Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza

Short story: they have crap-​or-​zero signs about if/​what/​how to pay toll. I cross bridge. It take «FastTrack» SEVEN WEEKS to send invoice, by which time I’ve left country. I get back 3 months later to huge fines. I GOT FINES WAVED MAYBE YOU CAN TOO:
HERE’S HOW TO CONTEST/​COMPLAIN BY PHONE… (they make it seem impossible to talk to a person, but follow these instructions in office hours and you will get a person)
* call «FastTrack» on 1−877−229−8655
* say ‘english’ or press 1
* say ‘other information’ or press 5
* say ‘questions’ or press 2
* do one of the following, (depending what they mailed you)
— say ‘invoice’ or press 1 (if you just got the invoice)
— say ‘violation’ or press 2 (if you got a violation notice)
— say ‘notice’ or press 3 (if you got a collection notice)
* (listen through all the stuff about contacting them by web email) THEN
— say ‘representative’ or press 0
* (they ask for your «account number» — ignor that)
— say ‘representative’ or press 0 again.
* (they ask you to verify that you want to speak to a representative)
— say yes or press 1
The nice lady waived my «Violation» fines — because I complained that it took them 7 weeks to send FIRST INVOICE — by which time I’d left the country for 3 months, and there was no way i could have known I was even invoiced. I also went on about all my other complaints — bad signage, how was I supposed to know what «FastTrack» means — whey cant they use plain englsh like «Call this number to pay your Toll», why not offer a place to pull over and get a leaflet on how to pay the toll, or offer a box to put your name and address in, so they can send an invoice out right away etc etc.
Good luck! After you have dealt with your «Violation» fines
THEN COMPLAIN about your bad experience DIRECT TO GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE OFFICE 1−415−921−5858
The more time «FastTrack» and the Golden Gate people have to spend on complaints by phone, the less cost effective it is for them to have such a crap system, and such poor signs and so little assistance for visitors.
I think that they shoudl pay me a «VIOLATION» fee for every extra day it took them to send an invoice after the first 48hrs. Now that would be real accountability!
THE BACK STORY: Horrible confusing badly designed toll system. I looked everywhere for information as I approached the bridge. couldnt see it. later told I should have called FastTrack 511 or something, but «FastTrack»? doesnt that mean something about commuters? I’m not a commuter, I’m an out of state visitor. It didn’t say ‘CALL 511 TO PAY YOUR TOLL” Why not? how hard is that? I could have pulled over right after the bridge and done that. I just went to Google StreetView to see if I can see all the «signage» they claim I sailed past. Nope. I will post the one feeble sign that I see on Street view, positioned on an on-​ramp to 101, with lots of tiny writing, and NO INSTRUCTIONS — barely visible even if you take time to look at it on your computer on the google photo, let alone driving past it in traffic.
Like I say, couldn’t figure out what I was meant to do to pay — I’m an english speaker, I’m not too stupid to follow instructions. There were none. Wondered if perhaps it would be electronic by plate. No idea. Doesnt say «We’ll snap your plate and send a bill» nothing.
9÷16÷15 I cross (violate”?) the bridge.
a few days later I get home to Oregon and never hear from them.
10÷21÷15 I leave the country (37 DAYS AFTER CROSSING BIDGE). By now I’ve assumed it was a no-​toll day or something.
11÷2÷15 SEVEN WEEKS AFTER I CROSSED THE BRIDGE an invoice was generated and mailed to me. YES that is the date ON the invoice. Not the post mark. But I’d left the country by then, so never saw it.
2÷4÷16 I return to the US to a stack of VIOLATION notices, making me a «VIOLATOR»?? and I now have $ 149 in fines.
2÷5÷16 I call in per insturctions above and complain and get the fines waved. I pay the Toll.
So When I call the Golden Gate people (number above) that the invoice is dated 11÷2÷15. Golden Gate people are soooo surprised that the invoice was sent soooo late (I read on Unilocal that this is common) and say it SHOULD NEVER have taken so long, they will «Look into it». «Something went wrong» he said.
The «FastTrack» woman said it took so long because I live out of state, they have to contact the DMV in my state for my address, and that takes weeeeeks apparently. APPAULING — they are wasting my Oregon Tax money bugging Oregon DMV for addresses? I would have gladly just dropped my address in a slot for them if they offered the option. I’m also going to contact Oregon DMV and tell them to stop wasting OR tax money on processing these CA requests — CA is saving money on toll operators and then shifting costs to OR and other state DMVs to do the work for them. What crap!

