PD Editorial: Pedestrian toll is a step too far

About two years ago, U.S. News and World Report published a top 10 list of the “strangest state taxes.” Among the entries were taxes on new tattoos in Arkansas and sliced bagels in New York. Alabama levies separate taxes on the sale and purchase of playing cards.

There was no mention of any tax on walking.

And as sure as the Razorback State puts some extra sting in new body art, the good folks at the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District will contest the notion that a toll is a tax.

But it would be hard to accept it as anything but a tax if the district exacts a price for strolling, or cycling, across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Thousands of pedestrians and cyclists cross the bridge every day. The art-deco span is a must-see destination for tourists and a scenic vista for locals - “a sensory experience featuring color, light and sound,” to quote the bridge district’s marketing material, which warns visitors to bring a sweater and to “be ready for crowds.”

Well, maybe not so much if a sidewalk toll or tax or fee is imposed.

Just such a charge is among about four-dozen revenue-raising and cost-saving options under consideration to address a projected $32.9 million budget deficit over the next five years. The bridge board will take up those options at its meeting today.

A staff report prepared for the meeting doesn’t include an amount for the sidewalk fee or an estimate of how much money would be raised, but it suggests June 2017 for implementation.

We recognize that the district has financial challenges: maintenance and seismic retrofit costs, the $75 million bill for the Doyle Drive replacement project and pressure to raise employee salaries, as illustrated by a one-day ferry strike last month.

The bridge board already increased auto tolls by $1 last spring, with plans for 25-cent increases in each of the next four years. Bus and ferry fares are up, too. So it isn’t a complete surprise that pedestrian tolls showed up on the board’s agenda.

With the toll-takers gone, would pedestrians need to wear Fastraks around their necks?

Probably not. The bridge had turnstiles (and, presumably, plenty of turnstile jumpers) until 1970, when a 10-cent pedestrian toll was rescinded.

Proposals to reinstate that fee have come up periodically since then. Each time, the bridge directors said no. They should do the same this time.

Cars may be king in California, but charging people to walk is one step too far.