Bay Area Bridge Travel
This weekend, I traveled far and wide within and around the San Francisco Bay Area, locally known as the Bay Area. On Friday through Monday, I traveled over 200 miles, and crossed 6 bridges to visit 5 cities, including my hometown. Despite all this commute, I only ended up paying $14 total in bridge tolls! Let this story be your guide on how to effectively navigate the complex and expensive web of Bay Area FasTrak.
What is FasTrak?
Because many major cities are separated by water, the Bay Area has 8 major toll bridges to connect these populated areas. At the time of writing this, all of the bridge tolls are $7 to cross, except the Golden Gate Bridge, which depends on the number of axles and carpool status. For me, the Golden Gate (GG) Bridge costs $9.50 to cross. These fees are all paid to FasTrak. From Wikipedia:
The Bay Area Fastrak is a toll collection system operated by the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. It provides a convenient, cash-free way to pay tolls on bridges and Express Lanes.
Where are tolls collected?
The Bay Area bridges are only tolled in one direction, where the other direction is free to cross. This makes perfect sense for people with a linear commute - crossing the same bridge to and from work would charge a single bridge toll. Because some bridges run East-West and others run North-South, the toll direction isn't the same for every bridge. Here's a list of each of the Bay Area bridges, its cost, and corresponding toll/free directions.
| Bridge | Region | Toll | Fee Direction | Free Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antioch | Antioch - Rio Vista | $7.00 | Northbound | Southbound |
| Benicia/Martinez | Benicia - Martinez | $7.00 | Northbound | Southbound |
| Carquinez | Crockett - Vallejo | $7.00 | Northbound | Southbound |
| Richmond/San Rafael | Richmond - San Rafael | $7.00 | Westbound | Eastbound |
| Bay Bridge | San Francisco - Oakland | $7.00 | Westbound | Eastbound |
| Golden Gate | San Francisco - Sausalito | $9.50 | Southbound | Northbound |
| San Mateo/Hayward | San Mateo - Hayward | $7.00 | Westbound | Eastbound |
| Dumbarton | Palo Alto - Fremont | $7.00 | Westbound | Eastbound |
My Weekend Commute
For my work commute, I take the Richmond/San Rafael bridge both ways. In the morning, I take the free, eastbound direction, and when coming home, I pay the $7 westbound toll, automatically billed to my FasTrak account. So, in total, I pay the bridge toll only once to cross the same bridge twice.
This past weekend, I was full of plans. On Friday, I would need to commute from my home in northern Marin county to Berkeley, in the East Bay. From there, I planned to stay over in San Francisco Friday night so I could join the Marina Run Club on Saturday morning, and then meet Remy to watch Fleet Week (with the Blue Angels) in the afternoon, also in San Francisco. That evening, I had plans to visit Nathan in Lodi. (Creedence Clearwater Revival has a song about this city.) I also wanted to see my family in the East Bay on Saturday night and stay all day Sunday, before heading back to work on Monday. After work on Monday, I wanted to pop into San Francisco before heading home in Marin. I designed a commute to minimize the number of tolls I would pay to cross all these bridges. Let's take a closer look at what I did. (Some city names are redacted for privacy.)
Friday
- Start in hometown in northern Marin.
- Drive to Berkeley in the East Bay via Richmond/San Rafael bridge, free eastbound direction.
- Drive to San Francisco via Bay Bridge, $7 westbound direction.
Saturday
- Start in San Francisco.
- Go running and then watch the airshow.
- Drive back to hometown in northern Marin.
- Drive to Lodi, via CA-12 which does not cross any FasTrak bridges. I needed to cross the Rio Vista drawbridge which is not tolled. Unfortunately, as soon as I got to Rio Vista, the bridge was raised, adding 15 or 20 minutes onto my commute to wait for it to lower.
- Drive to parent's hometown in the East Bay via the Antioch Bridge, free southbound direction.
Sunday
- Stayed in parent's hometown all day. No bridges crossed.
Monday
- Start in parent's hometown in the East Bay.
- Drive to Berkeley, no bridges crossed.
- Drive to San Francisco via Bay Bridge, $7 westbound direction.
Tuesday
- Start in San Francisco.
- Leave early in the morning to work from home in hometown via the Golden Gate Bridge, free northbound direction.
Summary
Because of my home's geography within the Bay Area, I am able to take advantage of a unique logical principle that allows me to only pay a single bridge toll for clockwise loops around the bay. This is not limited to the Richmond/San Rafael, Bay, and Golden Gate Bridges. All of these loops would allow the driver to pay fewer bridge tolls than the number of bridge crossings:
The bolded bridge acronyms are the toll directions.
| Route | # Bridge Crossings | Total Cost | Mileage* | Clock Direction | Major Cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marin (R/SR) East Bay (Bay) Peninsula (GG) Marin | 3 | $7 | 53 | CW | San Rafael, Richmond, Oakland, San Francisco |
| Marin (R/SR) East Bay (SM/H) Peninsula (GG) Marin | 3 | $7 | 92 | CW | San Rafael, Richmond, San Mateo, Hayward |
| Marin (R/SR) East Bay (Dum.) Peninsula (GG) Marin | 3 | $7 | 117 | CW | San Rafael, Richmond, Fremont, Palo Alto |
| Marin (R/SR) East Bay -> South Bay -> Peninsula (GG) Marin | 2 | $0 | 133 | CW | San Rafael, Richmond, San Jose, San Francisco |
| Peninsula (Dum.) East Bay -> South Bay -> Peninsula | 1 | $0 | 53 | CW | Palo Alto, Fremont, San Jose |
| Peninsula (SM/H) East Bay -> South Bay -> Peninsula | 1 | $0 | 76 | CW | San Mateo, Hayward, San Jose |
| Peninsula (Bay) East Bay -> South Bay -> Peninsula | 1 | $0 | 101 | CW | San Francisco, Oakland, Jan Jose |
| North Bay (Antioch) East Bay -> Valley -> North Bay | 1 | $0 | 85 | CCW | Stockton, Rio Vista, Antioch |
| North Bay (B/M) East Bay -> Valley -> North Bay | 1 | $0 | 135 | CCW | Stockton, Benicia, Martinez |
| North Bay (Carq.) East Bay -> Valley -> North Bay | 1 | $0 | 139 | CCW | Stockton, Vallejo, Crockett |
*Assuming travel to city centers between cities listed under "Major Cities".
Some of these commutes are completely unreasonable, and there are more here that I did not include. However, these are just a few examples of going for a roll, without paying the toll.