Currently, FasTrak transponders are not compatible with E-ZPass and other ETC systems used in other states because they use a different specification than Title 21. If a vehicle does not have a transponder, or if a transponder is not detected at the toll plaza, a violation enforcement system triggers cameras that capture photos of the vehicle and its license plate for processing. If the license plate is registered as belonging to a FasTrak user, the account is debited only the toll charge, and no penalty is charged. Otherwise, a toll violation notice is sent to the registered owner of the vehicle. In the case of drivers whose vehicles are company owned or leased, as long as the vehicle license plates are properly listed, the violations will be sent to the registered owner and not the employee driver.
The all-electronic toll collection system being introduced in 2021 at the Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges is similar to the system used at the Golden Gate Bridge, which adopted all-electronic tolling in 2013. Automated, high-speed cameras will capture images of license plates, and the FasTrak customer service center will process the images and then mail an invoice each month to the address at which the vehicle is registered with the DMV. The all-electronic toll collection system being introduced in 2021 at the Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges is similar to the system used at the Golden Gate Bridge, which adopted all-electronic tolling in 2013.
The FasTrak is a system that is in place to quickly pay for tolls at bridges, express lanes, and parking at the San Francisco International Airport. A valid FasTrak account makes it quick and convenient to pay tolls because you don't need to carry cash. More information about license plate accounts and one-time payments is available at
Toll roads in California vary in style of both toll collection and transponders. One thing that does connect them all is a system known as FasTrak. All tolling agencies use this system even though their cost and use varies. Any FasTrak transponder can be used on any California toll road or bridge. Most agencies also have a minimum charge each month or some form of monthly fee.
The 91 Express Lanes, for example, has a no-fee account for motorcycles and HOV-3 vehicles. This page will include detailed information about how to contact each one in Southern California and what the basics are regarding use of their roadways. The all-electronic toll-collection system being introduced at the Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges is similar to the system used at the Golden Gate Bridge, which adopted all-electronic tolling in 2013.
When you pass through a bridge toll lane without paying the toll or travel in the I-580 express lanes without a valid FasTrak tag, an image of your license plate is captured. You can resolve your violation online by paying the balance due using a credit card or you can submit a dispute. FasTrak customers continue to pay tolls automatically from a pre-established, prepaid account.
And beginning in October 2019, FasTrak customers can choose to "Pay as You Go" and have tolls charged to a credit card as they are incurred. Starting July 1, The Toll Roads are also eliminating TCA's monthly account maintenance fee for FasTrak accounts – a potential average savings of nearly $50 per year. If you received a new or replacement toll tag after September 2019, please be advised the new toll tags will not beep while driving through a toll plaza or express lane. These toll tags can be identified by the tag number which starts with '101'.
You may check your statement or transaction history online to confirm that toll charges posted to your FasTrak account. The FasTrak Flex toll tag has a three-position switch to signal whether you are traveling alone or as a carpool. The FasTrak Flex toll tag works at all toll bridges and in all Bay Area express lanes, and it also can be used to pay for parking at San Francisco International Airport.
Following the suspension of cash toll collection in March of this year, these customers have received individual toll notices for each crossing. Metro may utilize automated technology to determine the number of occupants in a vehicle by capturing images of drivers, passengers, and the license plate of vehicles accessing the ExpressLanes. Images will be associated with the time, date, location, and transponder occupancy setting when the image was captured. Metro may employ other contractors to review the images for accuracy, equipment maintenance, and storage purposes for later review on Metro's behalf. The automated detection technology determines the number of persons in a vehicle and compares it to the switch setting on the transponder allowing Metro to charge the proper tolls for ExpressLanes travel. Any facial images captured will be redacted for privacy purposes.
If a transponder is set to an incorrect position, the registered owner of the vehicle will receive a violation for the toll amount and a processing fee for each assessed toll. To activate a FasTrak Account, a prepaid toll balance and a $20 refundable toll tag deposit are required. When using a credit card, the initial prepaid minimum toll balance is $25; when using cash, check or money order, the initial prepaid minimum toll balance is $50.
Once your account is open and activated, you can monitor it online at When the Metro ExpressLanes opened in Los Angeles in late 2012, it introduced FasTrak transponders with a special switch that indicates the number of occupants in the vehicle. For the convenience of their FasTrak customers in the Greater Los Angeles urban area who may also use the Metro ExpressLanes, TCA began offering switchable transponders in 2013, and the 91 Express Lanes followed suit by 2015. The Bay Area FasTrak Customer Center then started to offer switchable transponders, under the name "FasTrak Flex", in summer 2015. In other HOT lane facilities, drivers "declare" that they are a carpool by covering their FasTrak transponder in a mylar bag. Each toll agency in Southern California has their own billing and customer service center.
For convenience, all toll facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area instead share the same billing and customer service center. Although anybody with a FasTrak transponder can use it to pay tolls on any California toll facility using the system, people are encouraged to open their accounts with the local agency in charge of the one that they use the most. Each center establishes its own fee and discount structures, and people may be charged a fee if the majority of their FasTrak use occurs elsewhere. This authority would also distribute transponders that could be used on ALL FasTrak facilities.
