Collection Agency Seeks Payments for Golden Gate Bridge Motorists

By Michael Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle

Thousands of motorists who — knowingly or not — zipped past the Golden Gate Bridge's distinctive toll booths in the FasTrak lanes as long as four years ago without paying are receiving notices from a collection agency, some seeking hundreds of dollars.

The bridge district, which is trying to eliminate a deficit projected to total $70 million over the next five years, has turned over thousands of toll violations dating back to 2001 to OSI Collection Services. Many of the collection notices were sent out this week.

Mary Currie, bridge district spokeswoman, said the collection effort was a matter of fairness and fiscal responsibility for an agency contemplating increases in bridge tolls and bus and ferry fares to balance its budget. About $550,000 in tolls and $3.2 million in penalties are being turned over to the collection agency.

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