On Tuesday, the San Francisco Transportation Authority Governing Board delayed its vote on a new toll policy, and transit pass and affordability program seeking more time to flush out the details.

Unlike any other neighborhood in San Francisco, residents and business owners, in addition to visitors, may soon have to pay up to $7 round-trip, during peak hours, to enter and leave Treasure Island, on top of paying the Bay Bridge Toll.

“What neighborhood in San Francisco is going to be next?” Christoph Oppermann, a resident, said. “Are we going to put a fence around the Presidio? Dig a ditch around Pacific Heights? For us to be asked as residents living on an island in San Francisco in San Francisco’s zip code to pay a toll to drive to and from our homes inward in the city seems outrageous.”

The fee is part of the Treasure Island Development Project to create homes, shops, and hotels over the next decade. 

Planners say the idea is to get people not to drive but to use public transportation instead. 

But business owners and residents fear the toll will have a negative economic impact and drive residents away.

‘It’s just ludicrous, really,” resident Carla Biondi said.

“I already have people in my employ that have said if there’s a toll, they’re not going to work for me,” business owner Jim Mirowski said. “I have customers who say I’m not going to come up there and do some wine tasting if I have to pay $7 to get on the island.”

The plan includes an up to $300 stipend per island household which would eventually pay for up to two round-trips 21-days a week.

“That stipend can be directed towards toll costs, or it could be directed to other expenses people have,” Eric Young, with the Transportation Authority, said.

The Transportation Authority says revenue from the tolls will pay for new ferry services on the island and additional bus services.

There are currently 625 households on the island.

Within the next 15 to 20 years that number is expected to increase to 8,000 with additional housing coming to the area.

“This is not at all meant about gentrification or driving people out,” Young said. “What this is about is being able to provide much more robust transit, um, and to do that, we have to find ways to pay for it.”

If approved, the toll would go into effect by late 2021.

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