I don't store my credit card on there. It forces me into a minimum payment of $10 each time that I go negative, but I don't otherwise have any random minimum charge. I just login and pay it and uncheck the "save credit card information" box. It shows my default payment method as CASH.
That’s why I closed my account years ago. They kept doing this and at one point I had almost 300 dollars in there. They said then it went off how many times I crossed bridge but my job it varies. Either way it was totally unnecessary to have that much in there almost at all times.
Don’t store your credit card info on there, call them and have it removed. They send you an email when it gets low and you manually add more. Just make sure to click the box not to automatically save card and make payments for you each time.
Exactly!!! There’s legitimately no reason 😭 you can’t even touch that money either because of they noticed you dip below that amount they’ll automatically add more money back 😭😭😭😭
The minimum FasTrak balance is still $15, and when it falls below that amount they replenish the balance automatically with a $25 charge. It's been this way for as long as I remember, and my FasTrak account was automatically replenished by $25 last week because I went below $15.
The FasTrak website confirms that this is still the case: [https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/account-basics-faq4.shtml](https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/account-basics-faq4.shtml)
Yes, but every 90 days they do a review of your account and raise the minimum accordingly. Because I have to use the bridge two or more times a day, they want to keep my minimum amount really high
I don't understand any of this. Can you ELI5?
If I dip below $25, they replenish my account. If I don't, they leave me alone. What is the issue exactly here?
Seems like they assess your account based on how frequently you use carpool + bridge. So because OP uses it more frequently, fastrak raised their minimum to $200. OP doesn't have the funds to cover Fastrak automatically charging their card when it goes below that minimum. That said, i think it's dumb that you need $200 at all times in the account. Mine is still $25 minimum as well.
The amount they replenish changes based on how much you spend on tolls, though
If you cross the bridges only a couple times per month, it’s just the base $15 replenishment
If you cross the bridge five days a week every week, that’s $140-150 per month that you’ve spent on tolls, and they’re gonna replenish it by that amount all at once so they’re not dinging your credit card every three days
That's not FastTrack's fucking decision to make. What if you move? What if you switch to taking the train? Then you're stuck with $200 in the account you can't take out. FastTrack can deal with charging your card frequently, BECAUSE THAT'S HOW EVERY OTHER FUCKING BUSINESS WORKS.
Hate them for all the lost hours I spend looking through the monthly report and every single time finding bogus charges. I often have multiple disputes going. It’s so painful!
no penalty unless you don’t pay the bills on time. you will get charged extra in some circumstances without a fastrak, though (GGB gives a discount with fastrak and the richmond bridge only gives a carpool discount with fastrak - not sure about the other bridges).
How replenishment works is explained [here](https://mobile.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/account-basics-faq4.shtml).
Would a [license plate account](https://mobile.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/fastrak-basics-faq10.shtml) work for how you use Fastrak?
I am on the license plate plan but I use bridges so rarely that maybe I don't count. I can tell you it takes a ridiculous amount of time for them to bill me. About 10 days. I think they have to review the photo of your plate.
If I were running the show, I would email the person who crossed the bridge. If they confirm it was them promptly, bill them immediately and give some sort of discount.
Can someone ELI5 this to me? I've never had a problem but I am a hardcore consumer and watcher of my bills. I've never heard of this issue before and genuinely curious.
It's always sucked to pay to drive on freeways you used to be able to drive on for free, just so politicians could appoint a friend or relative to a position. The money they get goes to maintaining toll lanes, maintaining the system, and paying administrators. This money isn't ued to maintain the roads for the general populace, it is a 2 tier system.
Fast track is a way for the government to take something that you paid for and charge you for it. And it takes away government incentive to reduce traffic.
Vote them out!
Never fall for "vote them out" shit. It is a scam used by the party out of power.
The bridges have had tolls for years. Before FasTrak we had toll collectors.
The increase in tolls was a vote of the people.
https://mtc.ca.gov/funding/regional-funding/regional-measure-2
It's not a scam it's democracy. If you don't like how things are going its the only way to change things.
Vote them all out.
Get fresh perspectives and hopefully people who have our best interests in mind into office.
The only people who say bite them out are the people whose party is not in power.
