FasTrakis the preferred method of payment on The Toll Roads - with 87 percent of drivers using it to pay the lowest toll rates and pay tolls electronically on every tolled bridge, lane and road in California. FasTrak drivers affix a transponder to their vehicle's windshield and when they pass through a tolling point the toll is automatically deducted from their account, which is prepaid using credit card, check or cash. 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 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.
More information about license plate accounts and one-time payments is available at "When we convert to all electronic tolling in the Fall of 2013, our FasTrak customers won't have to do a thing. For those folks who don't want FasTrak, they'll be able to use the toll roads by simply setting up a license plate tolling account with us. There will be several ways to set up an LPT account without having to prepay tolls or be charged a monthly fee — two main reasons our cash customers said they don't sign up for FasTrak today. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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 Starting May 1, 2007, commuters not using their transponder to pay tolls on the I-15 in San Diego will be charged a new monthly fee to offset the cost of maintaining their account. Customers who use the I-15 lanes regularly will not be affected by this change.
Customers who spend at least $4.50 per month in tolls for accounts with a single transponder will not pay any lease or account maintenance fees. 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. Previously, the agency rewarded drivers who used the lanes more than four times a month by waiving their monthly fees. Each driver's $12 in annual fees will be assessed in addition to per-mile tolls, which start at 25 cents and can go up to $1.40, depending on how crowded the toll lanes are at the time. More than 253,000 Angelenos have opened tolling accounts.
Following the suspension of cash toll collection in March of this year, these customers have received individual toll notices for each crossing. 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. For FasTrak accounts established and replenished with a credit card or electronic check, no deposit for transponders is required and a minimum of $30 in tolls must be prepaid. When a FasTrak account's balance falls below 10 days' worth of tolls it will be replenished in the amount of one month's tolls . For infrequent drivers, their credit card will be debited a minimum of $30 when their balance reaches $10.
For FasTrak accounts established and replenished with cash, check or money order a $30 deposit is required for each transponder and a minimum of $45 in tolls must be prepaid. When a FasTrak account's balance falls below 10 days' worth of tolls it must be replenished in the amount of one month's tolls . For infrequent drivers, when the account balance falls to $15, a minimum replenishment payment of $45 must be made. 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. 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. 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. You must make a minimum payment of $50 to your FasTrak account whenever your pre-paid toll balance falls below $25. To get started, you should have your vehicle information , credit card number, and transponder number if purchased from AAA, Albertsons, or Costco. 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. Jim Green, who staffs the Transportation Corridor Agencies' San Clemente information center, said the FasTrak account precharges your credit card and deducts tolls as they occur. FasTrak also draws the $2 monthly fee from your account for the cost of administering the transponder account if you spend less than $25 per month per transponder on your account.
But the FasTrak account also offers about a $1 discount off the toll when you pass a pay point. 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. All of California's HOT lanes only use open road tolling. 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 a valued ExpressLanes customer, we would like to make you aware of an upcoming change to the Terms and Conditions of your account. Effective June 1, 2014, ALL Metro ExpressLanes accounts will be charged a $1 monthly account maintenance fee. There will no longer be an option to have the monthly account maintenance fee waived with four one-way trips per month nor will there be a waiver for LA County residents.
This monthly fee will continue to be waived for Equity Plan customers ONLY. Everyone who uses the toll roads, which are located on the 110 and 10 freeways, is still required to have a transponder and to pay tolls if they're traveling solo in the lanes. Carpoolers don't have to pay any tolls but still must have a transponder in their vehicle. Until now, even carpoolers had been subject to the $3 monthly fee if they used the lanes infrequently. 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.
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. On March 23, 2007, SANDAG approved the new I-15 FasTrak® pricing program to curb the increasing cost of account maintenance for non-users of the system. Since the FasTrak program was launched in 1997, SANDAG has provided free accounts with no enrollment fees and no minimum usage charges. As a result, a number of current customers remain enrolled despite little to no use of the FasTrak lanes that run in the median of Interstate 15 between State Routes 56 and 163. SANDAG officials noted that a growing number of customers sign up for the service but seldom use it.
About half of the customers enrolled with SANDAG made fewer than 10 trips last year on I-15. Many of these customers primarily used toll roads in Orange County. With most accounts, there is an account maintenance fee. If you would like to cancel your FasTrak toll account, follow the cancellation instructions below. 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 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.
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. 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 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. Your account will be automatically replenished as needed. 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. Once you sign up, a transponder will arrive in the mail that will have to be mounted to the window to work properly. Before every trip begins, you will program FasTrak to indicate how many people are going to be traveling through the car.
Whenever the car enters a FasTrak lane, the transponder will collect the data, charging your account. 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. "Nearly 81 percent of our Toll Road customers already pay by FasTrak, the electronic toll collection system which uses the transponder mounted in your vehicle. About 16.5 percent use cash, which probably accounts for locals who are infrequent users, tourists and just those passing through the OC," Hennessey emailed. 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. Those who use Orange County's toll roads just a few times a year may find an ExpressAccount more palatable – no discounts, but no $2 monthly fee. You can sign up for FasTrak or ExpressAccount at thetollroads.com. For ExpressAccounts, you can either prepay or just have your credit card charged for any toll you incur.
"Pay by plate" means that your transponder was not read and your toll was charged to your account based on a reading of your vehicle's license plate. If you are receiving "pay by plates" often, check to see if your transponder is properly mounted. If your transponder is properly mounted and you continue to receive "pay by plates," then you may need a replacement transponder. Once logged in to your account, use the "Transponder" tab to submit your request. Accounts with excessive "pay by plate" transactions may be assessed a $2 fee per transaction.