For example, you need a special transponder to carpool on the 110 while you need a Mylar bag to carpool in San Diego. The transportation system is supposed to unite the state in seamless travel and having different technologies and different accounts and different authorities needlessly divides the region and reduces choice. Unite the Southland, drop the fee, and watch as residents from Bakersfield to San Bernardino sign up. A License Plate Account can be opened with a credit card or with cash, check, or money order. If you open your account with a credit card, the Golden Gate Bridge toll is charged to your credit card each time your vehicle crosses the Bridge. There is no prepaid toll balance required and there are no extra fees.
If you open your account using cash, check, or money order, a prepaid toll balance, equivalent to a single toll, is required, and the toll is deducted from the account each time your vehicle crosses the Bridge. A toll collected based on a license plate is called an Image Toll and can be identified on the customer statement by noticing the license plate number listed instead of the transponder number. If one fails to correctly list license plates on their account, the FasTrak customer will receive toll violation notices as if they were another driver. Conversely, a license plate should be removed from an account after a change in ownership, otherwise resulting in paying for another driver's tolls via the Image Toll process.
You will be charged the cash or pay-by-mail toll rate, whichever is higher, as published by the toll authority, plus a service fee per rental day to a weekly or monthly maximum. If the rental is for multiple months, the PlatePass fees will only apply for the month when the PlatePass service was actually used. For example, if the car is rented for a two-month period, and PlatePass was only used during the first month, the fees will not apply to the second month. You will be charged approximately 10 days after the rental car is returned. See your rental agreement for additional information about service fees. A FasTrak CAV toll tag allows you to drive toll free or at a discounted rate on California toll roads, bridges and express lanes in the HOV/carpool lane on state-owned bridges and carpool lanes.
However, its benefit does not apply on the Golden Gate Bridge.Vehicles with orange, purple or red decals are eligible for discounted and toll-free travel. FasTrak Charge- FasTrak Charge allows payment for individually charged tolls and is free to set up. It is accepted on every California toll bridge, lane and road. FasTrak Charge does not include discounted toll fee features. FasTrak Prepaid- The FasTrak prepaid account accepts prepaid toll payment and allows for discounted toll rates for motorists.
It is accepted on every California toll bridge, lane and roads. FasTrak allows solo drivers to pay a toll to drive in express lanes. Carpools, motorcycles, clean air vehicles and other toll-exempt vehicles can travel toll free or at a discount in all express lanes, but need a FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag. The FasTrak CAV toll tag is only issued to eligible clean air vehicles and is required for discounted single-occupant CAV travel in the SR-237 express lanes. The FasTrak CAV toll tag also has a three-position switch to signal whether you are traveling alone or as a carpool. The FasTrak CAV toll tag works at all toll bridges and in all Bay Area express lanes, and it also can be used to pay for parking at San Francisco International Airport.
Your transponder may be used to pay tolls on the Metro ExpressLanes on the I-10, I-110 and any California toll facility bearing the FasTrak logo, with the exception of the San Francisco Airport Parking Facility. The associated tolls will be charged to your account in accordance with the rules, regulations, and procedures of that FasTrak toll facility. It is your responsibility to be aware of and comply with such rules, regulations, and procedures. If you use your transponder or a vehicle registered to your FasTrak account on a FasTrak toll facility, you agree to pay the tolls charged by that FasTrak toll facility, whether billed by Metro or any other FasTrak toll facility. You agree that Metro may share with the operator of such FasTrak toll facility and its agent's information necessary for the processing and collection of tolls and other fees. There has been a push to strictly use open road tolling, accepting only payments via a FasTrak transponder, a toll-by-plate account, or one-time payments via online or by phone instead of cash.
The Golden Gate Bridge began requiring electronic payments for all tolls in March 2013, and all the Orange County toll roads run by TCA likewise did the same in May 2014. A plan to also eliminate toll takers on all seven of the state-owned bridges was approved in 2019. On March 20, 2020, at midnight, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all-electronic tolling was temporarily placed in effect for those seven state-owned toll bridges, and as of December 10, 2020, all of them are now permanently cashless. The only toll facility that still accepts cash is the South Bay Expressway in San Diego County, but it uses unstaffed toll booths with cash machines that require exact change. As the vehicle enters the toll lane, sensors detect the vehicle.
The two-antenna configuration reads a transponder mounted on the vehicle's windshield. As the vehicle passes through the exit light curtain , it is electronically classified by the treadle based on the number of axles, and the ETC account is charged the proper amount. Feedback is provided to the driver on an electronic sign . If the vehicle does not have a transponder, or if a transponder is not detected at the toll plaza, the system classifies it as a violator and cameras take photos of the vehicle and its license plate for processing. According to the suit , Hertz offers customers an automatic toll-paying service called PlatePass that they can use on California's toll bridges, or just pay cash. But paying cash isn't an option on the bridge, where motorists can use a FasTrak toll tag, or pay online, in person, or by phone after their car has gone through.
