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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

June/July 2004

Now There Are More Reasons Than Ever to Pay Tolls Electronically

FasTrak® Users to Enjoy Temporary Reprieve From $1 Toll Hike

FasTrakSavvy bridge travelers know that having a FasTrak® transponder attached to their windshields saves time at the toll plaza, allowing them to zip across the bay and Carquinez Strait without having to stop and pay the toll. Starting this summer, transbay commuters’ odds of avoiding toll plaza backups will be boosted still further by the phased addition of more FasTrak®-only lanes on five of the region’s seven Caltrans bridges. In addition to saving time, motorists who use FasTrak® will save money as well, with a temporary reprieve from the $1 toll increase that was approved by the region’s voters in March as part of Regional Measure 2.

If the added lanes and toll discount are not enough to get procrastinators to sign up for a FasTrak® account, there is yet another incentive for getting a transponder now — a recently launched Web page at MTC’s traveler information site, located at www.511.org, allows drivers to conveniently apply for FasTrak® online.

Auto tolls on the region’s seven Caltrans bridges are rising to $3 this summer. The MTC-run Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) voted in April to give cars and other two-axle vehicles equipped with FasTrak® transponders a $1 discount, starting on the day the toll increase goes into effect on the Caltrans bridges — July 1, 2004 — and ending four months later on October 31, 2004.

“We wanted to thank those Bay Area drivers who already have FasTrak® accounts by offering a discount, and to encourage others to sign up,” said Rod McMillan, MTC’s manager of Bridge and Highway Operations. In its role as BATA, MTC will administer the revenues from the toll increase and oversee the package of traffic-relief projects the increase will fund. The proposed toll discount will be temporary because a longer discount period would have a greater impact on the amount of toll revenues collected, which could affect the delivery of the traffic-relief projects promised to voters.

BATA also voted to dedicate more lanes for FasTrak® users on five of the state-owned bridges. Motorists will see a second FasTrak®-only lane on both the Dumbarton and San Mateo-Hayward bridges in July, and on the Benicia-Martinez and Richmond-San Rafael bridges in August. Three more FasTrak®-only lanes will open on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in September, bringing the total for that bridge to five.

The new Web page makes it possible not only for users of the Caltrans bridges to apply online for a FasTrak® account, but also for motorists who primarily or exclusively use the Golden Gate Bridge, which is operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (GGBHTD).

A regional FasTrak® customer service center is set to open by June 2005; it will merge the customer service center in Concord previously operated by Caltrans (now under BATA administration) with that of the GGBHTD, which currently runs its own center in Mill Valley. “The merger is expected to save money for all of the involved agencies, while providing customers with a seamless toll payment process,” said McMillan.

A FasTrak®-only lane can handle almost three times as many vehicles per hour as a lane in which tolls are collected manually. While all lanes on all eight bridges in the region are equipped with the FasTrak® system, only 30 percent of motorists crossing the seven

Caltrans bridges (in the toll direction) during weekday peak periods now use FasTrak®. By comparison, about 70 percent of the motorists commuting southbound on the Golden Gate Bridge during the morning peak period use FasTrak®.

The robust stats for the Golden Gate Bridge can be attributed in part to a $1 discount (off a $5 auto toll) for FasTrak® users, and in part to the Bridge District’s practice of setting aside fully four of the 10 operational toll booths for drivers paying electronically. “We’ve seen the virtual elimination of the morning back-ups at the toll plaza,” said Mary Currie, public affairs director for GGBHTD.
— Réka Goode

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