Press Releases

For Immediate Release

FasTrak® Transponders Available at Bay Bridge Toll Plaza

Tolls Rise to $4 on Jan. 1, 2007,
FasTrak Users Get Month-long Reprieve

Contact:
John Goodwin, MTC/BATA, 510.817.5862
Jeff Weiss, Caltrans, 510.286.5543

Oakland, Calif., Dec. 13, 2006… In little more than two weeks — on January 1, 2007 — a $1 toll increase will go into effect on the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges. Tolls on the affected bridges — Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward — will rise to $4 from the current $3 level. However, drivers of cars and other two-axle vehicles who pay their tolls electronically with a FasTrak toll tag will receive a $1 discount off the new toll throughout the month of January 2007. The month-long promotional discount is being offered as a way to encourage motorists to enroll in the FasTrak program, which in addition to short-term cash savings can offer motorists long-term benefits in convenience and reduced congestion.

To make it even easier for travelers to get on the FasTrak, the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) are opening a temporary customer service center at Bay Bridge toll plaza administration building (which can be accessed via the far left lane in either direction). The satellite center allows customers who have an active e-mail address — and who open their accounts with a credit card — to walk out with a FasTrak toll tag in hand. The satellite customer service center will be open from Friday, December 15 through Friday, December 22, with operating hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Customers also can enroll in the FasTrak program online at 511.org, by calling 511 and asking for “FasTrak” at the first prompt, or in person at the permanent FasTrak customer service center at 475 The Embarcadero in San Francisco.

“More than a half-million Bay Area drivers already have FasTrak accounts,” said Marin County Supervisor and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) member Steve Kinsey, who chairs the Commission’s Bay Area Toll Authority Oversight Committee. MTC, in its role as the Bay Area Toll Authority, runs the FasTrak program.

Kinsey continued, “We want to thank those customers by offering a discount, and to encourage others to sign up. The electronic toll tags allow drivers to take advantage of the FasTrak-only lanes on Bay Area bridges and make their crossings faster, easier and — during January — cheaper. FasTrak could save a daily commuter more than $20 for the month.”

BATA earlier this year made it easier for motorists to enroll in the FasTrak program by reducing the opening prepaid toll balance required for new customers to $25 from the previous $40. No deposit is required for customers who link their accounts to a credit card and request no more than three toll tags.

FasTrak can be used in all lanes at all Bay Area toll plazas, including at the Golden Gate Bridge, which is not affected by the January toll increase. Tolls on the Golden Gate Bridge remain as currently set: $4 for FasTrak users and $5 for motorists who pay in cash.

Caltrans owns, operates and maintains the state highway system, including seven Bay Area toll bridges. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. BATA, which is directed by the same policy board as MTC, administers toll revenues from the Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges. Toll revenues from the Golden Gate Bridge are administered by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, which joined with BATA to operate a single regional FasTrak customer service center in San Francisco.

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