Register With Fastrack
Many toll highways and bridges use a system called FasTrak™ (also spelled Fast Track or Fastrack) to collect tolls automatically when you cross. If you sign up you will be given a small card called a transponder, which you place on your windshield behind your rear view mirror. Now you can cross the Oakland Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, and all other Bay Area bridges and have the toll debited from your checking account or billed to your credit card. The service is free and will save you time with faster lines to cross the bridge.
Contents
Steps
- Visit the online FasTrak™ enrollment website.
- Enter your personal information, including a credit card number
- Be sure to enter the license plate numbers for all of your vehicles. Sometimes the machine fails to read your transponder when you pass through. If your license plate is registered, the system will know to bill your account regardless. If your plate is not registered, you'll get a nasty bill in the mail!
- Wait a week or two to receive the transponder in the mail. Place it in your front windshield. Do not hold it in your hand while driving as this may prevent it from reading. This is the leading cause of violations. The toll booth tag reader antenna's read zone is at the beginning of the lane, not downstream by the variable message sign or traffic light.
- You can now go through any lane on the road and pay automatically, but you will save time going through the express FasTrak™ only lane, which is clearly marked.
Tips
- Many new users go very slowly through the tollbooth for the first time. This is not necessary, you can proceed through at {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}, and the other drivers won't get so mad at you this way!
Warnings
- Be careful when merging into the FasTrak™ only lanes. If you follow the rules of the road, and you wait to merge in until the broken line starts, you will often have honking jerks on your tail who have ignored the double solid lines and entered the lane before it really begins! To avoid this, clearly signal your intent to enter the lane before it starts, and begin to shade over that way as the lane begins.
- Fastrack only works at toll plaza, occasionally certain parking lots, and certain Hot lanes. Fast rack only works in the state of California.
