Updated March 6, 2021 – There are 8 toll bridges in the San Francisco Bay area. The Golden Gate Bridge has its own toll system, while the rest of the bridges fall under the Bay Area Toll Authority. Here’s how to pay those tolls:
The Golden Gate Bridge has about a zillion options, but none of them include paying your toll in cash on the bridge itself, so listen up:
- FasTrak Account: Go to https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/signup/signup.shtml to sign up for an account and get a toll tag to attach to your vehicle. A FasTrak account requires you to have a prepaid balance that tolls are debited from. It also offers you a discount on tolls. (FasTrak is the required payment method for carpools.)
- License Plate Account: Go to https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/signup/licenseprep.shtml to sign up for an account. If paying by credit card, tolls are automatically charged to the card associated with your license plate. You can also choose to prepay and have tolls debited. You do not get a toll discount with this option.
- One-Time Online Payment: Go to https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/howitworks/oneTime.shtml to pay either before you cross the bridge or within 48 hours of crossing.
- Toll Invoice: If you don’t pay your toll, you will be billed via Toll Invoice. Pay it online here, or by mail at FasTrak Invoices, P.O. Box 26926, San Francisco, CA 94126. You can also pay by phone at 877-229-8655 (the phone number is 415-486-8655 if you’re outside of the United States). Or in person at the Bay Area FasTrak Customer Service Center at 375 Beale Street, San Francisco or at a cash payment location.
Now, if you’re talking about one of the other Bay Area Bridges — the Bay Bridge, the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the Carquinez Bridge, the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, the Dumbarton Bridge, or the Antioch Bridge — these are your toll payment options:
- FasTrak Account: Open an account at https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/signup/signup.shtml. A FasTrak account requires you to have a prepaid balance that tolls are debited from. As noted above, this is also an option for the Golden Gate Bridge, so it is the easiest method if you’re crossing multiple Bay area bridges often.
- Cash: Pay your toll on the spot using a lane staffed by a Toll Authority employee. No credit cards, debit cards, or checks accepted. (Cash tolls are currently suspended; go here for details.)