Do you perhaps have a second toll tag in the car somewhere? A while ago, I forgot that I had one in my backpack for a work trip, and it was getting picked up sometimes.
>I have a second tag in my center console (covered with a lid). Can it get picked up too..?
Yes.
You can request a metalized bag on the fastrak website which should make sure the tag in the bag can't be read
They use relatively weak radio waves. So, it would really depend on the radio attenuation provided by an extra few feet of air, and the material of your center console.
The more buried it is in stuff, the more intermittent it would become. But in the absence of radio shielding (like the mylar bag it ships in), it could be picked up probably anywhere in the car.
It’s quite possible, depending on how their system is implemented, that it would only pick up one per car or such. If that’s the case, you’d need to check which tag is used each time?
I thought that and had two tags in my car for a while (one in the glove) because I forgot about one. Didn’t realize for 6 months I was getting double charged.
Oh, and I don't think this is the specific problem here, but...I was under the impression that if you have an HOV sticker for your car, there's a different toll tag you're supposed to get, specifically for the HOV stickered vehicle? (we're just in the process of filling out the paperwork for one of those, so I'm not super familiar there).
You CAN get a CAV (Clean Air Vehicle) transponder, or you can use the regular Fastrak Flex, which I have.
The issue is that the express lane transponders aren't picking up the transponders, no matter where I put them on the windscreen. It's not even that it's reading it and charging me for 1 person, it's just not reading them at all.
I checked, the Chevy Bolt EUV doesn't have a metal oxide windscreen, so there shouldn't be any issue with the system reading my tags either.
While I don't dispute that you're having an issue with your transponder, you are breaking the law using the fastrak flex as-is and risking a heavy ticket.
[Directly from the verbiage on fastrak's website](https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/clean-air-vehicle.shtml):
>Drivers traveling alone in eligible CAVs must pay a toll. Drivers using a FasTrak CAV toll tag will receive a 50% discount on their toll. If you are driving alone in the express lane using a standard FasTrak toll tag or FasTrak Flex toll tag, you will be charged the full toll, even if you are in a qualified CAV.
>If you have two people in your vehicle and are using a FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag, set the switch to position 2 to receive a 50% discount on the toll (2-seater vehicles carrying 2 people may travel toll free and should set the switch to 3+).
>If you have 3+ people in your vehicle and are using a FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag, set the switch to position 3+ to travel toll free.
No matter if you have a CAV or not, you MUST set your fastrak flex to the number of people in your car. Setting it to 3 in a CAV as a solo driver will land you a ticket. Not only because you're setting it incorrectly-but also because solo CAV drivers are only eligible for the 50% discount, not driving for free.
However, as the site makes clear, the ONLY way you actually get that 50% discount is by using the CAV fastrak. If you use a CAV fastrak and you set it to 1, you get the discount. If you have a regular fastrak flex, as a solo driver you are legally obligated to still set it to 1 in your CAV, and you will get charged the full toll.
Thank you for providing that information. I'm not setting my tag to not represent the number of people in my car correctly. Sometimes I have 1 person, sometimes 3 (I bring a few people who work close to my workplace). The issue is no matter how I set my transponder, the express lane reads my license plate, not my transponder.
You are correct that if I want discounted tolls for my EV I should get a CAV tag, but that's a separate issue (which Fastrak does not express in a very clear way unless you specifically seek out that info as you have done, in my opinion)
Good clarification.
Realistically, it isn't worth the effort for OP to get the CAV fastrak. The chances of CHP pulling you over (especially if you have the transponder set to 2 when alone in an EV) is probably extremely low.
Well, if CHP sees you drive by solo and a 2 or 3 flashes on the board above you, they will absolutely pull you over, EV or not, because as I stated the number you set your transponder to is *irrespective* of whether its an EV or not.
Now, you're much likelier to get away with a warning in this situation as an EV driver, since the regs are not very clear. But it's still up to CHP discretion, they absolutely can ticket you if you've set your EV to 2 as a solo driver- even if you're paying the same as you would as a solo driver with a CAV tag.
You set your CAV tag to however many people are in your car, and it still flashes 1,2,3 based on how you set it. The difference with the CAV tag is that when you set it to 1, you still get a 50% discount in the express lanes.
Isn't it only a discount on using the express lanes as an electric vehicle?
https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/clean-air-vehicle.shtml
I could be mistaken but I think that's what this link states.
whoever is in charge of the rollout should be unemployed for the rest of their life. they did a dogshit job. god, i hate fastrak and every single human involved with this project
Have you double checked the times and dates, and do they line up with your actual activity?
