Just need to rant... me and the DH went to SF to visit a friend and return a watch last week, and there is a toll bridge. We always make sure to stop and have money for the toll. Well on our way back, I checked online what the rate to cross the bridge was and it said $4. We had little over $4. When we got there, lo and behold it was $5! And guess what? We were 0.15 shy! So the guy at the toll booth (who could have totally let us go, btw, and probably had 0.15 on him) said we'd be sent a bill for the price of the toll. WRONG! I just got the bill and it's THIRTY DOLLARS. Five for the toll, and $25 for "toll evasion" as if we just ran through it. I am SO PISSED right now! Mad that the guy lied to us, mad that we didn't stop and grab a $20, and mad that the website was wrong. grrrrrr and OF COURSE they don't take any form of credit card! OF COURSE.

I have totally had this happen, over ten cents...argh. The $25 "toll evasion" made me really mad, too. But, lesson learned. Now I bring $10 in "toll stash" every time I head out toward the bay (coming from the Sac area also - I'm guessing you hit the toll violation on the Carquinez Bridge? That's the one we always forget about).

Sorry for the unexpected bill, especially over 15 cents.

I live in Sacto area , too. Thanks for the warning !

Toll Evasion? Man that is SO wrong!!

I would totally send .15 cents taped to the letter, and that's it, with my phone number written next to it if they want to discuss the matter further. I'm sure you could have found .15 cents ON the bridge, or another passer-by would have given it to you, lol. What a bad toll operator. No wonder customer service is dead. People like him. Geeze.

It's CA law, unfortunately. They're prohibited from accepting partial tolls, and if you don't pay the full toll, you get the ticket.

Another reason to live in Ohio, I guess, lol. And I'm not sure, depending on the rudeness of the toll worker, if I would pay the ticket. I might still fight it. But I'm a fighter, not a lover, lol, so...

Woohoo! More NorCal peeps

My husband used ot commute from the east side of the bay to SF every day (talk about expensive!) so we bought a Fastrak to make it easier. He doesn't commute anymore, but we kept the Fastrak. It's hooked up to our credit card, so whenever it drops below the balance it refills automatically, and we never have to worry about it. (I'm a chronic no cash person) We rarely go over bridges anymore, but it is nice to know I never have to worry about it. If you get one at Costco, they have a discount on your first prepaid tolls. Even though there's not many bridges around you, it could be worth it.

Yup, that's the very one. I guess what I'm mad about most is that the guy didn't mention a "toll evasion" fee. You work at a toll booth, you should know and tell people that so they won't be like WTF when they get their bill.

We go to SF only a few times a year so it wouldn't be worth it. Although if my husband gets this promotion he's up for, he *might* have to go to SF every Monday, so we'll see.

Oh boy, for some reason that made me wonder what my Grandmother's reaction would have been...this is a woman who got a somewhat threatening letter from the town about some weeds she hadn't noticed near her sidewalk and followed the letter up with a very terse, cold lecture ending with "don't you ever send another letter like that to me." *snicker*

How frustrating!

You can get a fastrak transponder and backdate the effective date. Then there's no toll evasion fee, they just deduct your toll from the account.

I can't remember now if it's 30 or 90 days you can go back, though.

that completely sucks. I grew up in the Bay Area (haven't lived there for decades, though), and I don't remember that ever happening, is it a new(ish) thing? here, they have an EZ Pass, a sticker you buy for your car so you get to use the EZ Pass lane.

I just read that there were 122 million cars that crossed the 7 toll bridges in the Bay area last year, or 334,246 cars per day.

If that traffic were divided evenly between each bridge, that would account for 47,749 cars per day on each bridge. I wonder how many cars approach it without having enough change to pass through.

Now imagine being a toll booth operator