Back in the days I lived in San Francisco you handed your toll for the Golden Gate Bridge to someone in a booth. And you cursed those in front of you who didn't have their toll ready to go. Now, I discovered, the process is all digital. There are several ways to do it, none of which I knew. There were no instructions except NO CASH ACCEPTED, and traffic kept rolling through. So I rolled through, too. Whether I was supposed to or not.
Well, no cops gave chase. I assumed a photo was snapped, though. I assume all vehicles are photoed in this post-9/11 world. If they know I didn't pay, what would they do? I'm an out-of-stater. A tourist. An old fart. I'm not savvy to the ways of contemporary San Francisco. I should get a break, right? I mean, the bureaucratic energy that would be spent sending me a ticket and trying to collect on it would exceed the amount of the toll. Can't make money that way.
I imagine they do let a lot of out-of-state vehicles slide by. But my natural guilty conscience and my abiding civic pride as a former citizen of The City drove me to
get online and find out what the deal is. Now they have my $7.25 and I can sleep without fear of being rousted by bridge cops.
I hope you got a receipt in case the bridge cops didn't get the word.
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