Bay Area Toll Bridges to Stop Accepting Scrip
Full Refunds for Unused Tickets
OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 13 -- Caltrans and the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) today announced that beginning Friday, Nov. 18, scrip tickets no longer will be accepted for payment of tolls on the Bay Area's seven state- owned toll bridges.
Caltrans discontinued the sale of toll bridge scrip tickets in May 2005. Motorists with outstanding scrip will be able to use their remaining tickets through Thursday, Nov. 17. Holders of scrip may redeem outstanding tickets for a full refund by sending the tickets to Bridge Scrip Tickets, Bay Area Toll Authority, 101 Eighth Street, Oakland, CA 94607.
"Scrip is being discontinued to increase the efficiency of the toll collection process," explained Rod McMillan, director of bridge operations and oversight for BATA. "With only about 400 scrip tickets collected each day on the seven bridges -- out of approximately 340,000 daily toll payments -- they account for just a tiny fraction of all transactions."
McMillan urged motorists who have been using scrip to sign up for free FasTrak(TM) electronic toll collection transponders. "FasTrak(TM) can be used in every toll lane on every Bay Area toll bridge. So it delivers even more customer convenience than scrip tickets. It's a pre-paid toll system, just like scrip, and it allows drivers to use the FasTrak(TM)-only lanes to zip through the toll plazas."
Flyers announcing the elimination of the scrip program are now posted in the windows of staffed tollbooths at the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Mateo-Hayward and San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridges. Toll collectors are handing out notices to motorists who use scrip informing these travelers that the tickets no longer will be accepted.
Motorists who have questions about the elimination of toll bridge scrip
tickets or need more information about the redemption
of outstanding tickets can call Caltrans at 510-286-6042. To sign up for
FasTrak(TM), go to
BATA administers tolls on the region's seven state-owned toll bridges, and administers the FasTrak(TM) program on behalf of both Caltrans and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. BATA is staffed by, and overseen by the same policy board as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.