Downtown San Francisco is every commuter’s nightmare.
During rush hour, in mornings and afternoons, the streets of downtown are often clogged with buses, cars, and rideshare vehicles like Uber and Lyft.
In 2019, before the pandemic emptied out downtown, San Francisco revived a controversial, decades-long debate about whether to charge drivers a fee to enter the city’s densest portions. Although the congestion is not as bad as it was pre-pandemic, the proposal is still being considered by the city, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The proposal is still three to five years from potentially going into effect, according to a spokesperson for the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, which is leading the city’s study. Details have come out on how it would work and the Board of Supervisors will decide whether to move forward on the issue at the end of the year.
Here’s how it could possibly work:
• There would be a base fee of $6.50 to enter the congestion pricing zone with eligible discounts based on income level. If you make more than $100,000 a year, you’d pay the full amount. Commuters who make less than $46,000 would not pay a fee.
• The transportation authority is considering two pricing zones. One would encompass the immediate downtown area that includes the Financial District, Chinatown, Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods. The second, larger zone would be expanded to include North Beach, Russian Hill and Fisherman’s Wharf to the north, and Mission Bay to the south.
• Drivers would pay a fee for entering downtown on weekdays between 6 to 9 a.m., and 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.. The transportation authority study is considering whether to recommend a daily fees cap.
• Ride-hail vehicles such as Uber and Lyft would be charged for entering the zone per trip, and the fee is likely to be passed on to the passengers.
• The study is weighing additional discounts for drivers who are disabled, downtown commuters who already paid FasTrak tolls by crossing the Golden Gate or Bay bridges, as well as residents living in the pricing zones. Most pre-pandemic downtown commuters, though, came from within the city.
The city considered implementing congestion pricing as early as 2004.
Congestion reached a peak in 2019 as scores of private and ride-hailing vehicles descended into downtown; the program aimed to reduce 2019 congestion levels by 15%.
The issue, though, raises questions about equity, and whether congestion pricing would mean effectively privatizing roads for privileged commuters who could afford the daily fees to enter downtown while pricing out lower-income drivers.
"I believe that ultimately we will conclude, and should conclude, that congestion pricing does have a role in addressing congestion," Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said at a County Transportation Authority meeting earlier this month.
Mandelman acknowledged congestion pricing "raises serious equity concerns," but supported the practice as a possible way to address the "unpleasant" and "unacceptable" levels of congestion reached before the pandemic.
The SFCTA is conducting community outreach as the proposal is considered. Before it submits recommendations for the Board of Supervisors to consider, it plans to host virtual town halls, an online public opinion survey and several public committee meetings. The public can submit feedback via email at congestion-pricing@sfcta.org.
Some solution needs to be agreed on. As reopenings began this summer, congestion is returning to near pre-pandemic levels on some city corridors and highways, according to transportation authority data.
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