After more than six months of a cashless Harbour crossing, we want to know what you think of toll roads becoming cashless and having to use e-tags.
In January this year, we reported the news that the Sydney Harbour Bridge was going cashless. As of mid-January, an e-tag or similar is needed to use either the Harbour Bridge or the Harbour Tunnel.
They are not the only motorways in Sydney that are cashless. According to the RTA-run website, Sydney Motorways, cash can still be used on the Eastern Distributor, M4, M5 and M2 – less than half of Sydney’s Motorways. With the RTA’s plans to eventually make all motorways cashless, the number of roads you can use cash on will continue to shrink.
It is clear that to drive in Sydney motorists must have an e-tag – or carefully choose their routes if they don’t. This also presents a challenge for visitors to Sydney or people who do not regularly use cashless toll roads.
Is the e-tag a help or a hindrance? Does making roads cashless speed things up and ease congestion?
For anybody who does not have an e-tag but wants to make the journey south across the Harbour Bridge, you will need to arrange a temporary pass within 48 hours of your trip by visiting myE-Toll or by phoning the RTA on 131 865.
I hate the etag system. As an infrequent user of Bridge and Tunnel, the cost of having an etag is uneconomical. I now cannot access part of the city and feel disenfranchised in my own city.
Well tough luck, we will charge you tax on your fuel as well as an excise tax we will make you pay for a green slip, pink slip, comprehensive insurance. Income tax and GST and then you will still need to pay for the roads you use so you can pay a TOLL as well. We won’t offer employment through toll booths we will make it fully automated and then we will charge you extra hidden fees such as a vehicle identification charge and an E-TAG. And if you don’t pay these charges within 2 days we will charge you some more. Do you feel better now that I’V explained that for you?
If we must have tolls then an electronic tag system is by far the best solution. Advantages obviously are that the traffic chaos keeps moving (until you hit the bottlenecks further down the track) – The sydney harbour tunnel & eastern distributor southbound in the arvo is the best example of this. $4 for the privilege of crawling along on this motorway! Disadvantages in my opinion is that its now too easy to increase the Toll.
Cash toll booths is a backward step. For motorists requiring toll access on a temporary basis, why not introduce a system currently used in Victoria – where you can purchase a day/week access ticket at 7 elevens or the like?
The rta’s etag costs nothing other than a security deposit and the cost of your tolls so there is almost no excuse not to have one on your personal car.
however for infrequent users and even frequent users in numerous cars (im always getting caught in a bind with rental cars) a better system needs to exist for casual payments. The Victorian system for casual users works far better than the cumbersome system in place in NSW.
EVERYTHING should be cashless, toll booths, slow things down, drivers changing lanes is dangerous to get tohe toll booths. The cost of a tag is around $40 which is nothing as most can be used in all states. The M5 is a bottleneck at the TOLL gates as we are still restricted to 70km p/h due to the toll gates. I have two tags and only one is used regularly but I love the fact that I don’t need cash to avoid the lights on the residential roads when trying to get somewhere in an already congested city
E-tags are useless to us living outside the Metropolitan area. Whenever we visit Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane we avoid toll roads like the plague. We use to take toll roads occasionally when cash payment was an option, however we refuse to go through the miles of paperwork and heartache to buy one of these tags. There are tens of thousands like myself who feel the same way.
Personally I take offence to any tax payer having to pay any form of tolls on roads that we paid for through our taxes. It is the “She’ll be right” attitude of the general public that allowed this to happen. If everyone stood up to Government and overpaid public servants we wouldn’t be paying any tolls anywhere. If for some reason I got lost in one of the major cities and ended up on a tollway I would refuse to pay any fines for entering one of those roads. There should be areas, once entering these obnoxious roads by mistake, to turn around and get off them.
As an infrequent user of etag I find I have been caught in other places as I didn’t know which roads use the etag system.