Toll prices vary depending on traffic, the number of axels on the vehicle, and the time of day that the vehicles are traveling. The prices also vary depending on if the vehicle is going over a toll bridge, using a carpool lane, or if you are driving a clean air vehicle. Solo drivers may also pay a toll to use the carpool lane when they are not carpooling. To use FasTrak, you need an account with a prepaid balance and a toll tag.
You deposit money into your FasTrak account and each time you cross a bridge or use an express lane, the toll is deducted from your account balance. On 237, solo drivers in eligible CAVs will receive a 50% discount off the toll if they use a FasTrak CAV toll tag. The FasTrak CAV toll tag is the only transponder that will communicate the discounted toll rate to roadside toll equipment. Clean air vehicles with two or more people can travel toll free as a carpool, but must use a FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag. Clean air vehicles with valid clean air vehicle decals can travel toll free or at a discounted rate on Bay Area express lanes and state-owned bridges.
In order to receive the correct discount, eligible clean air vehicles should use a FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag. Contrary to the 91 Express Lanes or Los Angeles County toll lanes, there is no carpool discount when driving the 73, 133, 241 or 261. However, those with FasTrak transponders get a $1-per-toll discount if they incur at least $40 a month in tolls on The Toll Roads. Also, there is no longer a monthly maintenance fee charged to FasTrak accounts. FasTrak is an electronic toll tag that works throughout the California toll facilities. Just stick the device on your windshield and zoom through any of the toll roads, toll bridges, express lanes, or park at San Francisco International Airport parking garages.
It will automatically deduct the toll from the linked account. You also get access to dedicated toll lanes and toll discounts for carpools, CAVs and EVs. You may open your FasTrak account with a credit card, cash or check. If you link your account to a valid credit card, FasTrak collects an initial prepaid balance for tolls of $25 per toll tag. With FasTrak, there is a $2 minimum fee that is charged to the card every month for the transponder; however, if you pay at least $25 in tolls, the fee will be waived. The price of FasTrak will depend on what roads you are going to take throughout the month.
Every time you pass through a FasTrak toll road, that particular fee will be applied to your car, which is noted below. If you drive on a toll road, and did not arrange payment before travel or pay your toll within 3 days, the vehicle's registered owner will receive an unpaid toll notice from that toll road's payment provider. The first notice requests payment for the toll amount and an additional $25 penalty. If you have a standard FasTrak toll tag, it will continue to work, and you don't need to get another tag unless you want to travel toll free as a carpool or motorcycle in express lanes or get a clean air vehicle discount. If you would like to utilize traveling toll free as a carpool or as a motorcycle in an express lane, you may upgrade your FasTrak transponder. If you do not use express lanes as a carpool, motorcycle, or eligible CAV, a standard FasTrak toll tag will serve all your needs.
The vast majority of FasTrak users only need a standard FasTrak toll tag. FasTrak can be used to pay tolls electronically on every tolled bridge, lane and road in California using a free sticker transponder adhered inside of a vehicle's windshield. As you pass through a toll lane, the toll tag is read, and your tolls are deducted from your prepaid toll balance. When you reach your replenishment threshold, your account is replenished automatically, if you opened your account with a credit card.
If you opened your account as a cash/check account, then you are responsible for replenishing your account by making regular payments. There are four easy ways to pay a Golden Gate Bridge toll – a FasTrak Account, License Plate Account, One-Time Payment, and Toll Invoice. Tolls may be paid using credit card, cash, check or money order, and can be paid online, by phone, or in person. All toll bridges accept FasTrak electronic tolling tag or "pay-by-plate" payment.
With "pay-by-plate," drivers will receive an invoice by mail and can submit payment online, by phone, or at certain locations. A FasTrak Flex toll tag is required for carpools, motorcycles and eligible clean air vehicles to travel toll free in the I-580 express lanes. FasTrak Flex toll tags work just like FasTrak Standard toll tags but have a three-position switch that can be adjusted to signal whether you are traveling as a carpool or alone. As drivers pass toll points or get on a ramp entering or exiting the toll road, an electronic reader scans for a transponder and charges the associated account.
If you don't have a transponder, a camera will take a photo of your car's license plate and wait for you to pay online. Since 2014, there have been no attendants posted in toll booths to take payments. FasTrak Invoice - If you cross a FasTrak toll without a valid FasTrak transponder, you will receive a toll violation notice from FasTrak called FasTrak Invoice. You can pay it online, over the phone, by mail, or by using a Cash Payment Location. In addition, you agree to make a cash or check payment of $50, or one month's average use.
You agree that such payment will be received by the Metro ExpressLanes Service Center prior to your prepaid toll account balance reaching a zero-dollar balance. There are four easy ways to pay a Golden Gate Bridge toll - a FasTrak Account, License Plate Account, One-Time Payment, and Toll Invoice. You can open your FasTrak account with a credit card, cash or check. If you open an account with a valid credit card, FasTrak collects an initial prepaid balance of $25 per toll tag. To sign up for FasTrak, you will first need to sign up for an account online in your local area, which can be in the Greater Los Angeles area, the Bay Area or the metropolitan San Diego area. You can either do this via online with a credit card, by calling 511, by mail or at a local designated walk-in center.
