Published Thursday, November 30, 2000, in the San Francisco Chronicle

Feared Traffic Nightmare Fails to Materialize

Michael Cabanatuan, Suzanne Herel, Chronicle Staff Writers

Caltrans says its long-awaited electronic toll-collection system worked
well on its debut day at the Bay Bridge, even though commuters who used
FasTrak to roll through the toll plaza saved little or no time.

"Things went very well for the first day," Colin Jones, spokesman for the
state Department of Transportation, said yesterday. "Nobody was backing up
or stopping or changing lanes to get in or out of the FasTrak lane."

With rain combining with FasTrak's introduction on the region's busiest
span, many commuters and transportation officials feared an ugly morning.
Much to everyone's relief, the feared monumental traffic jam never
materialized.

"It looked like a pretty typical day out there," Jones said.

Toll Sgt. Marian Lamier switched on the FasTrak system with a tap of her
computer keyboard at 4:59 a.m. During the first two hours of operation,
330 vehicles passed through Lane 11 -- the unstaffed, dedicated FasTrak
lane.

"That's pretty good considering that a normal toll lane can only handle
about 400 commuters in an hour," Jones said.

The number of FasTrak users dropped to about 250 between 7 and 8 a.m.,
then to about 150 the following hour before rebounding to about 280
between 9 and 10 a.m. Jones said the number of users was greater than
Caltrans expected.

FasTrak allows commuters with a battery-powered plastic transponder the
size of an ink pad on their windshields to pay their tolls without
stopping. In addition to the dedicated lane, Lane 12 has been set aside as
a mixed-use lane for FasTrak cars and motorists paying cash or tickets.

Electronic toll-payers still have to stop and wait for the metering lights
to turn green, however. Only carpools and buses are allowed a free ride
through the lights.

"FasTrak hasn't been billed as a commuter panacea," Jones said. But in
off- hours, when traffic across the bridge is lighter, he said, FasTrak
users should sail through the toll plaza and onto the bridge.

Bay Bridge commuters get a 15-cent discount on each toll for using
FasTrak, a perk guaranteed for at least a year.

FasTrak is already in use at the Golden Gate, Carquinez, Benicia-Martinez
and Richmond-San Rafael bridges. The Dumbarton, San Mateo-Hayward and
Antioch bridges are scheduled to get FasTrak by the end of the year.

Also in that time, Caltrans plans to erect another mixed-use FasTrak lane
in the far right of the Bay Bridge toll plaza to accommodate traffic from
Interstate 880. It is virtually impossible for those commuters to get to
the FasTrak lanes that opened yesterday.

E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@..., and Suzanne
Herel at sherel@....