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Community Corner

What, No Toll Stop? Navigating the New Golden Gate Bridge Pay System

Toll takers disappear tonight as the Golden Gate tests the state's first human-free, cash-free toll-taking operation on a bridge.

Those of you crossing the Golden Gate Bridge tonight might see a miracle: the disappearance, at 12:01 am, of 28 toll takers, and their replacement by technology.

It's been in the works for some time, and for the last 60 days a trial of the hands-off toll taking has been ongoing.

Basically, how it works is the same way toll violators have been charged for the past several years: a camera records the license plate of cars that don't stop hoping to escape the toll (or those of us caught short by the $6 fee) and a bill is sent by mail.

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But instead of a traffic violation, with added charges for such, drivers who don't have a Fastrak transmitter will just get a bill for the toll.

Which means the toll is not going way, just the stop-to-pay procedure. (Neither are the 28 toll takers going away, exactly. About half of them have been reassigned elsewhere in the transportation system, and severance packages may be offered to the other half.)

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Starting at midnight, then, there will be four ways to pay the toll when crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

One is to purchase a Fastrak pass. These can be purchased at certain chain stores, such as Costco or Walgreen's. They are $25 to buy, but you receive $30 in toll credits (at any area toll bridge, not just the Golden Gate).

You can also register your auto online at goldengate.org to create a license plate account, adding to it like a "float" to keep from getting billed.

Electronic kiosks for cash paying customers have been rolled out throughout the Bay Area, allowing you to pay directly to the bridge service before or after crossing the bridge. (See video with this article.)

Or you can pay off that invoice mailed to your official DMV residence - though there will be penalties accruing if you don't pay within a specified period.

See this article on Mill Valley Patch for other details about the new toll system on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Please note the speed will be reduced from 45 mph to 35 mph approximately 1000 feet before the toll booths. The speed further reduces to 25mph when going through the toll booths.

Eight lanes of the southbound traffic will also merge into 4 lanes of southbound traffic once through the tool booth.

There is a new carpool lane on the bridge for southbound traffic. The southbound lane will be in lane number 2, second lane in from the right. There is a large electronic sign on top of the tool booth which will point out which lane is the carpool lane.

Just think: With the experimental Google car coming online sooner or later, you can experience not only no toll stop, but no driver.

What do you think of this human-free means of paying a toll?

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