I am from interstate. I have never seen any advertising from the RTA or anyone else as to where I can get a etag. It would be useful if such information was sent to people (us interstate visitors) when our car registration was due. Also an opportunity for NSW or any other state to try and attract visitors and keep them up to date with road changes. Yes, this would involve an unprecedented level of co-operation between states and territories to implement. Failing that, maybe the NRMA should keep their members up to date with regular information in The Open Road magazine.
If everyone just got an etag and got on with life thre would be no problems. They are free and soon everything will be cashless anyway. Trains, buses, vending machines all will be cashless.
In prinicple I like the idea of the etag. What I object to is the requriement that I have to give the RTA access to my Credit Card account. On average I used the bridge 4 times a month (twice north, twice south). Now I come home a different way.
If I had the opportunity to get a tag (paying the deposit) and then topping it up when required I’d be quite happy. But because I use the bridge infrequently, keeping track of how much is left on the tag is difficult. I want to be able to log on, check and top up at MY convenience. I don’t want the RTA hitting my card when I don’t have the funds (1 income household at present).
I just want a little wriggle room. Some flexibilty in payment.
I use the tunnel and the Eastern Distributor every day. I see the ETag as a useful tool, but it doesn’t really make the journey any quicker especially when cars breakdown and accident (that could be prevented by better driving skills) occur on a regular basis. I am paying good money to travel 5km an hour through a tunnel journey which at times could take me 30 minutes. Value for money? No. On good days, I cannot fault it. Maybe an option is to fine vehicles who break down (for no good reason except that they haven’t serviced their vehicle regularly) and stuff up the whole peak hour traffic situation.
We get to Sydney about twice a year and its is a real pain in the neck getting a temp pass. We were told we have to drop into the RTA office to get one and then return it at the same office. A stupid waste of time. So we bypass all the cashless roads. If we were a regular user then fine. But as a tourist – they are an annoyance.
I resisted E-tags for quite a while as I live out of Sydney and only visit infrequentlly by road. I have have found since having an E-tag I can save a lot of time and petrol by following toll roads. The added benefits of E-tags are that you can use them interstate and I do this occasionally.
I yeah thank you NRMA employee for regurgitation what you boss just told you to write.
As A Department of Veteran Affairs TPI Pensioner, I am entitled to travel free of charge across the bridge and tunnel, but where am I supposed to stop and show my card?? I have an E-TAG and just use this, I know that we get reimbursed for travelling on the M4/M5, but not for travelling over the bridge or through the tunnels. there needs to be a better system in place for those that dont have to pay but do because you can no longer stop
As a resident of the Central Coast I rarely need to use the toll roads. When I do however, I would much prefer cash. To try and find out how to pay, and who to pay, is a task in itself. Why can’t there be one central website where you can pay the toll? Once you’ve found the right people to pay, they then slug you with additional fees for “admin” and you have to pay a minimum amount even if you didn’t rack up that amount on the roads. They went cashless, not us, why do we have to foot the extra fees and do the running around to try and find them? I avoid toll roads now if I can. If they make it easier and fairer for those who don’t have tags, then we’ll use them again.
I hate the fact that each visit to Sydney costs me about 30-40 dollars in tolls alone (e-tag and/or cash). It’s a fortune when you consider that I pay my taxes, land rates, registration and other government and state charges and on top of that I have to pay so much just to visit the city. In some cases, there is really no other option but to use tolls. What really annoys me is the fact that in some cases I pay a toll to travel for few hundred metres just to get off and then get on another toll and have to pay another 3-5 dollars for the privilege to drive on the road…It stinks!
I’m from interstate and both the NSW and Vic systems are most confusing and bureaucratic. All the signage assumes that you know what an “e-tag” is and you know where to buy one. The Vic system is marginally worse in advising you to get off the freeway, find some building or other, and pay there. For the visitor, the toll booths are the only sensible way to go. Why not a booth by the side of the road (in a rest area?) where you can buy these mysterious things if you need? Philosophically I’m opposed to us taxpayers paying yet again for infrastructure we already own.
