Higher Truck Tolls to Kick In July 1 on Bay Area Bridges

The San Francisco Bay Area Toll Authority is reminding truckers that the first exemption it granted to truckers on higher bridge tolls will expire on June 30.

When the authority announced its plan to raise car and truck tolls on its seven bridges last year, truckers successfully argued for gradually phasing in their higher rates, saying their industry had been too deeply affected by the global recession to absorb the steep rate increase.

The authority agreed and said that a five-axle truck, for instance, paying the $11.25 one way toll would not have to pay the higher $18 toll until July 1 of this year, nor the higher $25 toll until July 1, 2012.