Astonishing amount of money Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge makes with 260,000 drivers a day paying $8 toll
Published on Aug 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM (UTC+4)
by Molly Davidson
Last updated on Aug 22, 2025 at 3:01 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
The Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge isn’t just a way across the bay – it’s a daily cash machine.
Every single car headed westbound into San Francisco gets clipped for eight bucks.
With about 260,000 vehicles making the trip every day, the pile of cash builds fast.
Add it all up and you’re looking at more than $2 million a day flowing straight through toll gantries.
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Where the Bay Bridge toll money really goes
Unlike most bridges, you only pay one way on the Bay Bridge – into San Francisco. Headed back to Oakland? That’s free.
The standard toll is $8, no matter how you pay, whether it’s FasTrak, a license plate account, or an invoice sent in the mail.
There’s a carpool discount that drops it to $4 if you’ve got three people in the car, a FasTrak tag, and hit the lanes at the right hours, but the majority of drivers are paying full fare.
On paper, the math is brutal: 260,000 vehicles a day at $8 is over $2 million, and billions across a year.
But that cash doesn’t just stack up. The Bay Area Toll Authority, which runs seven state-owned bridges, reports about $884 million in toll revenue for FY 2024-25 and $894 million in costs.
In other words, it’s basically breaking even once you account for operations and constant upkeep.
Money printer or money pit? Depends on who you ask
Scroll through the Bay Bridge Reddit threads, and you see the split instantly.
“So they’re raking in over 2 mill per day? That’s insane,” one person wrote bluntly.
While another countered: ]
“For perspective, the Bay Area Toll Authority had about $884 million in toll revenue and about $894 million in costs. So nobody’s raking in money here, costs are not even fully covered.”
It’s the same bridge, the same toll, but depending on who you ask, it’s either a money printer or a billion-dollar headache.
But the facts are clear. Bridges are expensive to maintain.
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Molly Davidson is a Junior Content Writer at Supercar Blondie. Based in Melbourne, she holds a double Bachelor’s degree in Arts/Law from Swinburne University and a Master’s of Writing and Publishing from RMIT. Molly has contributed to a range of magazines and journals, developing a strong interest in lifestyle and car news content. When she’s not writing, she’s spending quality time with her rescue English staffy, Boof.