Out-​of-​state people beware! I live in Oregon and cross the bridge once a year in December, and have never received an invoice. I’ve had the same address for 15 years and it’s accurate on my registration. Several months ago a collection agency called me about the 2013 crossing and wanted $ 70 plus dollars, of course I did not volunteer payment. The collection agency said they could hold up DMV registration. Nice try, I live in Oregon and it doesn’t work that way. I tried to pay online for my last trip in Dec 2015, but since I don’t have an invoice number there is no option to pay. I called their customer service number and while they are real nice people they cannot pull up my plate numbers or an invoice number so they won’t even take my money. However, they were able to pull up my 2014 trip and waived any late charges and so I was able to pay that. This is a horrible system.

Worst. System. Ever.
Had a rental car. Tried online system several times but it said maintenance problem.
Called. Waited forever to access a rep. Asked to add my email after giving my credit card number but rep said she just closed my account and couldn’t go back to add an email. She also said I probably had issues with online because you can’t enter a start and end time that’s the same. Enter in half hour increments. Example 1 to 1:30 pm. Err on side of over inclusion.
Called two days later because I hadn’t seen a charge. Tried to access my temp account number but could not. Rep said temp account number can’t be accessed by one time payers. That’s not what it’s for. Told it takes 48 hrs to 1 week to get charged. She apologized about email thing and added it saying it would take 2 days to get a notice I was in the system.
2 days later nothing.
Called 1 week after crossing toll and said I hadn’t seen a charge to my credit card or a notice to my email. Told to wait 2 more days because of holidays.
2 days later nothing by email or credit card. Called back. Told to wait another 2 more days and to chill out and that my temp access number was my salvation if rental car agency tries to charge me for violation.
2 days later nothing by email or credit card. Called back. Told it actually takes 10 business days to get something. Bridge sends photo to dmv. Dmv sends confirmation to bridge. Bridge contacts these guys who are a third party contractor to charge your credit card.
2 days later, still waiting. Is this not the most retarded system ever designed?
11 business days later: still nothing. Called and was told to wait more. I told them I received notice that a vendor’s system was compromised so my credit card will be cancelled next week. I asked if they could please just take my money. They said no but would transfer me to someone who could change my credit card number. I was transferred and that person said for sure by now a violation notice has been sent from golden gate to the rental agency. I asked how they could circumvent their department. She said not her problem. Call the rental car company. I asked her to update my card number nevertheless. She refused. Said it was pointless at this point. Good grief.

Convenient way to cross the bridge but absolutely horrible at billing. Took forever to get my invoice and have it sent to the wrong address. Bumping my $ 5 – 7?! Crossing fee to $ 75!!! Awesome if you have fast trak sucks if you don’t.

No debit cards, its 2015 and i got ticket just because i dont have cash on me. I hate them, making milions of dollars and cant organize it better.

I ride Golden Gate transit daily and have to change buses since I work in the civic center area and GGT can’t seem to schedule the Civic Center bus correctly. Regardless, there’s no better place to stop and take in the view than the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza where we are dropped off. Gorgeous views and a very safe area! Lots of people changing buses so there’s always activity. Looking out over Alcatraz is of course the added bonus! When driving northbound, it can be frustrating that there is a huge bottleneck at the tolls. Makes my ride home that much longer! But aside from all that, this is a very excellent spot!
Kudos to the Golden Gate Bridge staff!

Total scam to grab people who are computer illiterate. The revenue must have gone up 100% with this scam. I paid online like most will, but what a deal for others who don’t or can’t figure it out. Another way for the city to make money like the charge for a paper bag. Beautiful city, terrible idea.

This is the worst system ever designed. First of all, they don’t give you any information on how to pay as you are crossing.
I assumed they would send me a invoice to my registered address, but nope that didn’t happen. Now their website is the absolute WORST site. What year is this? 1990 when AOL was still a thing? I have to remember what date and exact time I crossed to be able to give you money? Sure let me write that down as I’m driving.
What a pathetic excuse of a system designed to «make our lives easier».
In essence, GGB association, you are terrible.

When Execution fails…
A pretty good idea that hatched into a chaotic snafu due to committee planning and unaccountable execution.
Pros
* Hastens toll collection (yeah! No waiting, except behind the 20% of confused summer tourists);
* Saves money by allowing toll-​takers’ heads to roll (although their % of the GG Bridge District’s budget was insignificant);
* License-​plate reading & lookup technology is proven and off-​the-​shelf (shiny new toys!)
Cons
* The money-​saving benefits don’t allow a toll reduction. Instead, another increase was deemed essential.
* Fastrak hobbles the entire system. RFID tags don’t last like license plates. Fastrak works well, when it works. But Fastrak’s automated deposit-​incrementing policy is arbitrary yet inflexible. And God forbid you should ever have an issue that requires human intervention. Fastrak customer servants have earned, at minimum, Certifications in Obfuscation, and many possess PhD’s in Sophistry. Never try to get the spelling of your name corrected. Just sayin’.

If there is a NEGATIVE star that’s what I’ll give this review. Whoever thought of doing this Fastrak when crossing the Golden Gate bridge should be FIRED! WHAT A STUPID IDEA!

