2026 might as well be called the “Year of the [Rogue] Deer” in San Francisco after one was filmed crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on hoof.
After last year’s toll increase, it now costs just a quarter shy of $10 to cross the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco from Marin. That price, too, will only get higher; a five-year plan approved by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (GGBHTD) in 2024 will see at least $0.50 annual increases through 2028.
There remain just two sure-fire ways to cross the Golden Gate Bridge into SF without paying a dime: become a pedestrian or saddle up on a bike or scooter. (Mind you: Only people riding bikes or scooters can use the Golden Gate Bridge’s pedestrian sidewalk after sundown — a longstanding policy implemented to mitigate suicide attempts atop the bridge and other safety concerns.)
But it’s 2026. Anything is possible (for better and worse). This evidently means we can expect wild fauna foregoing human norms and crossing the aforementioned bridge … on the road … putting one hoof in front of the other.
“Bit of a reverse commute eh,” reads the caption for an Instagram post published by [at]juliansnellgrove, showing a video of a deer crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. The doe, which was trailed by a GGBHTD vehicle that created a safe, traffic-free passage as it trotted into Marin, is filmed looking visibly distressed as it crosses the 1.7-mile-long suspension bridge.
The video of the wayward deer has been liked tens of thousands of times across Instagram and hundreds of comments across social media, half-seriously applauding the hoofed creature’s cost-saving adventure.
“He heard the grass tasted better in Sausalito, so he switched sides,” reads one comment. The jury’s still out whether or not that’s true, but he did save $9.75 to graze on the Marin hillsides, regardless.