I live in Canberra but have an eTag for trips to Melbourne or Sydney. No problems. I don’t believe in toll-roads in principle, but we seem to be stuck with them, mainly because people don’t like paying their taxes any other way.
I find the whole cashless e-tag thing completely annoying. I can’t believe that there isn’t ONE cash lane available. I refuse to buy an e-tag because I don’t use toll roads enough. Trying to pay your toll retrospectively is always a complete nightmare. Yet another example of how corrupt the NSW government is.
When will the Sydney public realize that the tollways are not serving the public interest. Surely this infrastructure on public lane must be maintained by our government and perhaps financed by a small increase in the tax on petrol. That way al users pay according to their car use.
For me etolls are great, no fumbling for cash and keeps the traffic moving faster. My only limitation is knowing that when my balance falls below $20 that $50 will come out of my account. This means having to be very aware of balance and what is in the account to avoid a penalty fee. However banks are begining to change this rotten penalty fee, thank goodness, not soon enough.
Sorry for visitors etc but the sites do explain visitor etag arrangements. It just has to be part of planning the trip.
I lived in Melb for a year. We did not have tags during that time as we were very infrequent users of the Melbourne toll roads.
But if we planned to use the toll roads on a given DAY or a WEEKEND we were able to phone up the night before, pay by credit card and register our vehicle for use for the nominated period. I think the number plate was photographed at the toll points and matched to our pre-registered and prepaid short term use. A flat rate applied for using ANY of the toll roads for a DAY or for a WEEKEND.
Does NSW have a similar system? If not, this seemed to be an ideal solution for infrequent users with the fallback that you could also ring within 24-48 hrs if you forgot to preregister for the journey.
As a very infrequent visitor from Sydney, I find the Etags a pain. The last time, I was picking my daughter up from the airport. I had to register online for an etag (cost money to do so) then it took over 3 weeks for themoney for the actual daytrip to come out of my account. and I didnt know how much I was going to be charged until it came out. Give me cash booths anyday. I avoid as much as possible any tollways, but to get from Newcastle to the airport it is so much quicker than going thru Ryde, Newtown etc. Even so, I think the next time I’ll be taking the longer route. Either that or maybe a thought should be given as the Victorian way of purchasing an Etag at the Local Shell Servo, we found this worked well.
Good grief – what a non-issue! Get a tag, phone up and pay after use or don’t use the toll roads.
People – we are in the 21st Century, not the 18th. You can use the internet gto write on this blog – just get a tag.
As has been pointed out tags increase safety, speed up traffic and save money employing booth operators who work in a potentially hazardous environment.
Ever commuted to work over in the past over the bridge and been stuck behind a motor-cyclist rumaging for coins or the person who is somehow incapable of driving their car close enough to the operator to pass them the money, or the people whose hand-eye coordination is so poor they cant throw coins into a basket from a metre away!!!
And complaining about the high cost of tolls is an issue but has nothing to do with this Blog which is about TAGS.
And finally, if you dont like the RTA tags there are at least two other companies providing the same thing.
I don’t use e-tags – I avoid all tolls.
Seems strange to me, our economy is bigger than ever, there are more people paying tax and driving on the road paying registration and insurance etc, and yet we have tolls, why?
Is it a left over from the user pays 80s, any way no one pays any attention to these arguments any more so I’ll answer the question like a good boy, of course etags are good, they are convenient until some one raises the toll that is.
