Home Daily Question Daily Question: Should Bay Area Bridges go Cashless?

Daily Question: Should Bay Area Bridges go Cashless?

by ECT

Daily Question: Should Bay Area Bridges go Cashless?

This week, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted to move forward with a $4 million contract for an all-electronic tolling system which would mean drivers could no longer use cash. Instead, they would utilize FastTrak only or get a bill in the mail.

The bridges include:

  • Antioch Bridge
  • Benicia Bridge
  • Carquinez Bridge
  • Dumbarton Bridge
  • Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
  • San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
  • San Mateo Bridge

The move will cost CalTrans about 200 jobs.

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7 comments

Melanie Sep 5, 2019 - 10:41 am

This is stupid. You should accept cash everywhere. Good luck with sending a bill in the mail. Not everyone will pay it. And FastTrak only makes sense if you cross bridges often. We have it, only because we use it all the time. Technology has gone way too far.

Susan Sep 5, 2019 - 11:35 am

Agree

No excuses Sep 5, 2019 - 1:03 pm

Who and why in the eff are these stupid questions being asked on here??!! The simple answer is a effin No! It will never happen so don’t even bring it up dummy!

SW Sep 5, 2019 - 1:58 pm

We shouldn’t? You mean its a better idea to have a mile and a half long traffic jam on 580 approaching the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge? Let me clarify, it was a mile and a half backup last Sunday, right next to the Chevron refinery, but only for those who were paying cash. The other two lanes, for FastTrak, flowed right through the toll plaza while this lane just jammed up the freeway.
Just came back from a visit to Boston and as I was leaving Logan Airport I was totally anticipating the long lines to get past the toll collectors as you entered the tunnel. No more toll collectors. Then I got on the Mass Turnpike and guess what, no toll collectors. And no long lines. It’s all done automatically.
If you think it’s a better idea to jack up traffic so you can do something the same way you did forty years ago, well, you’re wrong.

Jg Sep 5, 2019 - 1:31 pm

Sorry excuse, it’s already a done deal. A bit late on the question. This is the way California rolls. They tax you or make a major change and then ask you how you feel about. Your political leaders working for themselves not you. The result will be a person not paying then they will not renew your registration until it is paid. A whole new set of problems are coming. Keep voting in the same politicians and don’t cry when you get this type result.

Enough is Enough Sep 5, 2019 - 2:31 pm

Absolutely not! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this yesterday, as it sounds like it’s already been approved. Awful idea, and unfair to folks who can’t, or don’t want to, invest in a transponder.

m. goodall Sep 5, 2019 - 11:19 pm

Listen with all due respect I’ve lived here for 28 years I don’t crush the bridges but maybe once or twice a year I paid taxes for those bridges and now you’re saying my cash isn’t good enough you know there used to be a law that said that if a person presented cash and you refuse to take it the bill is paid. Maybe you just thought of maybe open up for free Lane because that’s the extent of stupid this really is you telling people that they got to do it electronically by this thing and pay money out of their pocket when some people do not even cross the bridges but once or twice a month I understand it traffic is ridiculous they’re trying to make it faster does Bridges have been paid for so many times over I’ve had to pay taxes on retrofit maintenance and everything else and here you are telling me that the only solution that you can come up with is to tell everybody else if you don’t have cash that can’t go through a bill in the mail will not get paid I agree with the gentleman to set earlier but come on how about giving the taxpayers a break for a change instead of making us something mandatory give the people something that really could use a break in a free travel day on a weekend $20 to cross a bridge or more now with a fifth wheel trailer to go camping is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard in my life used you still want more that’s the problem you people never stop

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