caltrans deliver a lot of different projects on multiple fronts. And this slide just shows an illustration of the different types of projects the blue dots represent, where bridges have been seismically retrofit, and you can be glad to see that all the bridges have been retrofit.
Rebecca Long: The green represent a new bridge, right? So we did see a brand new bridge at the Benicia Martinez, the Carquinez Bridge, and of course the east span of the Bay Bridge, and then the Burgundy is where
Rebecca Long: open road tolling projects are underway and the pink on a few of the bridges there are projects we refer to as
Rebecca Long: bridge forward initiatives that are trying to ease the commute and speed up traffic.
Rebecca Long: Next slide, please.
Rebecca Long: The bridges are, of course, a critical economic lifeline for the Bay area. They carry workers to their jobs, goods to market, and tourists and residents to the Bay area's many destinations that are separated by water.
Rebecca Long: This slide slide shows the volume of vehicle trips in the toll, paying direction.
Rebecca Long: But of course most trips are 2 way, so on any given day almost 700,000 vehicles cross one of our toll bridges almost 4 times as many trips as taken by Bart for comparison purposes on a typical weekday.
Rebecca Long: and it probably won't come as a surprise that the Bay Bridge, which is the top bar there, that the red bar is the total. The top blue bar is the Bay Bridge. It carries about 1 3rd of all of the Bata bridge trips
Rebecca Long: next slide, please.
Rebecca Long: So next we're going to dig into why, we're proposing a toll increase at this time next slide.
Rebecca Long: So preserving the bridges really is the job number one, for bata bridges do need ongoing maintenance every year to keep them in a state of good repair.
Rebecca Long: Bata has been borrowing to keep up with the needed bridge preservation as traffic is down and the cost to collect tolls is increasing.
Rebecca Long: and construction costs have been rising quite a bit faster than inflation, making it even harder to keep up
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: This slide just provides some examples of projects that fall under the definition of bridge preservation.
Rebecca Long: These assets need regular maintenance, and most of this work is invisible to drivers. As you can see, these are really foundations. You can see some structures on the Richmond San Rafael. Here, with workers painting them. Painting is a huge part of what this toll increase will fund, and there's just a massive amount of steel that needs to be regularly painted to prevent it from rusting and to keep it strong
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: So this slide provides a visual of some of the financial challenges that that we're facing. As we have this responsibility for bridge preservation.
Rebecca Long: The top line shows the pre pandemic estimates of bridge toll revenue that was was done in 2019. This is where we anticipated, and it's important to note that a lot of the increase is due to the Rm. 3 toll increases taking effect, and then we did anticipate that we would need to be raising tolls by at least a dollar for bridge preservation somewhere around 2027,
Rebecca Long: and the Blue Bar is where we are now. And this is, you know, there's a lot of factors here there's been lower traffic post covid, and then also the shift to electronic toll collection has made it harder to fully recoup the tolls that are owed
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: So Bada
Rebecca Long: has does currently borrow to fund bridge, rehab.
Rebecca Long: That is something, you know. That's not a great practice, and by raising the bridge tolls. We're going to be able to have ongoing revenue that can be going towards that need.
Rebecca Long: This slide illustrates an example. Where, if we were to borrow again, let's say, another 600 million dollars.
Rebecca Long: and we would. We would not be able to pay that off on an ongoing basis in terms of the principal, we would be looking at only interest, which is shown as this top red bar, and then with a big lump payment in the out years when we would have more capacity to do that. That would cost an additional 690 million dollars.
Rebecca Long: And so it's really not financially responsible for us to keep borrowing to make these investments in critical bridge repairs, and it will require a even larger toll increase for future drivers down the road
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: So revenue from the toll increase will fund projects to preserve and protect the aging bridge structures. And Bata has a 1.9 billion dollars. Capital Improvement plan that we develop in partnership with Caltrans, and it includes, for example, 740 million dollars for steel painting and corrosion protection and 690 million for bridge, integrity, operation, and safety. And I will note that the cable here
Rebecca Long: that's shown it is not rust. It is a special treatment that was put on originally, and it's supposed to be this color next slide.
Rebecca Long: So now let's turn to the details of the toll increase
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: This slide summarizes the total increase, showing the rate and the year for each. So it is a 50 cent increase that is proposed to start on January 1, st 2026, and then go up by another 50 cents all the way through. January 1, st 2030, and so it would be $2 and 50 cents, but spread over 5 years.
Rebecca Long: You can see on the the right hand side column. It says, 3 plus multi axle vehicles. There's also an increase on an axle basis of 50 cents per axle.
Rebecca Long: And for the details on that you can look at our website
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: Just a little bit of context. Bata's tolls are somewhat low compared to a lot of other major bridges in the Us. It is also quite common to do something that we are going to propose, which is having different toll rates depending on how it's paid. And so you can see here, for example, the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel
Rebecca Long: in Maryland and Virginia is $32 off Peak thankfully. We're not proposing anything of that magnitude at this time, and they have a different toll rate by mail. The Golden Gate bridge closer to home is now at 9, 25 for fast track payment, and then they charge one extra dollar for paying by mail
Rebecca Long: all right
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: So an important change, that we are proposing is to charge different rates, depending on how the toll is paid for the 1st time is proposing to charge a higher rate for tolls paid by invoice. So that is, for users of the bridge who don't have fast track. They're not in our system. They don't have a transponder. They're just driving through, and then we will send them an invoice in the mail.