My company pays for my etag as it wants me to run around quickly and thats fine – but if and when I leave the company and loose the etag, I’ll be just as happy to go back to my GPS which mercifully can plan a route to avoid all tolls. Or move out of Sydney which would be preferable
I never use tags or toll roads as I infrequently visit the city and travel on older roads across Sydney. It is annoying (and wastes fuel) having to go round through Balmain, or not use the Ms to head west or south. We survived for 70 yrs without tolls (apart from the bridge). If the govt would appropriately tax car makers and/or retailers (as adding to consumption, pollution, health costs, environmental degradation, cleaning bills, and more death than any other killer on the planet), restrict city access to only necessary vehicles, and provide adequate public transport, particularly in the outer environs, we could easily get by without the darn tolls because there wouldn’t be enough cars on the road to bother building the Ms. Ah, a perfect future. Dream on.
I am an infrequent user and I find it very convenient to travel through or around Sydney with the E Tag system. Victoria’s system lets you pay at service stations before or after you trip on the freeways the a machine located in the service station. This is very convenient when you are casual user. Surely NSW could adopt this system. It’s very convenient and user friendly and can pay with your Eftpos card. So Simple.
I also think for infrequent visitors including myself – it is a waste of time not having Cash booths. I personally have been ‘caught out’ and had to pay extra because I could not find either a cash point nor a tel no. to phone to pay for my ‘one off’ visit. I had a reminder and a ‘fine for not paying when I actually never received the first invoice – what a rip off- when I queried it no -one wanted to know.
Plus visitors to the city are ‘easy targets’ for money making schemes because they don’t realise or understand the ‘cashless system’. The other gripe is understanding the ‘small ‘e’ and the capital “E”. talk about making life difficult.
I agree E-tag would be more convenient for the majority of people that live in the city. But it is a nightmare for those who are only passing through the city. My 17 year old daughter was coming from Forbes NSW to Port Macquarie NSW on her first trip through the city and had no intentions of using a toll road. But as the case may be she got lost! In a panic she was ringing me to say she was going through toll roads. She had no idea how many or what roads as she was trying to concentrate on her driving. When she got home I sent a email the same day to the RTA explaining what had happen and where would I go to pay the tolls. I had no reply. Two days later I sent another email giving my full registration details the type of car and approx what time she went through the city. Still no reply. Then nearly two weeks after the incident I received an email from the RTA telling me where to go to get a e-tag. DER I didn’t want a e-tag I was just wanting to pay the tolls!
I then rang the RTA I got a machine telling me to press different numbers and I still only got a machine. After hanging up four times then ringing again while not following the instruction of the machine I was put through to a person. After explaining to that person what had happened to my daughter she then went on to say I should have got an e-tag before the trip. One my daughter was lost! Two she was not planing on using a toll! Then that person stated you will just have to pay the fines when they are sent which include all the extra administration fees because you did not notify us within 48 hrs! Yeah well so much for my emails on the same day!
Whenever I visited Sydney or Melbourne I used to worry about getting caught on a cashless road as I didn’t have or want a tag. I did use the M7 once and tried to pay the toll afterwards via the Roam website. For some reason the payment didn’t work and I got hit with admin fees. I had to write to them and send all sorts of evidence to show that I had tried to pay before they dropped the extra charges.
Because of this I got a prepaid tag recently from Breeze in Victoria. Their website is frustrating but the tag can be used most anywhere in Vic, NSW and QLD. All it requires is a minimum balance in the account to start off with – and it can be automatically or manually topped up – no other fees or charges. It’s a lot simpler than stuffing around with websites and phone numbers after the event (for a casual toll road user, who can remember a phone number or web address at 70-100km/h?), trying to pre-register your travel or planning complex and slow back road routes to avoid tolls at all.
I think Motorcycles should be free.. It’s hard to mount a tag and bikes are not as heavy as cars so they don’t damage the road as much.
Victoria by far are ahead of NSW… Why does each state do their own thing? Why not look at what someone else has done first and if it works copy the idea?
Also need electronic signs on the toll ways that tell you how long until you reach say the airport or bridge etc like they have overseas…
Keep the speed limit constant along the whole toll way too… (Or have proper working electronic speed signs like in Germany… weather good = high speed… raining, slow speed..) But that’s too hard because of course speed kills doesn’t it?
