News: Bridge toll tickets draw Fire chief's ire

Friday, September 26, 2008

News: Bridge toll tickets draw Fire chief's ire

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 from the Bay Area Toll Authority are treating the district's complaints like 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 paperwork and phone calls, Schapelhouman said. And the principle of emergency 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.

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.

"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."

Source:
By Banks Albach
Bay Area News Group
Original Article at Mercury News

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Friday, September 26, 2008