Higher Tolls Means Quicker Commutes: Study

The tolls going up on Bay Area bridges earlier this month may be bad news for your wallet but it has been good news for commute times.

Tolls went up to cross Bay Area bridges earlier this month and a traffic study released to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission Wednesday shows there are less people crossing area bridges and commuters are whizzing through toll lanes in half the time on some spans.

There were 12,000 fewer drivers willing to pay the new $2.50 carpool toll  and there are 2,300 more full fare drivers, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Now requiring a Fastrak to drive through bridge carpool lanes may be partly to blame, according to one MTC official who explains cheating solo drivers may be less willing to try their luck at sneaking through the three person or more lane with cameras now watching.

The new $6 toll to cross the Bay Bridge during peak hours has proven rich enough to force an extra 1,500 people off the bridge and onto BART.

We're guessing the new fancy tower on the Bay Bridge will not be enough to entice commuters to pay $6.
 

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