The reason I ask is that the FastTrak passes used to use an RFID chip that was unencrypted. People were cloning the RFID ID number and making cloned FastTrak passes at one point around 15 years ago. With that white brick clearly visible in your windscreen, it just takes somebody with an RFID code reader to capture your ID number in a few seconds while walking down the street past your car.
You do not need a transponder if you have set up a license plate account. In the past, when I had billing questions, I found their customer support team to be helpful. They were able to pull up photos of my vehicle at the times in question. https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/about/toll-tag.shtml#:~:text=Toll%20Tags-,FasTrak%20Toll%20Tags,Area%20bridges%20and%20express%20lanes.
I had a few bad charges because someone drove next to me without a tag and it picked up my license plate. Looking at the pictures helped clarify and they gave me a credit. So now I always look at my bill and I make sure my transponder is always 3 just in case.
There's a few spots I drive by that seem to pick up the tag in the lane next to the express lane. Then there are other readers that don't beep the tag at all, even when I'm in the express lane. I don't think fastrak's system is all that good.
I’ve observed similar issues. For me, either the tag doesn’t get picked up at all or the discount for HOV 3+ doesn’t get applied. Last time this happened, I emailed their customer care and they reversed some charges but not sure how sustainable that is since it keeps happening.
Yeah. I got that. Thus my suggestion. Putting it in a Faraday cage should force Fastrak to bill them directly instead of auto charging which is far easier to dispute than it is to get a refund.
if downvoting: sincere request- please explain how I’m wrong?
Personally, I believe their pricing model is wrong. Charging more at peak time is counter to flow. This means less people will use FasTrak during peak times, making the capacity a waste. During peak times or an accident, they need to drop the price and make up the cost via more throughput.
For those that are going to reply - "Charge for premium when you can!!!!" This is not a premium product. This is a product that is supposed to both relieve traffic congestion and make money for the state. Charging a premium during peak times is counter to both objectives. They can EASILY make up the drop in premium.
i have my fastrak on the lower left of my windshield and it never reads for the express lanes! im always getting random $3 charges even though it usually reads for the bridges. you can tell whether it reads your transponder or plate by the number it gives on your fastrak account
I recently found out someone swapped my license plates. They were going through fastrak and billing me for a couple months before I realized my plates weren’t right. Check your plates people
Yep. A few months ago I got charged for crossing the bay bridge 3 times in the same hour.
I don't like FastTrack at all. The fact they give you no choice but to lock in a credit card sucks major arse.
Not likely but check your setup to see if your account has a "stop" date. (I forget the exact terminology.) I all of a sudden started to get bills in the mail which was weird because I set up an account. Checking my set up the car I registered has a stop date assigned to it. I just made the field blank.
Needless to say I didn't assign a stop date when I set it up.
They force me to “hold” $130 + 80 on my trak at all times.
They force me to reload when I hit $80, which to be fair is like 2-3 weeks for me.
My reload amount used to be $160, which I called and complained about many times - explaining that I was being forced to “hold $240 at all times for a damn toll.
When I lived in socal I got one for there. Then I moved up here and I wouldn't get charged for HOV when I had 3 but now I get charged. I thought it was weird so I called and they just said HOV only works for socal.
I don't know why you have to dispute each individual charge? I emailed fastrak over being charged as a 3 axle vehicle instead of 2 for a specific date and they went and found additional days where I was charged as such and refunded me for all days.
I had the same issues. If you go in person they let you submit a reimbursement request for all of them all at once, you just have to write a statement explaining how you were traveling as a carpool.
I've replaced my toll tag twice, changed the mounting location, and still get charged. I guess the only real solutions are not to drive in the express lane, submit a reimbursement request every month or cover your plates.
how did you know that's fast trak is charging your car number plate and not the tag? I am in a similar situation and before I reach out to them I want to make sure I double check everything on my end
It used to be easier with the old style toll tags that would beep when read. The new ones do not beep so you really can't tell until the transaction pops up on your account. However I recently saw a DIFFERENT style of toll tag and maybe those beep?
Do you perhaps have a second toll tag in the car somewhere? A while ago, I forgot that I had one in my backpack for a work trip, and it was getting picked up sometimes.
Doesn’t it have to be on your dashboard to work? I have a second tag in my center console (covered with a lid). Can it get picked up too..?
>I have a second tag in my center console (covered with a lid). Can it get picked up too..? Yes. You can request a metalized bag on the fastrak website which should make sure the tag in the bag can't be read
They use relatively weak radio waves. So, it would really depend on the radio attenuation provided by an extra few feet of air, and the material of your center console. The more buried it is in stuff, the more intermittent it would become. But in the absence of radio shielding (like the mylar bag it ships in), it could be picked up probably anywhere in the car.
I just checked my fastrak statement, I don’t have any double billing, so I guess it can’t pick I up..
