7. There was a pedestrian toll of 5 cents to cross the bridge
When the George Washington Bridge opened in 1931, there was a pedestrian toll to cross the bridge at $0.10. On the first full day of operation, 20,000 people crossed the bridge by foot while another 10,000 people, discouraged by the fare, watched from Manhattan Plaza.
Three years later, the pedestrian toll was reduced to $0.05 and eliminated in 1940 at the request of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Robert Moses. It’s likely this move was both for the public and for financial reasons: the amount made in pedestrian tolls barely covered the cost of collection.
