Transportation Officials Approve $450,000 Contract To Study Electronic Tolling For All Bay Area Bridges
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — The Bay Bridge, along with six other state-owned bridges, may move to all-electronic tolling—just like the Golden Gate Bridge has for the past two years—as a decision to move ahead with a study was approved on Wednesday.
The Bay Area Toll Authority, which operates the Caltrans' bridges has decided to award Jacobs Engineering Group, from Pasadena, $450,000 as a consultant to study the Golden Gate Bridge's experience of moving to all-electronic tolling while also evaluating how such an operation could be implemented.
Randy Rentschler, a Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) spokesman, told CBSSF that the Bay Bridge presents solving more complex problems than the Golden Gate Bridge, which is operated by it's own transportation district, and other Caltrans' bridges because there are three interstates that spill into the toll plaza.
"Interstate 80 from the north, I-880 from the south and I-580 from the east; and to be able to give a vehicle, who has FasTrak, the ability to get through there and not get tied up with the cash-toll payers is no easy thing," he said.
MTC's Jeff Goodwin said it's the future of toll collection.
"We want to operate the regional freeway system more efficiently. Certainly there are more opportunities to do that if you don't have people stopping to give cash," he said.
The Golden Gate Bridge has made the process simple: drivers either pay with FasTrak, or have their license plate photographed and a bill sent through the mail—although there have been some reports of problems collecting those tolls. Electronic signs flash warnings to tourists and infrequent bridge crossers.
"It obviously works; there are no two ways about it, but whether or not it's the appropriate answer to all the Bay Area toll bridges is the question that we're going to take a look at," Rentschler said.
In any case, installing more electronic tolling lanes is the direction the Toll Authority is moving toward. Besides easing flow of traffic, Rentschler said that it makes more economic sense not to have a fully-staffed cash lane at some bridges.
Goodwin said the electronic toll lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge, did however prove a struggle for the FasTrack customer service center leading to call wait times and problems with the website.
Golden Gate officials, meanwhile, claim that the move to fully automated, all-electronic tolling has been successful.