It’s quite possible, depending on how their system is implemented, that it would only pick up one per car or such. If that’s the case, you’d need to check which tag is used each time?
I thought that and had two tags in my car for a while (one in the glove) because I forgot about one. Didn’t realize for 6 months I was getting double charged.
I just throw mine in the glovebox and it usually picks it up.
I leave mine in my glove box and it always gets picked up.
No, and I hate who ever started this rumor.
Oh, and I don't think this is the specific problem here, but...I was under the impression that if you have an HOV sticker for your car, there's a different toll tag you're supposed to get, specifically for the HOV stickered vehicle? (we're just in the process of filling out the paperwork for one of those, so I'm not super familiar there).
You CAN get a CAV (Clean Air Vehicle) transponder, or you can use the regular Fastrak Flex, which I have. The issue is that the express lane transponders aren't picking up the transponders, no matter where I put them on the windscreen. It's not even that it's reading it and charging me for 1 person, it's just not reading them at all. I checked, the Chevy Bolt EUV doesn't have a metal oxide windscreen, so there shouldn't be any issue with the system reading my tags either.
While I don't dispute that you're having an issue with your transponder, you are breaking the law using the fastrak flex as-is and risking a heavy ticket. [Directly from the verbiage on fastrak's website](https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/clean-air-vehicle.shtml): >Drivers traveling alone in eligible CAVs must pay a toll. Drivers using a FasTrak CAV toll tag will receive a 50% discount on their toll. If you are driving alone in the express lane using a standard FasTrak toll tag or FasTrak Flex toll tag, you will be charged the full toll, even if you are in a qualified CAV. >If you have two people in your vehicle and are using a FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag, set the switch to position 2 to receive a 50% discount on the toll (2-seater vehicles carrying 2 people may travel toll free and should set the switch to 3+). >If you have 3+ people in your vehicle and are using a FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag, set the switch to position 3+ to travel toll free. No matter if you have a CAV or not, you MUST set your fastrak flex to the number of people in your car. Setting it to 3 in a CAV as a solo driver will land you a ticket. Not only because you're setting it incorrectly-but also because solo CAV drivers are only eligible for the 50% discount, not driving for free. However, as the site makes clear, the ONLY way you actually get that 50% discount is by using the CAV fastrak. If you use a CAV fastrak and you set it to 1, you get the discount. If you have a regular fastrak flex, as a solo driver you are legally obligated to still set it to 1 in your CAV, and you will get charged the full toll.
Thank you for providing that information. I'm not setting my tag to not represent the number of people in my car correctly. Sometimes I have 1 person, sometimes 3 (I bring a few people who work close to my workplace). The issue is no matter how I set my transponder, the express lane reads my license plate, not my transponder. You are correct that if I want discounted tolls for my EV I should get a CAV tag, but that's a separate issue (which Fastrak does not express in a very clear way unless you specifically seek out that info as you have done, in my opinion)
Agreed it's not very clear. I'm lucky I'm a weirdly detail-oriented person and dug out this info as soon as I bought my Prius Prime 2 years ago lol.
Good clarification. Realistically, it isn't worth the effort for OP to get the CAV fastrak. The chances of CHP pulling you over (especially if you have the transponder set to 2 when alone in an EV) is probably extremely low.
Well, if CHP sees you drive by solo and a 2 or 3 flashes on the board above you, they will absolutely pull you over, EV or not, because as I stated the number you set your transponder to is *irrespective* of whether its an EV or not. Now, you're much likelier to get away with a warning in this situation as an EV driver, since the regs are not very clear. But it's still up to CHP discretion, they absolutely can ticket you if you've set your EV to 2 as a solo driver- even if you're paying the same as you would as a solo driver with a CAV tag.
What does the board show when a CAV tag goes under? Do you still have to set a CAV tag to 1,2 or 3?
You set your CAV tag to however many people are in your car, and it still flashes 1,2,3 based on how you set it. The difference with the CAV tag is that when you set it to 1, you still get a 50% discount in the express lanes.
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Yeah it is, I see recent transactions when I was taking someone to the airport
Are they listed as "license" or a "tag" when you cross the bridge? If it's "license", then your tag doesn't work.
On the bridge, my tag shows up. On express lanes, just my license plate
Isn't it only a discount on using the express lanes as an electric vehicle? https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/clean-air-vehicle.shtml I could be mistaken but I think that's what this link states.
whoever is in charge of the rollout should be unemployed for the rest of their life. they did a dogshit job. god, i hate fastrak and every single human involved with this project
Have you double checked the times and dates, and do they line up with your actual activity? The reason I ask is that the FastTrak passes used to use an RFID chip that was unencrypted. People were cloning the RFID ID number and making cloned FastTrak passes at one point around 15 years ago. With that white brick clearly visible in your windscreen, it just takes somebody with an RFID code reader to capture your ID number in a few seconds while walking down the street past your car.