Rebecca Long: That, as you might imagine, has, you know, higher costs. And so we are proposing as a way to recoup those costs that, starting in 2027 those types of tolls would be charged an extra $1 for license plate account. It would be an extra 25 cents, and that's someone who has an account. But they're not using their transponder. They're just relying on the license plate, and that does have higher administrative costs.
Rebecca Long: You can see here, it's just showing the gradual
Rebecca Long: increase over time, and then at the very very last column. Here is just illustrating where Golden Gate is expected to be in 2028, which is still slightly above the final year of the proposed toll increase for data, so we would be at $10 and 50 cents with fast track. 1150 with invoice and Golden Gate would be slightly higher, based on their approved toll rates right now
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: So this chart illustrates the difference of the proposed toll, increase what it will have on the funding available. You probably recognize most of this slide from a few minutes ago the dashed line. Here is what we forecast the revenue to be with. The proposed toll increase. So you can see we're not getting quite to where we, you know, had thought we would be. But we are making
Rebecca Long: you know, a big dent, and and this would definitely put us on a much sounder financial footing and enable us to address the bridges critical needs without having to borrow
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: Next we take a look at who is using the bridges so we can have a better understanding as to where the impact will be felt. In this map you can see that many trips originate outside the Bay area as far as Sacramento, south of San Jose and east into San Joaquin County.
Rebecca Long: Next slide
Rebecca Long: within the Bay Area bridge use is most common by residents of Alameda County, followed by Contra Costa Solano, and then San Francisco and San Mateo.
Rebecca Long: Usage is much lower among Santa Clara residents as well as Marin Napa and Sonoma County.
Rebecca Long: The light brown color just to the left of Solano County is actually one of the larger slices, and these are all out of region trips. So this is about 13% which really underscores the importance of the bridges to the overall regional economy in the Mega region.
Rebecca Long: Next slide.
Rebecca Long: This pie chart illustrates the frequency of toll bridge trips taken by individual fast track accounts and invoice customers from October 2023, which is considered a typical month, with no major holidays and system wide. What you can see is that almost 90% of bridge customers took fewer than 10 trips in a month and 80% took 5 or fewer
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: Bata has been taking a lot of steps to lower barriers to fast track and reduce toll violation penalties.
Rebecca Long: We have increased access to tags by expanding retail distribution. We have really been improving our multilingual information on our website. Increasing options to pay tolls owed with cash. So that would be after the fact. You can actually
Rebecca Long: add value to your fast track account with cash
Rebecca Long: and reducing the financial burdens for establishing and maintaining fast track accounts. So we have lowered the deposit that's required.
Rebecca Long: and we are providing better support for invoicing customers and allowing more time to pay where no penalty is required. Again, an initial
Rebecca Long: usage of the bridge without a fast track account. You don't get a violation. Notice. You just get an invoice, and you have, you know, a fair amount of time to pay before that turns into a toll violation next slide.
Rebecca Long: With respect to affordability. You know Bata understands that toll increases, can impose financial hardship, especially on low income residents, and in recent years Bata and Mtc. Have taken steps to lower the cost of transportation overall, including by launching programs to lower costs for low income households through clipper start which provides transit fare discounts and the Express Lane start pilot program on I-eight 180.
Rebecca Long: These programs both provide a 50% discount to customers. And we're working actively to streamline enrollment
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: So if you don't have fast track already. Please set up an account. You have lots of options, whether online by phone, by mail, at a Costco or Walgreens, or at our Customer Service Center in San Francisco, which is open from 8 am. To 6 Pm.
Rebecca Long: We are really working on getting more Bay area drivers signed up for fast track through enhanced community outreach marketing and expanding access to retail locations for both tag purchases and cash payment. And it's something that we're going to really be working hard at over the next year, because we do want to have as many people as possible on fast track so that they can pay that lower fast track toll rate, and not have the penalty for paying via. Invoice.
Rebecca Long: That concludes the toll. Increase portion of my presentation, and I'll send it back over to you, Veronica, to facilitate the Q. And A.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, wonderful. Thank you so much for that information, Rebecca.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): At this time.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): If you have any questions, webinar attendees, we ask that you please place them in the Q&A. Box. Or if you were watching this on our Youtube live stream, please enter your questions in the comment box on Youtube
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): as a reminder. We will respond to questions only. So please do not enter comments in the Zoom Webinar, Q&A box around the Youtube comment box. If you'd like to submit a comment, please follow the instructions that have been posted throughout tonight's webinar, which I will also go over at the conclusion of tonight's webinar.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): So with that, let's see.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): we're going to respond to the 1st question that we were asked.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Rebecca. This the presentation refers to the toll increase, but materials so far refer to it as a hike. Is this an intentional change in marketing approach.
Rebecca Long: No, I think that hike is, you know, more colloquial term. So I think in our media we've gone with with hike. But you know, they really have the same meaning.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Right?
