Golden Gate Bridge Begs Visitors for Their Spare Change

Anyone visiting San Francisco is used to being asked for "spare change, please", but the request usually comes from the homeless. Now the city's most famous monument is getting in on the act: the Golden Gate bridge is so strapped for cash that it is to ask visitors for donations.

The most photographed bridge in the world already charges motorists $5 to cross it but the local transit authority still cannot make ends meet. From this spring, the board will hold out the municipal equivalent of a begging bowl.

Everyone taking the air on the bridge or strolling across from Marin County will be asked for their spare change. The bridge will accept every currency from yen to euros.

The reason is "a serious financial crisis", according to Celia Kupersmith, the bridge's general manager. It is is the first time since the bridge was built in 1937 that it has resorted to such a measure.

Regular travellers were not impressed. "What unmitigated gall," said Paul Richardson, a construction worker who regularly commutes across the bridge. "I have several things I would like to drop in there but none of them are money."

If the bridge finds that the collecting box does not bring in the shortfall, they can always ask the experts in downtown San Francisco. There the signs asking for money seldom say anything as mundane as "homeless, please help". Instead they read "residentially challenged, all change welcome" or even "why lie - it's for beer".