Comment on GG Bridge to hike tolls next week to meet budget shortfall

The toll is going up by at least 25 cents on the Golden Gate Bridge, the latest step in a series of increases designed to meet a long-running budget shortfall by the regulators of the iconic span. Starting July 3, the majority of bridge traffic, two-axle cars, will be charged the increased rate to cross one of the world’s most famous bridges, according to the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. For those without FasTrak, the bridge’s automatic license plate scanner — which snaps a photo of license plates and mails an invoice, even to out-of-state motorists — will go from $7.50 to $7.75. The toll hikes were initially approved in February 2014 by the bridge agency’s board of directors, who said they needed the additional funding to recover from a budget deficit. Bridge overseers have enacted regular, similarly sized, toll increases since then, with annual rate rises scheduled through 2018.