Tolling Options for Tourists and Rental Car Users in the San Francisco Bay Area
Carol Kuester Director, Electronic Payments Bay Area FasTrak
IBTTA 84th Annual Meeting Denver, Colorado September 11-14, 20161 Bay Area FasTrak®
FasTrak is the electronic toll collection system for . 7 State Owned Bridges • Antioch • Bay • Benicia-Martinez • Carquinez • Dumbarton • Richmond-San Raphael • San Mateo-Hayward . Golden Gate Bridge . 3 Express Lanes • SR-237 • I-680 South • I-580 • I-680 Contra Costa Opening Spring 2017 . San Francisco International Airport parking
2 Major Tourist Destination
. The San Francisco Travel Association reported visitor statistics for the City of San Francisco in 2015 • Total of 24.6 million visitors • Visitors brought $9.3 billion in spending to San Francisco
. Golden Gate Bridge FY 14-15 • Over 40 million annual crossings (total trips) • Annual Revenue $129.5 million
3 FasTrak History
. 1996 – FasTrak started electronic toll collection operations in the Bay Area . 2000 – Completed upgrade to all 7 bridges and the Golden Gate Bridge . Tourists tolling options at bridges • Pay cash • FasTrak transponder • Rental car agency tolling program . FasTrak historically received little to no complaints from tourists
4 Conversion to All Electronic Tolling
. March 27, 2013, the Golden Gate Bridge implemented All Electronic Tolling • No cash or payment option on the bridge • FasTrak or license plate image based account required • Invoice sent to vehicle’s registered owner . Toll amount only . No fee or penalty . Invoices escalate to violations if payment not received by due date
5 Pre-Launch Program Changes
. Added Pay by Plate accounts • License Plate account • One Time Payment (OTP) accounts • Soft Launch 1/26/13 . $1 discounted off toll for FasTrak account holders . Created the cash payment network (CPN) • Low income demographic • Tourists wanting a physical transaction and receipt . Signage • Toll plaza . Website updates
6 Pre-Launch Outreach
. Press . San Francisco Convention Bureau . Rental cars counters at airports . Rental car regional offices . Downtown San Francisco hotels . Collateral . Website updates . AET video
7 Go Live Experience
. People didn’t know what was happening • Stopped at Administration Building • Stopped at the Round House • Created traffic and staffing issues
8 First Response
Focused on getting bridge users to not stop at toll plaza . More signage installed • Signage and brochures with payment options installed in the parking lot . More direct messaging • “Do Not Stop” • “No Toll Takers on the Bridge” . Round House removed its cash payment kiosk
9 Second Wave
. Complaints started a month later . Rental car users • Receiving a second billing from the rental car agency . Referred back to rental car contract agreement . Third party provider assisted with customer service • Customers who used the One Time Payment option . OTPs that were set up after the toll crossing were not working . Rental car agencies were billing these customers for the tolls
10 Operational Buffer Added to OTP Process Flow . Discovered back end operational issue in the processing flow . Added delay to the processing time • “Within 48 hours of the toll crossing” advertised • ITOL transactions held for at least 3 days before beginning the processing flow
11 On-Going Efforts
. Third party companies continue to assist with customer service • eToll • PlatePass • TollPass . Website updates • Visitor and rental car user information in 12 languages • Tips for rental car users • "Pay a GGB Toll” button on mobile site • Mobile app coming soon . Provide brochures to hotels and rental car agencies
12 Successful Education Pay by Plate Account Usage During the Peak Tourist Season (2013-2016) 250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000 MonthlyTotal
50,000
0 OTP Accounts Opened License Plate Accounts Opened Invoices Mailed
July 2013 July 2014 July 2015 July 2016
13 Areas to Improve
. More proactive education to tourists . Express lanes coordination . Direct liaison with the rental car agencies
14 Thank you
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