That $6 toll for crossing the Bay Bridge during morning rush hour has done mostly nothing to lessen traffic congestion during the morning commute. As the mustache boys report, since it was implemented in 2010, the $2 toll hike for peak vs. off-peak hours has discouraged no one from crossing the bridge when they need to cross it and this seems perfectly logical given that peak hours are defined as 5 a.m. to 10 a.m., and not many people are able to commute pre-5 a.m., or roll into work after 10:30 a.m., just to save $2.
The MTC just did a weeklong, car-counting snapshot of the bridge and found that in our booming economic times, 9,000 cars are trying to cross the Bay every hour between 6 and 9 a.m., which is right at the bridge's capacity, and which is the same number that were traveling at rush hour before the surge toll pricing took effect.
Also, the number of cars crossing per week has gone up by about 9,000 cars in that same time.
P.S. More people need to get Fastrak already and they need to change all the lanes to Fastrak lanes, the end.
