Angelika If you have ever crossed Golden Gate Bridge by car, you know that the bridge maintainers won't collect any fees if you are leaving the city, but that the toll is a whopping $6 per car when you enter. Until recently, drivers could pay the bridge toll in cash at one of the toll booths at the end of every lane, by stopping, handing the money through the car window to a friendly collector and then drive off. I fondly remember the times when we were traveling to San Francisco as tourists and stuck out like a sore thumb because we asked the bridge toll collectors for a receipt, which we planned to add to our photo album. At the end of March, the days of the bridge toll collectors are counted. Going forward, you'll only be able to pay electronically and that doesn't require any humans manning the toll booths anymore.

Golden Gate Bridge has been supporting the so-called Fastrak system since 2000. Michael has explained it in a previous edition already (Rundbrief 04/2006). It works with a small transponder box in your car that communicates with the toll plaza while you're driving and deducts the bridge toll from a credit card funded account. On Golden Gate Bridge, the Fastrak toll is only $5. The transponder works on all bridges in the Bay Area (including the Bay Bridge) and even beyond, all over California. It is most useful for residents, who often cross the local bridges. For example, I'm driving from San Francisco to Oakland and back many times per week, and crossing Bay Bridge without Fastrak would be a real nightmare. When taking one of the designated Fastrak lanes, there's usually not much delay or slow driving, while others are waiting for their turn at the toll booth.

But what about visitors or people who oppose the Fastrak payment system? When cash payments will be no longer accepted at the end of March, there'll be a way to open an online "license plate account". Car owners register their license plates online, add a credit card, and every time when the vehicle crosses the toll plaza on the bridge, the card gets charged with the correct amount for the bridge toll. No transponder needs to be carried along in the car for this, since the collection system takes a snapshot of the car's license plate while it is driving by. Also, one-time payments will be accepted, either 30 days before or 48 hours after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, with an online payment system or by phone and credit card.

For visitors, this is very annoying, of course. One more thing to think about! If you don't have a credit card, there's a way to pay in cash at one of many kiosk stations, allegedly soon to be located in super markets and gas stations close to the bridge. They look a bit like a subway ticket vending machine (Cash-Toll-Machine). If drivers ignore the new rules, they'll get ticketed by mail, because every car driving by the toll booth gets photographed and the system sends an invoice to the registered owner. This process is just a last resort, it isn't really recommended by the bridge operators, but won't cost the car owner more than paying the toll correctly in the first place. Until recently, the Golden Gate Bridge operators have been charging additional penalties for non-paying drivers, and that's still the case on all other bridges.

Tourists from out of state, who usually drive over Golden Gate Bridge in a rental car, should inquire at the car rental agency counter if the rental company offers a bridge toll program. Usually, rental cars have Fastrak devices built in and the customer decides whether they want to use it or not. If they decline, they'll have to deal with paying the bridge tolls on their own. If they just cross the bridge without paying, the car rental company will receive an invoice issued by the bridge operators soon after, which rental companies not only promptly forward to the renter, but also add a hefty fee on top of.

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Gun Buybacks
  	Parking meters on Sundays
  	Explosion of Parking Ticket Fines
  	Private Taxi Cabs in San Francisco
  	American Holidays
  	Names of Tools
  	Everbody wants my Social Security Number