A toll increase on the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges, along with several other important changes, goes into effect today, July 1, 2010. These include the debut of congestion pricing — also known as time-of-day pricing — on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which is by far the region’s busiest toll bridge. Starting July 1, automobile tolls on the Bay Bridge will vary from $4 during weekday off-peak hours, to $5 all day on Saturdays and Sundays, to $6 from 5AM to 10AM and from 3PM to 7PM on weekdays. The regular automobile toll will rise to $5 at all times on the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. BATA invites Bay Area residents to visit www.mtc.ca.gov/tolls/ for more information about this latest toll increase.

July 1 also marks the introduction of a new $2.50 carpool toll, which is half the new $5 regular toll, or a $3.50 discount off the new $6 peak-period toll at the Bay Bridge. The discounted toll will be assessed for carpool vehicles that cross any of the region’s state-owned toll bridges on weekdays from 5AM to 10AM and from 3PM to 7PM. Carpool vehicles must use a designated carpool lane and pay the toll with FasTrak® to qualify for the toll discount.

BATA has expanded its FasTrak retail distribution network to make it easier for motorists to enjoy the convenience of electronic tolling. New FasTrak customers can now obtain toll tags at more than 125 Walgreens stores around the Bay Area as well as at some 100 Safeway supermarkets and two dozen Costco warehouses. New customers who pick up a FasTrak toll tag at a participating retailer through July 15 can get up to $10 in free tolls. A complete list of participating locations is available on the FasTrak Web site at bayareafastrak.org.

Customers also can enroll in the FasTrak program online at 511.org; by calling 511 and asking for “FasTrak” at the first prompt; or via the FasTrak customer service center at 475 The Embarcadero in San Francisco. Operating hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30AM to 5:30PM and Saturdays, 9AM to 1PM. The Bay Area currently has more than 900,000 FasTrak account holders. During peak periods, FasTrak-equipped vehicles account for more than 60 percent of peak-period traffic on Bay Area toll bridges. This figure includes the Golden Gate Bridge as well as the seven state-owned spans. FasTrak can be used in all lanes at all Bay Area toll plazas.

BATA, which is directed by the same policy board as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), administers toll revenues from the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges. Toll revenues from the Golden Gate Bridge are administered by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, which joined with BATA to operate a single regional FasTrak customer service center in San Francisco. MTC is the transportation planning, financing, and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.