By Banks Albach
Palo Alto Daily News (California)
MENLO PARK, Calif. — After racking up a dozen citations for crossing the Dumbarton Bridge without paying tolls after fighting fires or attending business meetings, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District is waging a campaign for automatic free passage.
But officials with the Bay Area Toll Authority are treating the district’s efforts as much ado about nothing.
Chief Harold Schapelhouman says his fire district has received 12 citations so far this year for driving through the bridge’s FasTrak gate. Whether it was a fire truck that helped fight an East Bay blaze, a battalion chief returning from an emergency call, a semi-truck that transported search-and-rescue gear or just a fire official coming back from a business meeting in a Ford Taurus, the citations ran from $29 to $31, depending on the number of axles.
True, that isn’t a big financial drain. And yes, the fire district successfully contested many of the tickets.
But that’s not the point, Schapelhouman said.
Dealing with the citations takes time because of the paperwork and phone calls involved, Schapelhouman said. And the principle of emergency first responders from the west side of the Dumbarton Bridge having to pay tolls after making mutual-aid runs, let alone pay citations, is wrong.
“We’re not charging for our emergency services,” Schapelhouman said. “And FasTrak is earning more revenue and we don’t see any of it. We don’t think it’s reasonable. We’re paying to get back into our jurisdiction.”
Schapelhouman may be one of the more vocal critics, but he’s not alone. He said he’s spoken with the chief of the Benicia Fire Department, who is dealing with similar citations for crossing the George Miller Jr. Memorial Bridge.
And the San Mateo and Foster City Fire departments have received citations after crossing the Dumbarton as well.
Officials with the toll authority, which manages FasTrak and tolls on the Bay’s seven bridges, say there are no viable alternatives.
Unless a public employee is on an emergency call, they have to pay tolls like anyone else, said authority spokesman Randy Rentschler.
And if the citations are generated during emergency responses, all a fire chief has to do is “make a phone call” and FasTrak customer service will toss out the ticket, Rentschler said.
Only the California Highway Patrol gets full exemption, Rentschler said, because its officers are on official business all of the time.
“If the trip is on normal business, just like a city manager, they’re expected to pay the toll,” he said. “We treat public agencies the same as citizens.”
In other words, responders on one side of the bridge should expect the occasional mistake, because FasTrak’s automated camera system can’t tell the difference between business and post-emergency trips.
The Fremont Fire Department, on the other hand, never gets tickets during emergency calls because its trucks blow through the toll booths with lights on and sirens blaring, Schapelhouman said.
Foster City Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Comisky just finished dealing with a Dumbarton Bridge toll citation this week.
He was taking the long way home last September after a crash snarled traffic on the San Mateo Bridge.
The toll workers waved him through FasTrak but he still received a citation. To contest the ticket, Comisky had to fill out a FasTrak form and write a rebuttal memo describing the emergency trip -- slightly more than just phone call.
“I just think it’s ridiculous,” Comisky said. "(Last September) I was in my tear-downs and didn’t even have my wallet.”
Last October, San Mateo Deputy Fire Chief John Healy said he was commanding an assembly of five engines from his SUV after returning from the Witch Fire in San Diego when he got slapped with a citation after crossing the Dumbarton. The engines went through without being cited, but FasTrak snapped a shot of the SUV’s license plate.
Both Comisky and Healy acknowledged it’s realistic to pay the toll while on administrative business. But the bridge authority needs to find a way to decipher between business and emergency trips, they said.
That doesn’t seem likely any time soon, though.
“Where do you draw the line?” Rentschler asked. “This is the only way to do it. If there’s an issue with a citation, you have to let us know and we’ll take care of it.”
Copyright 2008, Palo Alto Daily News (California)