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Looks like we have another
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): question, do other states fast track
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): tags work in California or easy pass.
Rebecca Long: Yes, they do. It's we have a relationship with other toll agencies. So we we do our best to
Rebecca Long: transmit any of those you know toll usages to our toll, bridge usages to those other
Rebecca Long: those other agencies in other states
Rebecca Long: right.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Let's alright.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): I'll go ahead and
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): create some space for attendees who might still be thinking of questions you'd like to ask.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): so feel free to put them in our Q. And a box
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): alright looks like we have a question about
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): what is Bata's statutory authority to raise tolls.
Rebecca Long: So State law authorizes, and indeed requires, that Bada raise tolls in order to keep the bridges in a state of good repair. It's in the streets and highways. Code.
Rebecca Long: So
Rebecca Long: there you are.
Rebecca Long: hey?
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): It looks like we do want to go back to the question about fast tracks working in California, other states, fast track tags working in California easy pass. So Derek would like to respond to that. Our chief financial officer.
Derek Hansel: Yeah, thanks. Veronica. So the fast track tag, fast track program is really a California program and so fast tracks across California work at all California tolling properties we are not interoperable with tags from
Derek Hansel: other things like easy pass, and so they would be either invoiced or those folks can set up a license plate account which some of our visitors do that actually addresses. I think Manisha's question as well.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, and for the benefit of reading the question that meant that Derek just referred to that question from anacious, if you charge higher to customers without a tag. Will that impact all visitors from outside the region? So that's what Derek was referencing right now. Thank you very much, for that
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): looks like there's a question
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): about the toll booths being removed.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): so I'll go ahead and ask that verbally. Can the toll booths be removed like they did on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Rebecca Long: Hi, Veronica.
Rebecca Long: I'll go ahead and stab at this one. Yeah, we are going to talk about this a little bit in the next part of the presentation. We are planning to do that. We refer to it as open road tolling. But it is a project, you know. It's going to take several years. Looks like Peter Lee, who is one of the the leads on this, might want to say a word or 2.
Peter Lee (BATA): Yes, that is the current plan. We have a project in our capital improvement program
Peter Lee (BATA): to address that specific. So we will be removing booze and converting our system to what we what is known as an open road tolling program, so allows you to travel underneath gantries or read your tag, and you'll be able to move through the plazas at at freeway speeds.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Great, Peter, I'm going to ask you to stay unmuted, because it looks like you want to answer another question about how is the toll roads in Southern California different than the system we have here.
Peter Lee (BATA): Oh, I'll just note they are a separate agency to toll roads in Southern California, but we are interoperable in the sense that they use fast track tags as well as we use fast tracks, and
Peter Lee (BATA): as we mentioned earlier, we coordinate with them so that you don't have to have separate tags, but they're their own entity that manages their own toll roads down in Orange County and Los Angeles and Riverside.
Peter Lee (BATA): Okay.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Great. Thanks, Peter.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, there's another question from Manish. It looks like 50 cents per year
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): is also not sufficient. So have we thought of 75 cents.
Rebecca Long: I think the proposal is what it is right now. And I think we're really trying to minimize the impact on Bay area residents. We know that it's a difficult time right now. People have been struggling with inflation and high prices, and so we do think that the proposed increase is going to meaningfully help us
Rebecca Long: do what we need to do to preserve the bridges it. It's true that it doesn't get all the way to where we had envisioned. But we think it's a good, a good, you know. Approach.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): There's a question about are there no other ways to minimize the cost of maintenance and materials? Now that there are no toll takers.
Rebecca Long: Yeah, I'll I'll take a quick stab at that and and see if our Cfo has anything to add. You know, I think
Rebecca Long: One of the challenges with
Rebecca Long: the shift to all electronic tolling has been that we need to send invoices in the mail, and that adds quite a bit of administrative cost through, you know, having to send the invoice, and then maybe somebody doesn't understand why they get an invoice, and we have custom, higher customer service costs. And so by adding this incremental higher toll.
Rebecca Long: that again won't take effect until 2027. We really hope that that will shift more customers onto fast track and reduce the administrative overhead. But as it is right now, we're not actually saving more than you know, it's costing us
Rebecca Long: in terms of the salaries that we are saving right from toll takers. We we still have higher administrative costs associated with the current toll collection. But again, we, we do hope that having this differential rate is going to help over time.
Rebecca Long: Anything to add. Derek.
Derek Hansel: No, not really. I mean, we're still doing, you know. Again, if we think about what's going on, we certainly don't have the expense of the toll takers themselves.
Derek Hansel: But as long as those facilities are there we still do need to maintain them appropriately. So we really aren't saving money on that side, either.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, we do have a question looks like it's for Derek. How does the
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): 50 plus percent debt service compare to other bay area transportation bonds?
Derek Hansel: Yeah, that's a good question. It's not. Frankly, it's not really comparable, right? If we think about
Derek Hansel: the the way that our financials work versus other systems. And I've had the
Derek Hansel: opportunity to work at a couple other systems, including Caltrain and and Samtrans.
Derek Hansel: We have an extremely capital intensive system, right? So we issued literally billions of dollars of debt to fund the seismic program.
