Some Solano County drivers have been quick to report frustration with the new express lanes on Interstate-80 that recently launched in Vacaville and Fairfield.
The lanes, which serve drivers who wish to pay to bypass traffic in the busy Bay Area corridor, officially started tolling on Dec. 16. Construction by Caltrans wrapped up around the fall of 2025.
Several drivers have now claimed they were erroneously charged for driving in the lane, which they say they never did. CBS Sacramento reached out to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which manages the FasTrak system across the Bay Area, to get answers on the issues.
"At this stage, it appears that these are isolated incidents because we have not received a flood of incoming calls or messages to the fast track customer service center," said John Goodwin of MTC. "I just think it's really too early to draw conclusions, but I want to reassure drivers in the corridor that we tested the equipment before the lanes opened last month, and everything was shipshape at that time," said Goodwin.
Leon Ward contacted CBS Sacramento and posted on social media saying that he was falsely charged the $0.75 fee for entering the lane on Dec. 22, 2025, just after 5 a.m. near Fairfield. He says he never entered the lane and disputed the charge with FasTrak.
He just happened to notice the fee when he checked his FasTrak account.
Leon Ward post in Solano County community Facebook groupThe toll lane camera captured his car, as MTC confirmed to CBS Sacramento, but the photo was too dark to prove which lane he was in.
CBS Sacramento asked if the camera was faulty. Goodwin responded that it was likely the rain and haze on that December morning that made the picture quality so poor, otherwise, he said, the cameras are in proper working order day and night.
Ward got a refund for the charge, MTC confirms.
"The customer who got in touch with you all, we were able, thanks to you, to identify that that was Westbound Interstate 80, at Highway 12. So already that's on our radar," said Goodwin. "Let's watch that location. We may need to reset the cameras at that spot, particularly if you get a couple or more instances of people contacting the customer service center. So, we're keeping a really close eye on this."
Leon's post, however, green-lighted several other comments on his social media post from at least five other drivers who claim they too got a false fee from the new fast lane. MTC tells CBS Sacramento that, despite those concerns, only one other official complaint has been filed with customer service from a driver who was charged after partially entering the lane then exiting.
MTC says they, too, will be refunded. "If people do believe that they have been charged in error for travel along the newly opened express lanes in Solano County, we really do encourage people to contact the customer service center by phone," said Goodwin. Even the mayor of Suisun City, Alma Hernandez, posted on her social media page that she had called regional transportation leaders with the concerns.
Bay Area FasTrak was quick to respond in the comments.
Post on Facebook page of Mayor Alma Hernandez"That did prompt our investigation so that we were able to send the alert out to the customer service center, hey, let the staff know if you get any calls or any other messaging about ostensibly erroneous tolls on the 80 express lanes, so that we can investigate," said Goodwin.
The message is to slow down when reading through your FasTrak bill or any toll charges you may get in the mail. If they are wrong, MTC says they will do what they can to make it right, and if necessary, repair their equipment in the case of a more widespread issue.
"If there is a problem, we want to know about it and we want to fix it fast," said Goodwin.
MTC says false charges like this are rare, but cited an incident from several years ago in Contra Costa County, also on northbound Interstate-680, when a significant number of drivers reported to customer service that they were falsely charged the express lane toll.
As it turned out, MTC needed to recalibrate the camera so it was not reading FasTrak tags from the lane adjacent to the express lane.
Call the number 877-BAY-TOLL or 877-229-8655 with any concerns.
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