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Orange County’s toll roads going cashless

Motorists on the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor pass through a toll plaza where their transponders are scanned as they drive.
Motorists on the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor pass through a toll plaza where their transponders are scanned as they drive.
(Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
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Orange County’s vast network of toll roads will go cashless this spring, shutting down all of its toll booths and eliminating the need to fish for exact change.

Motorists who travel the 51 miles of toll lanes can continue to use the FasTrak passes, which are scanned as drivers pass through toll plazas, or shift to a newly created ExpressAccount.

The conversion will affect all of the county’s toll roads -- the 73, 133, 241 and the 261 -- starting in May.

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The new ExpressAccount will operate on a vehicle identification system, with cars’ license plates being scanned at toll plazas. Account holders can link their account to a credit card, prepay for traveling the highways or receive itemized monthly bills.

Unlike the FasTrak, which can be used statewide -- including the 91 Express Lanes and the Metro Express Lanes in Los Angeles -- the ExpressAccount is limited to the toll roads in Orange County.

The FasTrak has one other advantage. Tolls, on average, will be 20% lower.

anh.do@latimes.com

Twitter: @newsterrier

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