For all you country people needing to travel through the city I hope you don’t get lost!
I am an infrequent user of toll roads but got an RTA e-tag a long time ago. Unlike e-tags from the alternative suppliers, the RTA tag costs me nothing to have the tag sitting there but has proved very useful for infrequent trips to Melbourne and Sydney. For people with the odd need to use a toll road, not having one is not a reasonable excuse.
The e-tag system is terrible. I do not live in Sydney but kept a tag on our car for some years (required for occassional travel) and the so called monthly ‘admin fees’ depleted the account! So what are you actually paying for?
I would not complain if it cost nothing to have the tag and the travel was the ONLY thing we paid for.
My suburb is almost surrounded by the M2, M7 and M4. i would be lost without my e-tag and have just ordered one for my second car. However, the cost of tolls is disgraceful.
E Tags are not a problem for ‘Sydney’ residents however a very annoying problem for the rest of the country. The whole problem is esily removed by the free provision of an e-tag with each registration (replacements at cost) and a simple pre paid system such as used by Telstra for ‘phoneaway’ cards and most mobile phone companies for ‘prePaid’ mobile phones.
These are available even from supermarkets as well as online. The amount of ‘credit’ would then be left to the user and no admin charges or hastily made phonecalls for travellers would be necessary. Of course there would be those who failed to ‘top up their account and they could be chared a reasonbly solid admin fee. Of course (as with prepaid phones’ all users would have to be registered and this would be part of the vehicle registration. The only reason not to use this system is the RTA would perhaps not be clever enough to manage such a simple scheme, already well used by many other companies who are in this century
The only time I’ve been on the M5 in Sydney when it WASN’T a parking lot was at 1 in the morning – a rare event and it actually did save time. I go to Sydney a little as possible, maybe twice a year and don’t have an E-tag so I appreciate the M4 cash booth. Traffic doesn’t get held up more than a minute, tho’ it certainly does get held up on the way in. I conducted a wee test one afternoon. A dramatically memorable car entered the M5 near the airport, heading west. I used my old route via street traffic and short-cuts (used to live in the area) and turned onto Centennial Drive in good time. Four minutes later the drama car sped past me. E-tags don’t make roads faster. Saving a nano-second at a booth doesn’t make up for congestion down the road. Good planning does.
Sydney – enter the 21st century. Melbourne has had Electronic only tolls for more than a decade. Just another reason Sydney is slipping behind.. ditch Rees and his cronies for true progression!
As I have a motorbike, I hate the unfair and biased electronic toll collection system of NSW. NSW should be have tolls for motorbikes as Victoria does.
I seem to recall that the Harbour Bridge was paid for IN FULL and as such, there should be no further toll.
I live in a rural area and very seldom visit Sydney but when I do,,,I go by public transport. Perhaps Sydneysiders should follow my example and do the same. I believe that there should be NO PARKING anywhere on the streets of the C.B.D. between 6 AM and 6PM. Let the commercial vehicles and busses get around easier and eliminate private vehicles altogether.
Were this to happen then maybe public transport transport would be made better. There are already free busses in the Sydney C.B.D.
I think that too many people rely on their cars and and are too lazy to walk to a bus stop or a rail station.
Also, a toll tag should be more readily available EG: Newsagents or post offices etc.
Retired truck driver.
Its about time to have a toll free city, surely enough money is sucked out of the public from all the other fees associated with running a vehicle.
I never knew how much coinage I was carrying but for ages resisted getting an etag because I was only in Sydney every month or so. And trying to read the number to call off a sign going past at 80kph sucked. But I find the RTA tag is no problem.
They do need to reconsider the whole scheme for motorbikes as there isn’t always something to stick them to.
If we have to pay, simplify the process. Yeah credit card on file is an issue if you’re always tripping the limit but you need to think about the same thing before you buy something in a shop.