Derek Hansel: a very expensive east span of the Bay Bridge.
Derek Hansel: and we'll be paying off those bonds until the 2,050 s.
Derek Hansel: So so a very, very long time for the seismic retrofit bonds, and again, a highly capital intensive business, which is very distinct
Derek Hansel: from other kinds of facilities
Derek Hansel: and trans and certainly transit properties in the Bay area.
Derek Hansel: And the other thing I'm sorry, and the other thing, I would just add, and I think
Derek Hansel: we may be able to post a a link to this. But.
Derek Hansel: our annual comprehensive financial report
Derek Hansel: is available on our website.
Derek Hansel: That is Mtcs.
Derek Hansel: Report it. It does include all of the data financials in it.
Derek Hansel: And it's also the annual operating capital. Budgets are also posted, and again, I think a link can be put up for that as well.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Next question, will it be possible for Mtc data to divert funding from bridge maintenance to other capital projects.
Rebecca Long: Short answer is, No.
Rebecca Long: yeah. The the law is very clear on this, that the only circumstances by which Bata can raise tolls on its own are, for, you know, preservation of the bridges, obligations to debt to bondholders, and very bridge specific purposes, so we cannot
Rebecca Long: fund any kind of new transportation project off the bridge. Anything like that? Any transit projects
Rebecca Long: not an option.
Peter Lee (BATA): Yes, just to clarify. It's okay for bridge capital projects. Yes, that's the intent of the total increase
Peter Lee (BATA): for bridged maintenance as well as bridge capital.
Rebecca Long: Right.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): These are really terrific questions that we're receiving from attendees. We do have a few more minutes for this Q. And a session for questions. So please keep them coming tonight. We really do want to answer your questions that were that you posed that are related to tonight's topic.
Peter Lee (BATA): Okay.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): let's see, we do have. Just we actually have a little bit more time. And
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): let's see, where will this presentation be posted. We will post that to our our website.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Mtcabec website.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): And just to.
Rebecca Long: Add to that, Veronica, we have a page on our website where it has all the information that is related to the toll increase. Is it? Okay? If I put it in the chat.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Absolutely that'd be helpful. Thank you.
Rebecca Long: So that's where you'll find a fact sheet frequently asked questions. Etc. So we'll we'll be adding more information like this webinar. The video to that page.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): And
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Rebecca, I I think it would be helpful to also answer some. You know general questions that we may have heard. Not in this webinar, but just some people might have curiosity about if they could use, for example,
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): and they use their commuter benefits to cover the cost of tolls.
Rebecca Long: Sure. Yeah, unfortunately. Commuter benefits are not.
Rebecca Long: Excuse me, tolls are not an eligible commuter. Benefit expense.
Rebecca Long: Those, you know, include transit some bike
Rebecca Long: expenses and parking. But tolls are not an eligible expense right now under the Irs rules.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you. And speaking of expenses, can people write off
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): tolls as expenses on their taxes?
Rebecca Long: Only if you're a business or self-employed.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, yeah. You know, Rebecca, there's another question that might be helpful, and it's about you had mentioned. You know that. It
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): behooves it may behoove people to get a fast track. And so what is better doing to make it easier for people to get a fast track tag. Where where could they get them from? Where can they?
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Where are they? Sold.
Rebecca Long: Alright. Yeah. So I mean, the easiest way is just to order one online, and so that's at Bay area, fast track. I think it's dot org
Rebecca Long: very straightforward but you can also get them at a lot of costco locations as well as Walgreens. And actually, I'll put
Rebecca Long: on
Rebecca Long: the A link that is on our website about the different
Rebecca Long: locations, the different Walgreens. You can look it up and find a place near you, and then at our customer service Center at 3, 75 deal. You can come in there on a weekday and and sign up there too.
Rebecca Long: Cool.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): All right. Here's another question that we received. Does the capital program include a bike lane on the west span of the Bay Bridge?
Rebecca Long: No, so that there is a project, you know, that is, in the
Rebecca Long: real planning stages to explore that link, but that would not fall under the definition of this capital Improvement plan, which is really about the overall, you know, state of good repair of the bridges, the rehabilitation of the bridges. So you know, earlier, my colleague, Peter Lee, talked about
Rebecca Long: capital projects that the bridge preservation projects are considered capital projects, but they are not mobility. Oriented capital projects like a new bike bridge. Excuse me, a new bike lane on the bridge would be
Rebecca Long: so that if we wanted to fund that that would require
Rebecca Long: different funding.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): And to our attendees. Just a reminder. Please do not submit comments in the Q. And A. Box. If you'd like to submit comments in response to the proposed toll increase. Please do so. I will cover this at the end of how you can make comment, but please do not submit them in the Q&A box.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, this is a question that
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): I think. Well, let me just ask it. So
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): there, we've heard that Bay area transit agencies are in financial trouble. So will can the bridge tolls be raised to help transit too.
Rebecca Long: So that's a really good question. And the answer is, this, toll increase cannot be used to assist with the transit
Rebecca Long: fiscal cliff that Mtc. Our other affiliate agency, is working very hard to address the regional measures that voters have approved, and that the legislature, explicitly authorized, do have some funding in them for transit operations. But it's limited. It's specific to certain purposes.
