Bridge toll cheating way down since new license plate rule

The number of drivers bullying their way through toll booths on Bay Area bridges without paying has fallen dramatically this year, reversing a decade-long trend in which $1 million in losses a month have been typical.

Bridge authorities report the decline fell to $250,000 in May, a dramatic 75 percent drop credited to a statewide change: Motorists with new cars get a temporary plate with numbers as they drive off the lot and can no longer use unidentifiable dealer plates for months at a time.

“Great news regarding the huge drop in toll cheaters,” said Michael Scott of Walnut Creek. “I am still seeing paper dealer plates, but certainly a lot fewer for sure.”

Added Alfredo Pedroza, vice chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission from Napa County: “This is a great story” although like other board members he worries that the temporary new DMV plates might be kept and used by future cheaters.

In January, there were 8,667 toll crossings with temporary DMV plates, which steadily increased each month to 30,449 in May. The implementation has experienced several start-up issues, including plates with inconsistent fonts; varying character size and spacing; and cameras unable to read the state name. The DMV reported to toll officials they expect to resolve these issues by November.

In addition, bridge officials believe increased law enforcement efforts may have encouraged long-term violators to replace their dealer placards with their legal plates. And the CHP wants future temporary plates to list the month they expire. There is no such information for the interim plates, making it difficult for police to detect if they’ve been used longer than the 90 days that is now allowed.

This has been a huge problem. Over the past 10 years, the Bay Area Toll Authority has seen lost revenue due to dealer placards increase by 470% to $11 million annually, as drivers try to beat the rising costs of toll increases which can top $7 per crossing, up from $1 in 1989.

Tolls will jump $1 Jan. 1, 2022, and another $1 in 2025.

Some issues remaining are ink qualities, blurry numbers and paper plates flapping in the wind.

But the biggest issue, warns Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, is that the new temporary plates do not have to be turned in. A driver can keep them and allow others to use them, creating a black market.

“We’re going to have problems,” Haggerty said. “This boggles the mind. We could have done it better.”

But overall the news is good.

In a report, BATA concluded that “the long history of steadily increasing lost toll revenue due to dealer placards has ended … with the expectation they will virtually disappear by the end of 2019.”

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