Letter to the Editor

Brian Sowers,
CSU East Bay Equipment Technician

Here we are, employees of this fine institution, coming to work diligently day in and day out. Some of us have multiple cars that we like to drive. We try to make sure that the parking tag follows us into the “other” car but, alas, it’s human nature to be in a rush and we get to work without said tag. Later in the afternoon we discover a present under the wiper.

NOW let’s look at other systems. What happens if you drive a different car and cross any of our bay bridges but the Fastrak transponder is in the other vehicle?

The cameras record your license plate and IF that vehicle is registered with the fastrak system as being associated with a tag, the standard fare is charged instead of a penalty. The golden Gate Bridge.

Aren’t they exclusively using license plate recognition for fare charges?

There was a time in the past when an employee at CSUEB, CSUH at the time, registered the license plate of the vehicle they drove when the parking tag was purchased.

That seems to have gone by the wayside. Today the ticketing devices have the capability to take pictures and associate them with the ticket to show that there was no parking tag visible.

With technology available today how difficult would it be to have such a database and use license plate recognition to ameliorate the situation and save employees on both sides from wasting time resolving the issue?