Rebecca Long: And again, the only statutory authority that we have to raise tolls ourselves is for the bridges themselves, not for transit.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Next question, why weren't
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Rms 1, 2, and 3, and the seismic retrofit toll increases, designed to provide for bridge maintenance. First, st before diverting bridge toll revenues to projects not directly related to toll bridges.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): So, Derek or Rebecca, either of you could take that question.
Rebecca Long: But I think it's you know it's a it's a fair question. And it's you know, it's a policy type of question, right? And as the director of legislation and public affairs. I certainly, you know.
Rebecca Long: am familiar with those types of of questions, and I would say, we've also been very involved right in in the different regional measures.
Rebecca Long: One of the benefits of the regional measures is that by having this revenue source for specific projects that were Bay area priorities, you know, as well as legislative priorities, the region has been able to attract significant other State funding Federal funding. And so the tolls really have served as a source of a map for a matching grant.
Rebecca Long: You know we could have just opted to not do that but then the Bay area, as a whole, you know, would have probably not been able to advance as many transportation priority projects as we have. We basically would have lost out on a lot of other funding sources. So you know, it is a
Rebecca Long: fair question. Right? Should we have raised the tolls for those purposes when we do at this time find ourselves, you know, really needing to raise tolls for the maintenance and preservation. But, you know it was a decision made to improve the Bay Area's overall mobility. And recognize that. You know, bridge tolls are a very reliable source of funding and can help us achieve broader goals for mobility than just the bridges themselves.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you, Rebecca.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Here's a question about peak usage. What happened to the peak? Use charge that we had pre pandemic.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Have you looked at congestion based pricing.
Derek Hansel: Yeah, thanks. So we
Derek Hansel: we have. We're not proposing to change what is in the the toll rate schedule congestion. Pricing has been suspended since the pandemic. We're not proposing to change that suspension of congestion, pricing either. We're still waiting to kind of see how things shake out in terms of congestion
Derek Hansel: at the variety of the bridges.
Derek Hansel: It's also the case that you know the way
Derek Hansel: we structured congestion pricing when it was introduced might not be how we would structure that today. And so it's probably best for us to kind of get through this piece. And then, look at congestion pricing over the next couple of years or so, if
Derek Hansel: that makes sense.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay,
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): we have a question.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): so related to this presentation.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): does this mean that bridge maintenance maintenance is only paid by tolls isn't a portion of our taxes dedicated to roads, highways, and bridges.
Derek Hansel: So. Yes, a portion of your taxes are dedicated to roads, highways, and bridges, but with extremely limited exceptions, not these, not these 7 bridges
Derek Hansel: we fund these 7 bridges from toll revenue. So it's why it is so challenging.
Rebecca Long: And I'll just expand on that. You know a tiny bit, I mean, part of this goes back to the creation of Bata. And so you know, when the Legislature formed Bata, they were transferring
Rebecca Long: responsibility from the State to the Bay Area toll authority to handle bridge, toll collection, to do electronic toll collection. So at the time fast track was, you know, very low, and Bata was able to really increase uptake of fast track.
Rebecca Long: And then, with the you know, various significant funding needs for the seismic retrofit program. We were given, you know, responsibility for the the bridges themselves and the toll and the authority to raise the tolls, and so the State does
Rebecca Long: provide minimal contribution. But ultimately Bada is responsible for the keeping the bridges in a state of good repair, and with that responsibility we have the authority to raise tolls to do so.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, there's a question about how much of the current. $7 bridge toll now goes to bridge maintenance, and the other purposes sought in the proposed bridge toll increase.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Do you want us to go back to the slide? That shows that breakdown of where the money where the $7, pull up that breakdown, or.
Derek Hansel: Yes, please.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay.
Derek Hansel: And it's probably better to go to the pie chart. Actually.
Derek Hansel: there we go. Yep.
Derek Hansel: stick on the pie chart. There we go. Thanks.
Derek Hansel: So this shows all of the revenue and all of the expenses of the agency.
Derek Hansel: And so you can see in here. It's it's combined. We look at it.
Derek Hansel: When we budget, we budget you know, on the revenue side all of the toll revenue, whether it's coming in from Rm. 1, 2 or 3,
Derek Hansel: or from the seismic dollars, because the expenditures
Derek Hansel: also happen that way. The Rm. 2 and Rm. 3. Operating transfers are formulaic.
Derek Hansel: based on on those pieces. And again, you can see in here the the far and away. The bulk of
Derek Hansel: this is nearly 600 million annually of debt service, and that includes whether it was some bonds issued for Arm 2. But primarily bonds that have been issued for the seismic retrofit program.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you. Derek.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, next question that we received do transit agencies, pay tolls on the bridges to Vada.
Rebecca Long: We are actually researching that as we speak.
Rebecca Long: yes.
Derek Hansel: I believe I believe the answer is, they do not.
Rebecca Long: Okay.
Derek Hansel: I'm
Derek Hansel: I rarely like to say I'm completely certain, but I'm virtually certain they don't pay anything to use the bridges there. There are a number of different
Derek Hansel: relatively few sectors that don't have to pay, but and they are one.
