FasTrak, Big Mac No Longer a Combo

McDonald’s customers with FasTrak tollway transponders can no longer use them to pay for Big Macs and other meals at four Orange County restaurants. The fast-food giant has ended the pilot program.

In a memo to the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies, which uses FasTrak, McDonald’s said it ended the program Thursday at restaurants in Costa Mesa, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita.

The company had extended the initial test period to February 2003, but pulled the plug early. McDonald’s representatives were unavailable Friday to comment on the decision. Each side had a clause in its contract allowing it to end the partnership with 60 days’ notice.

“We were happy with the partnership,” said Lisa Telles, a spokeswoman for the transportation agency. “ ... It added more value to having a transponder in your car. The more places you could use it, the more you’d want to use it. They certainly left open that they may come back and talk to us, but there were no specific plans that we were told about.”

McDonald’s launched the pilot program in April 2000. The TCA received 25 cents for each transaction. Telles said the TCA collected about $56,000 during the test.

If a McDonald’s customer had a transponder and used the drive-through lane, a device read the wallet-sized unit on the car windshield, alerting the employee taking the order.

Customers would then be asked if they wanted to pay using FasTrak. Telles said FasTrak usage at the restaurants had steadily increased. McDonald’s total for the first month of the test was $36,000. In December 2001, the latest period for which figures were available, the total was $89,000.

“I don’t know why McDonald’s ended it, except it was a test program,” Telles said.

The TCA continues to explore other venues where the transponder could be used, such as parking lots, Telles said. But the equipment necessary to read the transponder is costly, she said.

Telles said she was not sure what the fast-food company will do with its hardware.