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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

Gavin Newsom

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom welcomes the new FasTrak® Customer Service Center at the press conference. (Photo: Noah Berger)

June/July 2005

Agencies Team Up to Put Bay Area Bridge Travelers on FasTrak®

Paying bridge tolls electronically became more convenient and attractive for Bay Area drivers in June thanks to a trio of FasTrak® improvements: a new customer service center, an improved Web site and more dedicated lanes.

MTC, Caltrans and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (GGBHTD) officially opened their new joint FasTrak® Customer Service Center, located along the Embarcadero in San Francisco, at a press conference in early June. On hand to help cut the ribbon was San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who expressed his gratitude for the 50 new jobs that the center brings to the city. “I appreciate that technology and transportation are coming together,” he added.

The new center replaces separate facilities in Mill Valley and Concord that were managed, respectively, by the GGHBTD and by MTC in its role as the Bay Area Toll Authority. “Consolidating the FasTrak® customer service centers into a single facility means greater efficiency for Bay Area motorists and allows all of the agencies to streamline administration and cut costs,” said MTC Executive Director Steve Heminger.

FasTrak Web pageTo meet travelers’ needs any time of the day or night, the three agencies activated a versatile new Web site that not only allows new customers to apply online for a FasTrak® transponder, but enables existing FasTrak® customers to manage and review their accounts 24/7. Visitors to the Web site also can access detailed information about the FasTrak® program and the Bay Area’s eight toll bridges (including lane diagrams for each span), download various FasTrak® forms, and resolve toll violation notices.

The three agencies also used the press conference to announce the conversion of the three far-right lanes at the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge toll plaza to FasTrak®-only lanes.

— John Goodwin

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