Derek Hansel: and I'm being told by the person who's much smarter than me. That that I am, in fact, correct. We don't charge transit.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, thank you.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, it's 7, 30 we can go ahead and
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): move on to our next presentation on the Hov policy
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): change. So we're gonna
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): get our slides and Rebecca going ahead.
Rebecca Long: Okay, great. Thank you, Veronica. So now we're going to turn on to this Hov policy changes in tandem with the proposed toll increase. Bada is also considering making changes to the rules that apply to Hov lanes, also known as Carpool lanes.
Rebecca Long: So somebody asked a question about this earlier. Can we remove the toll booths? And you can see here, this current condition on the Richmond San Rafael, and then a future image of what it will eventually look like with the toll booths removed. So that that is the plan.
Rebecca Long: And we're going to be working on this from 2026 is when we actually hope to launch open road tolling on the Richmond San Rafael all the way through 2028, next slide
Rebecca Long: next slide, please.
Rebecca Long: So this shift does require an update to our Hov policy to achieve 3 core goals.
Rebecca Long: improve, safety, increase person throughput, so that the number of people moved. You know, in a given hour through the corridor and enhance regional consistency, regarding which Hovs qualify for a toll discount
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: So the shift to open road. Tolling requires changes in lane configurations to minimize merging currently vehicles with 3 or more occupants are allowed to use a dedicated.
Rebecca Long: the dedicated Hov lanes at the toll plazas and receive
Rebecca Long: a 50% fast track. Discount 2 bridges. The Dumbarton and San Mateo, shown at the bottom of the chart offer access and Hov discount to vehicles with just 2 or more passengers.
Rebecca Long: This current approach is shown on the left hand side, so you can see it's 3 plus for all of all 5 of the bridges, and then 2 plus for Dumb Dumbarton and San Mateo.
Rebecca Long: The proposed update
Rebecca Long: would standardize the discount at 3 plus. So in order to get the total discount of 50% vehicles would have to have 3 or more occupants, but it would allow vehicles to still use the lanes, the Hov lanes, with 2 or more occupants.
Rebecca Long: Except for the Bay bridge, and the reason is that the bay bridges Hov lanes are very well utilized. They carry a significant number of both carpools and buses, and opening them up to 2 or more passengers, would cause significant congestion.
Rebecca Long: Next slide, please.
Rebecca Long: This slide illustrates the rationale for allowing Hov. 2 s. Into the Hov Lane on all bridges except the Bay bridge again the Hov 2 S. Would not get the discount, but they would get the travel time savings, and you can see what this is showing is the volume of Hovs during Peak hours in March 2024,
Rebecca Long: and the Bay Bridge is the one that is towering above all the rest at 4,450 vehicles per hour. And so you can just see that the demand is is very high on the Bay bridge
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: Another benefit of this change is to enhance regional consistency, not just across the toll bridges, but also with Bay Area express lanes. So with this proposal, Hov. 3 s. On the bridges and on express lanes, would be receiving the full benefit.
Rebecca Long: Either a 50% toll discount on the bridges or toll free passage on the express lanes.
Rebecca Long: while HIV, 2 s. Would get a partial benefit. Time savings on the bridges.
Rebecca Long: or half price tolls on express lanes. So that's the the way it works today is that the Hov twos do get some benefit, they get a discount, but hov threes don't pay on express lanes.
Rebecca Long: so that concludes this portion of the presentation.
Rebecca Long: and I'll turn it back to you, Veronica.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Great. Thank you, Rebecca.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): just as with our last
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Q. And a session will take a few minutes to answer any clarifying questions that attendees might have about the HIV policy change. Please enter your questions into the Q. And A. Box or your live streaming through the Youtube comment box. And as a reminder. We will respond to questions only if you have any comment
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): that you'd like to make. Please stay tuned. You could
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): refer to the instructions in the chat box, or you can stay
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): till the end where we'll be going over ways for you to make comments.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay, going to our 1st question
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): would hov 2 vehicles be required to pay 50% tolls in Express Lane on all Bay area highways?
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): And it looks like we have our colleague, Lisa Klein, who'd like to respond to this question. Lisa, go on ahead. Thank you.
Lisa Klein: Sure I can answer this one. This proposal is just about the
Lisa Klein: This proposal is just about the toll bridges, and in this case the Hov. 2 vehicles on the toll bridges. They they do not get a discounted toll, they already pay the full toll, and they would continue to pay the full toll
Lisa Klein: and on the toll bridges
Lisa Klein: under this proposal, but they would be able to use the carpool lanes on all the bridges aside from the
Lisa Klein: Bay bridge.
Lisa Klein: So that's a clarification. There are a few express lanes in the region where 2 person carpools currently
Lisa Klein: there are some where they currently go free of charge, and there are some where they currently play a 50% toll. And there is no proposal right now to change those rules on the fast track lanes that are on the highways.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you, Lisa.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Next question, what about ev discounts? Will they continue? Evs are allowed to set the riders to 3? Is the question askers, understanding.
Rebecca Long: No change is proposed
Rebecca Long: for the
Rebecca Long: the electric vehicle tool.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Yeah that way?