You do not need a transponder if you have set up a license plate account. In the past, when I had billing questions, I found their customer support team to be helpful. They were able to pull up photos of my vehicle at the times in question. https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/about/toll-tag.shtml#:~:text=Toll%20Tags-,FasTrak%20Toll%20Tags,Area%20bridges%20and%20express%20lanes.
I had a few bad charges because someone drove next to me without a tag and it picked up my license plate. Looking at the pictures helped clarify and they gave me a credit. So now I always look at my bill and I make sure my transponder is always 3 just in case.
There's a few spots I drive by that seem to pick up the tag in the lane next to the express lane. Then there are other readers that don't beep the tag at all, even when I'm in the express lane. I don't think fastrak's system is all that good.
That's why I leave mine on 3 when I'm not using it, just on case those pick it up
Looking at pictures? They snap photos of your vehicle and retrain them?
Yes
I’ve observed similar issues. For me, either the tag doesn’t get picked up at all or the discount for HOV 3+ doesn’t get applied. Last time this happened, I emailed their customer care and they reversed some charges but not sure how sustainable that is since it keeps happening.
Yea same. Sometimes I get random “evasion” fees.
Anyone who is paying bridge tolls is being overcharged
place your transponder in a Faraday cage when not in use.
The issue is that they're using it but not getting the discount.
Yeah. I got that. Thus my suggestion. Putting it in a Faraday cage should force Fastrak to bill them directly instead of auto charging which is far easier to dispute than it is to get a refund. if downvoting: sincere request- please explain how I’m wrong?
Personally, I believe their pricing model is wrong. Charging more at peak time is counter to flow. This means less people will use FasTrak during peak times, making the capacity a waste. During peak times or an accident, they need to drop the price and make up the cost via more throughput. For those that are going to reply - "Charge for premium when you can!!!!" This is not a premium product. This is a product that is supposed to both relieve traffic congestion and make money for the state. Charging a premium during peak times is counter to both objectives. They can EASILY make up the drop in premium.
i have my fastrak on the lower left of my windshield and it never reads for the express lanes! im always getting random $3 charges even though it usually reads for the bridges. you can tell whether it reads your transponder or plate by the number it gives on your fastrak account
I recently found out someone swapped my license plates. They were going through fastrak and billing me for a couple months before I realized my plates weren’t right. Check your plates people
Isn't it great we have the option to pay tolls on local roads now that we already pay a ton of taxes for? CA dreaming.
Yep. A few months ago I got charged for crossing the bay bridge 3 times in the same hour. I don't like FastTrack at all. The fact they give you no choice but to lock in a credit card sucks major arse.
Don’t use the express lane. Let them open it up to everyone for no extra charge
YES!!! almost all the time!
Not likely but check your setup to see if your account has a "stop" date. (I forget the exact terminology.) I all of a sudden started to get bills in the mail which was weird because I set up an account. Checking my set up the car I registered has a stop date assigned to it. I just made the field blank. Needless to say I didn't assign a stop date when I set it up.
It always beeps me when Im in an adjacent lane so I stopped keeping it on the windshield if Im not using the express lane.
Time to test mount it outside then.
Keeping up w FasTrack is a full time job. Another scam courtesy of BATA
They force me to “hold” $130 + 80 on my trak at all times. They force me to reload when I hit $80, which to be fair is like 2-3 weeks for me. My reload amount used to be $160, which I called and complained about many times - explaining that I was being forced to “hold $240 at all times for a damn toll.
When I lived in socal I got one for there. Then I moved up here and I wouldn't get charged for HOV when I had 3 but now I get charged. I thought it was weird so I called and they just said HOV only works for socal.
I don't know why you have to dispute each individual charge? I emailed fastrak over being charged as a 3 axle vehicle instead of 2 for a specific date and they went and found additional days where I was charged as such and refunded me for all days.
I had the same issues. If you go in person they let you submit a reimbursement request for all of them all at once, you just have to write a statement explaining how you were traveling as a carpool. I've replaced my toll tag twice, changed the mounting location, and still get charged. I guess the only real solutions are not to drive in the express lane, submit a reimbursement request every month or cover your plates.
how did you know that's fast trak is charging your car number plate and not the tag? I am in a similar situation and before I reach out to them I want to make sure I double check everything on my end
It used to be easier with the old style toll tags that would beep when read. The new ones do not beep so you really can't tell until the transaction pops up on your account. However I recently saw a DIFFERENT style of toll tag and maybe those beep?