Fastrak noise: Beep beep. Love being able to sail on through without stopping.
Sure wish they would stop screwing everyone with all those whacked up late notices.

Last year beginning of December I had to cross the bridge and found to my surprise nobody manning the booth. No idea what to do, I waited for an invoice. It came and the first notice already had added 25 $ penalty for «evading» the toll! Fighting this, doesn’t seem to work. I filed the dispute and I am still waiting to hear back (Message notes that it will take 5 days, and its been 2 weeks now)
I am afraid, if I don’t pay up, they will ad more fees to the dispute. I feel hoodwinked. this really is a crying shame.

This is a total scam. I crossed the bridge expecting to be able to pay like I have in previous years. But today their wasn’t a single person their. I figured sence the bridge was going to be closed the next weekend that they might just have it free to those who use it since it will no longer be use able for a few days. Well. I crossed the bridge, tried to pay, and now you want more than what my toll bill should have been? I guess this is how our lovely state is paying its employees. With falsely accused bills and what not.

Went across 3 times, waited forever for the invoice, it comes, dated sent the 1÷5÷15 due by 1÷26÷15, from crossings 11÷17−11÷19, they JUST sent me a notice, and its already 90+ dollars in collection fines. THIS IS BULLCRAP. you call and theres no option to talk to an actual person, I submitted a dispute and will be joining the class action lawsuit against this fraud. my address is correct with the DMV there is no excuse this wasnt delayed in the mail it simply wasnt sent to give me fair notice to pay this bill. its a total scam. I’ve done it fine in the past but this time they are trying to screw me thanks to xerox and its automated fraud system.
FIX THIS SF this is shameful being that we are in Silicon valley, this system is total garbage.

SCAM ARTISTS. Never received a notice and now 2x $ 79.00 fees on my DMV renewal. SF local government should be ashamed. Am I paying for a new net or something?!

Bring back the Toll Collector! We are now forced to keep track of another thing… did I get a fast track account where do i Pay… and the fine is hefty ($ 6.00 becomes like $ 70.00 don’t quote me) if you don’t follow the rules. I get it. but drivers should not HAVE to pay by plate. And a truly fair pay by plate is this: all tolls are billed on your registration, no additional fees. This is the only fair way.

OK so first you fire all the toll workers, putting dozens (hundreds?) of people out of their jobs. THEN, you come up with a great scam where you mail people bills TO THE WRONG ADDRESS. Then when the helpful post office employees finally get the bill, which was mailed to the WRONG address, to my current house… it is already late.
Twice now. And counting. We get our DMV plate renewals at the right address, so how can you get this wrong over and over? OH YEAH, it makes you money!
I know you’re watching. I know the idea is to coerce everyone into putting money into a state-​held account by making it difficult to pay. How convenient that this lets you hold millions of interest-​free dollars in account.
At least Unilocal lets me tell the world that you are lame.

I was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday when my front tire suddenly exploded. Fortunately, it happened right as I was passing by the toll plaza. I immediately pulled over out of traffic and in to the employee parking lot to inspect the damage. Within 1 minute (I kid you not), a bridge patrol car came to my rescue. I didn’t even have to pick up the phone and call AAA. It’s like they magically appeared out of nowhere. The officers made a quick call to their roadside service guys, and in less than 2 minutes, a truck was at my side to replace my tire with a spare.
It was 10:30am and I had an 11am mtg in South of Market. There’s no way I’m going to make it in time, I thought. But lo and behold, the guy fixed my tire in 5 minutes flat — free of charge. I was back on the road before I knew it… and I even made it to my 11am mtg with 2 minutes to spare.
I can’t thank the Golden Gate Bridge Patrol enough. They were total lifesavers. I got a personal glimpse in to where our bridge toll money goes. Thanks again, guys!

Only four stars because they take my money, and they want to increase it a dollar. Again. (now kiddos, back when I first started driving, bridge toll was 25 cents… Or maybe $ 2).
All of four stars because of the amazing views, the lack of backed-​up traffic, and the adorable retro (aka old) toll plaza.

This thing is so frustrating… I crossed the bridge on my way to a 10 day cruise. Before I got home a bill came for my toll. Literally 4 days later I received another notice. I went online and opened a license plate billing account. 2 days later I get a collection notice. I have tried to call over and over and over… I cannot get anyone on the phone. How can you send someone to collections over a toll and not have someone that I can call to pay?!? Now several months later I have the license plate setup and I don’t know who to pay for the toll violation. A little more time needs to be given before you send someone off to collections… After weeks of not being able to figure out what to do I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Golden Gate Transit didn’t even bother to respond!
I sure would like help figuring out how to make sure that the toll violation that I had ends up on my license plate account and not in some collection agency where it will end up on my credit.