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Next question so it looks like.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): can you clarify
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): with the proposed hov policies? What was the reason that the bridges, with the least traffic had a different Hov policy.
Rebecca Long: I think the the original reason was based on demand, right that the Bay Bridge historically, has had the highest person throughput. The highest number of carpools. So that was the rationale.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): So
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): it's 7, 40 pm. What we'll do is.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Well, looks like it looks like we actually have
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): another question.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): So
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): can we go back to slide number 35 and hear an explanation of what the time savings at 50% toll box. What that means.
Rebecca Long: Sure. So I think they're referring to the
Rebecca Long: Hov 2 time savings at full toll. So the the idea there is
Rebecca Long: that the Hov threes would be the ones that would be eligible to get the discount. But hov twos could still use the lane, and so you know, if you think about the Bay Bridge, for example, I live in the East Bay, so very familiar with that. There's a dedicated Carpool lane as you're approaching.
Rebecca Long: the hov lane onto the bridge, and so you can still use that lane. As you get onto the bridge as a hov 2, you just would be still paying the full toll.
Rebecca Long: and some similar examples on other bridges.
Lisa Klein: You know, Rebecca?
Lisa Klein: Maybe I could speak to the Express Lanes column, because I think the question may have to do with the express lanes
Lisa Klein: column there. And so what? This this column here is a little bit oversimplified, I would say. On certain corridors, such as on the I. The express late on I-eight 180, and Us. 101, and State Route State Route 237. This reflects the current policy. 3 person carpools are free, and 2 person carpools, and and they receive the time savings for
Lisa Klein: free and 2 person carpools can use the lane, receive the time savings at a half price. Toll
Lisa Klein: and that's that's the current the way it is today. And also today on the express lanes, for example, on interstate 5, 80, and interstate 6, 80.
Lisa Klein: Those 2 person carpools. Receive the time savings for free. So again,
Lisa Klein: that Express Lane column is a comparative column. We are not proposing any changes
Lisa Klein: to the
Lisa Klein: to the carpool rates for express lanes or the carpool usage for express lanes. This is just a slightly oversimplified representation that reflects again, interstate 882, 37, and and us 101, as they are today.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Crank.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you. Lisa and Rebecca.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Okay,
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): we do not have any.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Let's
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): we so we're gonna go on ahead and move on to next steps.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Let's see
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): rebecca will review the next steps and related timeline, and afterwards I'll review the ways that
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): you can submit your comments on either or both of these proposals.
Rebecca Long: Great. Thank you, Veronica. So the next major
Rebecca Long: milestone in this process is a public hearing, which is next Wednesday. It's going to be part of the Bay Area toll authority regular meeting. And so you can get information on how to participate in that on our website. And then public comment on the proposed increase in Hov. Policy is open through December 18.th
Rebecca Long: But we are asking if people could submit their written comment by 5 Pm. December 3, rd then we can make sure that it's included in a staff
Rebecca Long: kind of synthesis of what we've heard when the Bay Area Toll authority oversight committee hears the hears, and is proposed to take action on December 11.th So if you want to have your voice heard, we really would ask that you communicate your thoughts by December 3, rd but everything that is communicated all the way through
Rebecca Long: the day. That data will be considering taking action on this on the 18th will be recorded for the record, and indeed, you know any kind of comment sent until December 17, th the night before will be forwarded to the Board members in writing
Rebecca Long: and yes, the Bata Oversight Committee. They will be referring their recommendation. So after that December 11th meeting to the Bata Board, and then the 18th is when they are proposed to take their final action on this. But again the the proposed toll increase and the Hov policy change wouldn't take effect until January 1, st 2026,
Rebecca Long: next slide.
Rebecca Long: And so this just kind of captures what I just walked through visually. We are here with the webinar, and then you can see just the next phase of this process along with
Rebecca Long: you know the customer education and the implementation phase which would be taking place in 2025. Assuming that Bata does move forward and approve this proposal.
Rebecca Long: So with that, I think we're done with this slide and move on to the the last one for you, Veronica.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Great. Thank you, Rebecca.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): There are 3 ways to submit public comment to the proposed toll increase in Hov policy changes. As Rebecca mentioned, you can submit them at the November 20th public hearing, which will begin at 9 35 Am. Or you could send them via email to info@bayareametro.gov.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): or you can also mail your comments into the Mtc.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): That a Public Information office.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): let's see, as Rebecca said, we're repeating this just so that it sticks. Comments that are transmitted by 5 Pm. On December 17, th will be shared with the Bata board before they take action on the proposed toll increase the following day, December 18th
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): and finally, members of the public may provide public comments in person or on zoom under the toll, increase agenda. Item at the December 18th Vada meeting.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): With that. This does conclude our presentation, and we will stay on for a few more minutes for people who might have questions on either of the proposals, and at 8 o'clock we will conclude tonight's webinar
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): and a point of clarification with regard to those who might choose to mail in your comments. Please note that the address is 3, 7, 5, Beale Street suite, 800, San Francisco, California, 9, 4, 1, 0 5. Again, that's 3, 7, 5, Beale Street suite, 800 San Francisco, California, 9, 4, 1, 0 5.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): We'll go. We'll also go ahead and post this in both the Webinar chat box as well as our Youtube comment box. And this information is also available on Mtc's website that we
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): have posted links in the comment box as well.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): We have received a question.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): can owners of old fast track transponders, such as those where the battery has run out, or the old brick transponders? Can they simply exchange them at a Costco or Walgreens store, or must they purchase a new one.
