Robert’s experience is similar to mine. Without going into the gory details, my own Fastrake account was sitting on over $300 and $75 replenishment amounts even though I was not crossing the Bay Bridge more than 4 times a week.
It just costs too much and they are taking advantage of the system to raise hugh capital for what?
Further I have been unable to pin down their formula so so I can keep a low replenishment amount. No one at the the fastrak office would help me figure this out.

Has anyone out there figured this formula out?

Al

The total commuters crossing the following bridges in 1989/90:

Antioch, Benicia/Martinez, Carquinez, Richmond/San Rafael, SF/Oakland, San Mateo/Hayward, Dumbarton

Was 98,298,222 with 18,061,927 commuters using Commuter Tickets (System before FastTrak)

(ref: ftp://ftp.abag.ca.gov/pub/mtc/planning/models/BAYCAST/RTP2001%20Assumptions%20Summary1%20(Nov2001).doc)

ok…here is the simple math:

Threshold amount Held/Threshold times Commuters using Commuter tix:

$15 – $270,928,905

$20 – $361,238,540

$25 – $451,548,175

$30 – $541,857,810

$35 – $632,167,445

$40 – $722,477,080

So simply put…by the time all commuters get past 90 days, the FastTrak system will have $722 MILLION dollars to do…err…WHAT?

This is assuming Commuters using the system have not increased and numbers match 1989/90 totals

Imagine my surprise when I learned of a “threshold” amount of $15 and a “replenishment” amount of $25!! So in theory, unless I cancelled, I would never get my $15 back!! Well, I thought, it would speed my commute so it’s worth the price of admission. I used my Debit Card attached to my Checking acct as I didn’t want to use my credit cards to pay toll.

For three months straight, it worked perfectly…I reached below the threshold and my replenishment amount was debited from my account. I was able to accurately calculate when the debots would take place so I would have enogh money in my acct., being I live paycheck to paycheck.

One day, I noticed an $80 charge on my bank account (I check my bank account daily), and my research showed it to be a Fasttrak charge! I hurriedly checked my Fasttrak account online, and much to my shock, they upped my threshold to $40 (almost three times the amount from when I first joined) and also upped my replenishment to $80 (More then three times the amount from when I first joined)…so essentially, I was no longer out the initial $15, but it was now $40!!!

I called and complained, and after enough diatribe back and forth, they agreed to change my threshold to $20, and my replenishment to $40…but also warned that the same thing will likely happen in three months as FastTrak reviews all accounts and adjusts them according to commuter habits.

I have a few problems with this:

1. Usually, in a situation where a customer pays on time without any issues, something like a threshold would be REDUCED not INCREASED!!!

2. Isn’t FastTrak a privately ownned company, contracted by the state?? If so, where exactly are the funds they are withholding going? Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if you have 1 million commuters using FastTrak, there is a pool of money equalling close to 40 million dollars…is that going to the bridge upkeep? Is it going to Cal Trans? Does this feel like a “tax” to anyone else?

3. I received NO PRIOR NOTIFICATION OF AN INTENDED INCREASE!! You cannot tell me that in this day and age, an email notification cannot be sent to any users that will have their fees increased!!! Besides this fact, don’t we as consumers have the right to cancel before an increase takes effect?

4. Of course, the only way to get my “threshold” amount back is to cancel and stop using FastTrak…and of course, you will recieve your funds WITHIN 30 DAYS OF RECEIPT OF THE FASTTRAK UNIT…

5. One last thing…the Terms and Conditions has no limit to how much FastTrak can chharge and expect for both the replenishment and threshold amounts!!

Am I the only one who thinks this is commuter blackmail? And again, WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?

I tried to get one of the local TV News stations to investigate, but got no response. I am not even sure which governing body to address this issue to.

I would love to hear your opinion on the FastTrak “Tax” In this day and age, therre is no excuse for not letting consumers know in advance…furthermore, with the rising cost of fuel, every penny counts!!

Thanks!

This fails the sniff test.

$2,000,000 / 326 (the number of collectors according to the above quote) = $6,134.

Uh, ya. I’m sure toll collectors make that annually. That’s off by an order of magnitude at least, at which point it is non-trivial in a $180M budget.

So then maybe the argument is that not all those people are full-time. So, 7 bridges, 3 shifts, and what? 5 plazas average manned/bridge (that seems conservatively low). That’s 105 full-time toll-takes, which is still an unbelievably low $19,000 annual income.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, that I don’t really trust statements like this, without some objective evidence. I keep wondering if much of the difference isn’t going into the pockets of some company that taking a rakeoff from the FasTrak administration.

But I’ve not seen any of that evidence, and certainly don’t have time to go looking myself. Isn’t it a shame we can’t trust our government agencies even for things like this?