Bridge tolls

[nosrednayduj]

Note to self: do not forget to sign up on the bay area fastrak website BEFORE you return your rental car. Because, you can only pay tolls until the future, and so I have just signed up to pay my toll over the weekend, and also tolls by whoever rented the car next until right now. I wrote a complaint to them, so if it happens, hopefully I will not be actually charged.

My real problem was that when I returned the car, I left all documentation in the car, because they were going to email me a receipt (hasn't happened yet), and so I didn't know my license plate number. Turns out, one of the confirmation emails did have my license plate number in it, so I was able to do that without sitting on hold for hours. If I'd realized, I would have paid the toll while sitting in the airport, but somehow I thought I didn't have that information in an email, so I didn't do it until I had an opportunity to sit on hold, but then I found the number after all.

Comments

[cjsmith]

I really dislike local toll-paying systems such as FasTrak because they cause so much grief for travelers. (And if you don’t go through the hoops, either you pay double the going rate because you’re paying cash, or there are places you practically can’t even go.) I hope that kind of thing gets improved some day.

[nosrednayduj]

There hasn't been any cash option on any bridges in the Bay Area since Covid. It is kind of confusing because it took them a very long time to get around to changing the website from "just golden gate bridge" to "all the bridges". A couple times I had failed to do it in time, and one time I didn't do it at all, so I had to pay the extra $20 that the rental car agency tacks on as a "convenience" fee when they get the bill via license plate recognition.

[wrog]

I'm annoyed that they have yet to adopt a standard protocol for this stuff so that you can just bring a transponder with you that'll work everywhere. (and how hard the rental companies are likely to lobby against such a thing... because, you know, FREEDOM)

[nosrednayduj]

Of course I can't really bring my transponder, my housemates might want to go somewhere on the pike. If I did, I guess I could wrap it in foil to prevent being read during the airport shuttle bus ride home?

[zipperbear]

For my east coast travels, I got a Maryland EZ-Pass, returned it when they wanted to collect a monthly fee, and got a Buffalo-Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority EZ-Pass, which is international, so they can't easily add a fee. I think it doesn't work in Florida. Obama was supposed to require nation-wide compatibility, but that was derailed.