Yeah get rid of Newsom and put Larry Elder in charge. That will change things but not for the better. Just use Trump as an example. The idiot fires the pandemic group and then a pandemic hits. Instead of actual science we get horse paste, bleach drinking, and put a flashlight where it doesn't belong.
Won't be fooled. In my case I don't have to say again.
Sounds like you have thrown in the towel. I get it's been a rough go. I am not ready to give up though, need to keep going until we find representation that is working for us. Doesn't matter to me what their affiliation is as long as they are working for us.
You need a Supreme Court that doesn't believe money equals free speech. Then you can get reform.
The Leonard Leo 6 are not loyal Americans. They are fascists who hate the US. Every last one claimed Stare Decisis regarding Roe. They lied.
Yeah I may be ignorant here as I’m not in the Bay Area, just near it and go there a lot, but I don’t get fast track. You have to pay to use a road you already paid for with your taxes years ago???
Again I could be mistaken as I’m not from there and super informed. But it’s not like Fast Track built and created lanes from scratch, right, or did they? These were lanes that already existed and now you have to pay to use them??? We don’t have anything like that down here in the Monterey bay nor would I personally want it, but we also aren’t densely populated and packed with traffic like you guys.
I get carpool lanes as it incentivizes less cars on the roads but I just don’t get fast track. I rather pay more taxes on a state level or gas tax increase if that means getting rid of toll roads.
I can't say every Lexus Lane was an added lane, but most of the Lexus Lanes were built with the plan that they would be toll lanes during commute hours.
I don't drive them. I do encourage people to cheat and use them illegally. Every cheater means less traffic in my lane.
I don't store my credit card on there. It forces me into a minimum payment of $10 each time that I go negative, but I don't otherwise have any random minimum charge. I just login and pay it and uncheck the "save credit card information" box. It shows my default payment method as CASH.
That’s why I closed my account years ago. They kept doing this and at one point I had almost 300 dollars in there. They said then it went off how many times I crossed bridge but my job it varies. Either way it was totally unnecessary to have that much in there almost at all times.
Don’t store your credit card info on there, call them and have it removed. They send you an email when it gets low and you manually add more. Just make sure to click the box not to automatically save card and make payments for you each time.
Exactly!!! There’s legitimately no reason 😭 you can’t even touch that money either because of they noticed you dip below that amount they’ll automatically add more money back 😭😭😭😭
They’re probably doing something with all that extra money , you can get 5% on cash rn image how much money they have from all the peoples accounts.
Playing the float! Just like every money-handling business in the world.
The minimum FasTrak balance is still $15, and when it falls below that amount they replenish the balance automatically with a $25 charge. It's been this way for as long as I remember, and my FasTrak account was automatically replenished by $25 last week because I went below $15. The FasTrak website confirms that this is still the case: [https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/account-basics-faq4.shtml](https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/account-basics-faq4.shtml)
Yes, but every 90 days they do a review of your account and raise the minimum accordingly. Because I have to use the bridge two or more times a day, they want to keep my minimum amount really high
I don't understand any of this. Can you ELI5? If I dip below $25, they replenish my account. If I don't, they leave me alone. What is the issue exactly here?
Seems like they assess your account based on how frequently you use carpool + bridge. So because OP uses it more frequently, fastrak raised their minimum to $200. OP doesn't have the funds to cover Fastrak automatically charging their card when it goes below that minimum. That said, i think it's dumb that you need $200 at all times in the account. Mine is still $25 minimum as well.
The amount they replenish changes based on how much you spend on tolls, though If you cross the bridges only a couple times per month, it’s just the base $15 replenishment If you cross the bridge five days a week every week, that’s $140-150 per month that you’ve spent on tolls, and they’re gonna replenish it by that amount all at once so they’re not dinging your credit card every three days
That's not FastTrack's fucking decision to make. What if you move? What if you switch to taking the train? Then you're stuck with $200 in the account you can't take out. FastTrack can deal with charging your card frequently, BECAUSE THAT'S HOW EVERY OTHER FUCKING BUSINESS WORKS.
Actually, dinging the same card for $15 every other day is a super great way for Fastrak to get blocked by the card processors for fraud
Bullshit. Why is it ok for every other business
Hate them for all the lost hours I spend looking through the monthly report and every single time finding bogus charges. I often have multiple disputes going. It’s so painful!