Rebecca Long: You can't exchange them at a retail location, but you can bring them into the Bay Area Fast Track Customer Service Center at 3, 75 deal and you can get a replacement.
Rebecca Long: We do ask that people return. The old ones.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Thank you. Rebecca.
Rebecca Long: And I'll add one more thing. You can just order a new one, and then we can also send you online, and we can send you like a bag to return the the old one by mail.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Great.
Derek Hansel: And and please do return them, because we don't want those batteries in landfills.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): With the time that we have remaining. We'd like to end with.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): the video that we were brought
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): we had earlier in our presentation.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): So let's.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: One.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): Going ahead.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: Francisco, Oakland Bay Bridge, along with the Antioch, Benicia, Martinez, Cartinez.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: Oh, shit. It happened now.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: Richmond, San Rafael, San Mateo, Hayward, and Dumbarton bridges are structural.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: poorly sound, and in good repair.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: State law requires Vada working with Caltrans to keep them that way.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: That is why Bata is considering a toll increase. That would be phased in starting in 2026 to fund a toll bridge capital program that includes nearly 2 billion dollars of investment to keep Bay Area bridges in tip-top shape for many decades to come.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: The additional money from the toll increase would be used only for the maintenance, rehabilitation, and operation of the bridges.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: while the east span of the Bay Bridge is just 11 years old. The West Band has been in service for 88 years. Other senior citizens include the Richmond San Rafael Bridge and the eastbound Carcanes Bridge. Many of our other bridges are now well in the Middle age.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: carrying more than 200 million vehicle trips back and forth each year, linking people to services, workers to jobs, students to school tourists to bay area attractions and goods to markets.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: The toll bridges are a cornerstone of the Bay area economy.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: What does it take to keep these workhorses working? A lot of people as well as steel, concrete, scaffolding, trucks, tools, and a whole lot of paint.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: The bridges include more than 22 million square feet of painted services that must be constantly maintained
Staff: Marcella Aranda: exposure to salt water, fog, and other harsh marine conditions make the fight against steel corrosion, a never-ending battle.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: In addition to paint, there are cables, joints, decks, fenders that protect the bridges from damage caused by ships.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: electrical and mechanical systems, folding equipment, and much more
Staff: Marcella Aranda: the toll increase. Vada is considering would raise tolls on each of the 7 State-owned bridges by 50 cents a year, from 2026, through 2030, that would spread the increase over 5 years rather than impose a big one. Time jump
Staff: Marcella Aranda: tolls for all regular. 2 axle cars and trucks would increase from $8 to $8 and 50 cents. On January 1, st 2026, and then rise 50 cents a year, topping out at $10 and 50 cents in 2030
Staff: Marcella Aranda: tolls for large freight trucks and other vehicle trailer combinations with 3 or more axles would rise by 50 cents per year per axle from 2026 through 2030. The toll increase. Proposal also includes a tiered rate structure aimed at encouraging more customers to pay electronically with fast track, as this form of payment carries lower overhead than payment through a license plate account, or returning payment with an invoice received by mail.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: A similar three-tier toll structure has been in place of the Golden Gate Bridge since 2014,
Staff: Marcella Aranda: under the Bata proposal, customers at the State-owned bridges, starting in 2027 would pay an extra 25 cents for using a preregistered license plate account and an extra dollar for invoiced tolling.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: In addition to a phased in toll hike, Vada also is considering updates to the policies for high occupancy vehicles on approaches to the State-owned toll bridges.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: These updates also would take effect. In January of 2026,
Staff: Marcella Aranda: the proposed policy change would establish a 3 person requirement for half price tolls during weekday commute periods at all. 7 bridges. The proposed updates also would allow vehicles with 2 occupants to use the Carpool lanes on the approaches to the Antioch, Benicia, Martinez, Cartinez, Dumbarton, Richmond, San Rafael, and San Mateo Hayward bridges
Staff: Marcella Aranda: these 2 occupant vehicles would not receive the 50% carpool discount, but would be able to use the carpool lanes to save time. Traveling through the Toll Plazas
Staff: Marcella Aranda: use of the carpool lanes on approaches to the Bay bridge would still require a minimum of 3 occupants. With the now obsolete toll booth soon to be removed as part of a coming transition to open road tolling the carpool policy changes aim to optimize new lane configurations and improve safety on the bridge approaches
Staff: Marcella Aranda: by minimizing weaving between lanes.
Staff: Marcella Aranda: What questions do you have about the proposed toll increase?
Staff: Marcella Aranda: What about a 3 person requirement for half price tolls at all? The state-owned toll bridges? We look forward to hearing from you and answering your questions about toll bridge preservation, about fast track and tiered tolling rates, and about the best ways to use the Carpool Lane approaches to each bridge.
Staff: Veronica Cummings (she/her): This concludes tonight's webinar. Thank you very much for joining.