If I could just register my credit card with my licence plate(s) then the whole thing would be eaiser. Let the system have a flag for VA pensioner plates and stuff. Build a percentage into hire car costs and send an invoice if the plate isn’t registered (like they do for the M7/M2). Surely this can’t be too hard.
I think etags are a stealth tax as we just drive through and the toll is deducted from our bank accounts, so to raise the toll we may whinge but it just keeps coming out of our account.
AS a not city traveller I am peeved that I have to arrange my route before I travel to the city and pay even if I do not use the road. I am fortunate that I have the computer systems to do this most do not.
If I buy a tag I am slugged with the cost of the tag and loose money while it sits in the toll company’s account.
How about they have to pay us interest while they hold our money???
As I own a number of vehicles I therefore have to have an etag for each vehicle… I feel I am being ripped off…why can the system not just accept the etag as it passes no matter which vehicle it is attached to.
Another tax on the people who still live in the country…
Sure it’s great, but there should always be the option of paying cash. We should be free to choose. I went to Melbourne once in my truck with a full semi load and I had to drive around the burbs looking for a safe place to park in the dark to pay for the toll road.
It’s convenient but also the opposite of that. When I travel interstate I just avoid toll roads and I usually do my driving at night to avoid traffic. When there is plenty of traffic no etag is going to make things better!
And for people who think complaining is ridiculous think again. This is about freedom of choice. Complacency is one of Australia’s biggest problems. People just let themselves be walked over and they just put up with it.
If Henry Ford knew there would be all this cashless/etag crap, he wouldn’t have bothred. I don’t own a tag and never will.
I am a 68 year old retiree and therefore do not make regular trips to and from work so rarely need to use toll roads. However, should I need to travel on or accidentally get onto a toll road I would like to think that I would have 48 hours to pay the toll without having to incur an additional charge for not having an e-tag.
What I really object to is the tolls levied on these major motorways in the first place. I acknowledge that it costs big money to build them – but what happened to the 3 cents a litre levied from all motorists over the years?, and surely a levy could be (maybe already is) included in the cost of motor vehicle registration to provide toll free motorways.
And just where do you get an etag? Since they came out i don’t bother driving anywhere that needs a tag. I drive in Japan as well as Australia and also the US and they have tollbooths and tags. Why must the Australians always make everything so hard and then fine people who can’t work the system out or need to get somewhere and don’t have a tag?
There is something vicious in the Australian Psyche that enjoys issuing penalties and fines for anything and everything.
Just make it easy sell the darn things at the post office or convenience stores and yes I am computer literate just fed up with spending time dealing with all the garbage from various authorities. Enough people want toll booths to keep some so why not give the public what they want for a
change ,instead of telling us what’s good for us? The RTA are not a user friendly bunch just the opposite.
I do not travel to Sydney as much as I used to, but still get down there 10 to 20 times a year, I have elected to avoid the tolls altogether, we flew out from Mascot in January and I drove down avoiding the tolls, we got there in easy time and a friend who was seeing us off took the toll roads, we got there before him, in March I traveled down three times, I avoided the tolls each time, I had people from the Central Coast traveled with me until we hit the toll roads, they took the toll roads, I avoided them, only once did we get there after them and even then there was only 5 minutes difference, so as far as I can see the tolls are a way for people to make money not save us time or petrol
Etags speed things up and make things faster for everyone but there needs to be an easier way of paying for casual users that only drive through Sydney 1-2 times a year.
After one visit I spent two hours online/on the phone trying to pay my tolls as one road owner passed me to another since I hadn’t written down whether it was the M1,2,4,7 or M523 I had been on.
I wasn’t surprised when I received 2 fines 2 weeks later and then had pay them. I gave up trying to get a refund from the operator whose road I hadn’t used but had been advised was probably the one I had been on. I now always use cash roads or pull over as I enter a toll road in the emergency lane to pay by phone to save the 4-5 hrs I spent trying to pay my tolls on that trip. Melbourne is much easier with one 1300 number for all toll roads and a 24 hr pass to use on any toll road.