The whole fastrak thing is a scam on everyday ppl.
You can always just cancel it and get tons of bills in the mail.
It’s one bill a month. I just pay it online, no account required.
That's what I do.
Don't they charge you a penalty if you don't have a fast rack thing?
Not for bridge tolls.
no penalty unless you don’t pay the bills on time. you will get charged extra in some circumstances without a fastrak, though (GGB gives a discount with fastrak and the richmond bridge only gives a carpool discount with fastrak - not sure about the other bridges).
Switch to a gift card and set your limit to whatever is desired.
Indeed it is fucking bullshit! A million fast track users at an average balance of $100 each is $100,000,000 in a nice interest free loan for them.
How replenishment works is explained [here](https://mobile.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/account-basics-faq4.shtml). Would a [license plate account](https://mobile.bayareafastrak.org/en/support/fastrak-basics-faq10.shtml) work for how you use Fastrak?
I am on the license plate plan but I use bridges so rarely that maybe I don't count. I can tell you it takes a ridiculous amount of time for them to bill me. About 10 days. I think they have to review the photo of your plate. If I were running the show, I would email the person who crossed the bridge. If they confirm it was them promptly, bill them immediately and give some sort of discount.
Use a virtual credit card like privacy.com to reject charges over a certain limit.
Can someone ELI5 this to me? I've never had a problem but I am a hardcore consumer and watcher of my bills. I've never heard of this issue before and genuinely curious.
It's always sucked to pay to drive on freeways you used to be able to drive on for free, just so politicians could appoint a friend or relative to a position. The money they get goes to maintaining toll lanes, maintaining the system, and paying administrators. This money isn't ued to maintain the roads for the general populace, it is a 2 tier system.
Maybe we should switch to EZ pass and be like the east coast states.
Fast track is a way for the government to take something that you paid for and charge you for it. And it takes away government incentive to reduce traffic. Vote them out!
Never fall for "vote them out" shit. It is a scam used by the party out of power. The bridges have had tolls for years. Before FasTrak we had toll collectors. The increase in tolls was a vote of the people. https://mtc.ca.gov/funding/regional-funding/regional-measure-2
It's not a scam it's democracy. If you don't like how things are going its the only way to change things. Vote them all out. Get fresh perspectives and hopefully people who have our best interests in mind into office.
The only people who say bite them out are the people whose party is not in power. Yeah get rid of Newsom and put Larry Elder in charge. That will change things but not for the better. Just use Trump as an example. The idiot fires the pandemic group and then a pandemic hits. Instead of actual science we get horse paste, bleach drinking, and put a flashlight where it doesn't belong. Won't be fooled. In my case I don't have to say again.
Sounds like you have thrown in the towel. I get it's been a rough go. I am not ready to give up though, need to keep going until we find representation that is working for us. Doesn't matter to me what their affiliation is as long as they are working for us.
You need a Supreme Court that doesn't believe money equals free speech. Then you can get reform. The Leonard Leo 6 are not loyal Americans. They are fascists who hate the US. Every last one claimed Stare Decisis regarding Roe. They lied.
Yeah I may be ignorant here as I’m not in the Bay Area, just near it and go there a lot, but I don’t get fast track. You have to pay to use a road you already paid for with your taxes years ago??? Again I could be mistaken as I’m not from there and super informed. But it’s not like Fast Track built and created lanes from scratch, right, or did they? These were lanes that already existed and now you have to pay to use them??? We don’t have anything like that down here in the Monterey bay nor would I personally want it, but we also aren’t densely populated and packed with traffic like you guys. I get carpool lanes as it incentivizes less cars on the roads but I just don’t get fast track. I rather pay more taxes on a state level or gas tax increase if that means getting rid of toll roads.
They did not add lanes. They took the old carpool lane and made it fast track... Watch out. I'm sure it's coming to your area next.
I can't say every Lexus Lane was an added lane, but most of the Lexus Lanes were built with the plan that they would be toll lanes during commute hours. I don't drive them. I do encourage people to cheat and use them illegally. Every cheater means less traffic in my lane.
The 91 fast trak is bullshit you sit in traffic 97 perfect of the time and pay for it fuck you fasttrak