Occassional visitor to both Melb and Sydney.
Go to the RTA web site and be entertained by the system that rips us off.
Lists of alternative tags and costs for everything.
Roads should not have tolls they should be paid for by taxes and then used by the public as required. No tolls no tags and free movement.
This a penalty on poorer people and those who can’t tax deduct the cost of using the roads with tolls. Not only is it a rip off it is inefficient unfair and un Australian it doesn’t offer a fair go to go anywhere. Once you have paid to get your car on the road and paid for petrol that is quite enough Up the petrol tax if required to provide roads and stop this empire building by the RTA and private companies I hope Maquarie gets burned on this they rip people off at the airport you cazn’t pick up a passenger without paying to park. everywhere else in the world has pick up points that are free.Why are we Australians always bled dry by big business and the Government?
It’s time it stopped and the NRMA should lead on these matters because they have some clout an individual doesn’t.
I have no issue with a cashless system in Sydney BUT we should have gone the way Victoria did with casual usage as well as one daily fee no matter where, when and how many time you travel any of the toll roads. They even offer off peak/weekend rates and a smaller toll to just use one freeway from memory.
We have been using the Breeze tag available from breeze.com.au for the last 6 months and have had no trouble on any cashless toll roads in nsw and QLD as they are all covered by this one tag. There was no massive deposit to be paid and our account was opened online and we are invoiced monthly. We heard about this from ABC Radio why people are still using E-Tag astounds me when this option is available. Stop complaining and take your business elsewhere!!!
I live in the Central West and infrequently travel to Sydney, but when I do I like to use the most convenient route. On my last trip I bought a GPS and used it to guide me home. It took me through so many tolls with so many different companies in control that all the numbers to call got mixed and confused so I let it ride. Eventually the toll bills arrived with the additional admin fees. From all the toll companies all signed by the same person? Why all the fees when from the same bloke?
For infrequent users of NSW toll roads the system is ridiculously complex and expensive. I work parttime in tourism and try to help visitors muddled about the
system and what it costs – and it really is a very negative impact on tourism. As a NSW resident I strongly object to RTA holding my money as a deposit (what interest could they be making on all these so-called deposits?) when I may not even have another toll debited for months.
It is a ridiculous and unfair system. The admin charges are outrageous. Yes let’s join the the 21st century and have a wellthought out system that is fair. And since
the bridge toll went variable, it’s suprising how much of the time it is now $4!
I found picking up an e tag up from the RTA very time consuming about 1 and 1/2 hours waiting filling in form etc. and then at the other end handing it in 30min all for a 4 day visit to sydney. and to repeat the process in another 6months is daunting and a waste of time.
I too hate the Etag system. As someone who grew up in Sydney but no longer lives there and is now an occaisional visitor (who rarely uses toll roads and so having an Etag is uneconomical) I feel alienated in a place that was once my home. I stay with my elderly mother on the northside (usually only for a couple of days) taking my 2 daughters to see their grandmother, now the one trip back to the airport (across or under the harbour) costs $8. The RTA website is NOT user friendly and the Etag sytem makes Sydney for the visiting motorist very visitor UNfriendly.
I am from regional NSW, but moved here from Melbourne over 6 years ago. I am used to using an E-tag and find them really helpful. The Melbourne toll roads have the number to ring to get a day pass and places to drop in to get one well sign posted. I find having to slow down for a boom gate even though I am using my E-tag quite ridiculous. We had to do this on our last Sydney trip and couldn’t believe that in Sydney to use a “faster” road we had to slow down to enter it.
I don’t really understand why E-tags aren’t more popular. Perhaps it is because day or weekend passes aren’t as easy to get than in Melbourne.
We still have a Transurban E-tag which we use in Melbourne and Sydney – it doesn’t cost us significanetly extra to have one.
We would have to be more infrequent users than Sydney infrequent users, we only get to Sydney and Melbourne 1-3 times a year and yet we find it not a cost (in addition to tolls) to have an e-tag.
Perhaps Sydney residents who are infrequent users should get an E-tag through Transurban Citylink in Melbourne, if having an E-tag is too costly in Sydney?
I can’t wait until Sydney has all E-tag tolls and we no longer have to stop to get onto a tollway.
Thanks for listening.
I refuse to use the bridge at all.
It’s a joke.
If they are going cashless, why can’t they just put it on my account like the M7 does?
I really pity our friends from the bush.
i hate the fact that you need an etag to go through the toll.
i drove through sydney for the first time on the weekend and was not aware untilll i came to it that i needed an etag. this was really inconvient for me and i started to freak out about what i was going to do as there was no way to get off the road.
to purchace an etag was be ridiculous for me as i never go through sydney.
there must another way to be able to pay for the toll without having to obtain an etag if they want it to be cashless for those who dont frequently use roads with tolls.
I travel to Sydney occasionally and I purchase an e-pass when needed. I have found the competing toll companies to be very misleading when it comes to where their pass can be used. If you took the information on their websites at face value and didn’t do any other research you could easily think you had to buy a different pass for each toll road.
I think there should be a choice of tag or cash. I personally quite enjoyed my daily chats with the toll collectors on the Harbour Tunnel. It’s also important to remember that it’s not just the people that live in Sydney who use Sydney’s roads. For people outside Sydney, it would be a hassle just to get a tag for a one-off occasion.
Also, once the roads become cashless, what’s to stop firms simply increasing the fees for the use of the tags? I realise that the RTA E-Tag is effectively free, but I did pay a “deposit”. Will I actually get that deposit back if I decide to leave the country and return that tag? Firms will start charging monthly “account keeping” fees of some ridiculous amount. If the banks do it, why can’t they?
I use the toll roads infrequently, but I still have an e tag, they were designed to speed up the traffic flow to make it more consistant but the eastern distributor south bound after 3.00 pm is a joke, the cross city tunnel was never intended to join the ED and thats where the problem lies, just an after thought by this useless government, who have no clue as they are never in the traffic anyway, cant imagine what the traffic will be like 10 years from now, but it wont bother me I will have left Sydney by then.
Recently I drove up the Central Coast from the South Coast where I live and used the harbour tunnel. I registered for a pass online before the trip including providing my credit card details. This was on the 17 th July 09. Today I have recieved two notices – one from the RTA for the collection point SH Tunnel and one from somewhere called Airport Motorway Limited for a collection point at Woolloomooloo North. Both have administration charges attached regardless of the fact that I registered for the pass, identified the correct travel date and received an email response. I sit here with no understanding of how to drive through the harbour tunnel as I clearly got it wrong. One auto change lane is all it takes for infequent users. If they are too tight to staff a toll then ok but please give us an auto change – even ‘no change given’ lane.
The motorways flow much more smoothly if no one has to stop and pay tolls. However it is important that we find ways to make it easy for non-frequent users to get access to toll-pay cards or whatever they need if they don’t have an e-tag. Maybe we need an phone app that you can use to enter your rego number and pay a toll if you’ve been through the gates without paying – something easy that doesn’t require people to hunt around looking for shops or RTA offices so that they can pay.
I accidentally was in the wrong lane so I had to go through the toll. I sent a cheque which was returned as I was informed that the alternative payment was a direct debit or credit account. It happened that info. was incorrect, so I rsent a cheque, but beacause it was out of the 48hrs., had teo pay more. I never go on a toll-way as I am paying enough taxes and rego etc. and I won’t have anyone taking money out of my bank.
We avoid toll roads but have used them a couple of times – some by mistake. Only one member of our family has a tag so when we receive the bill we just add our trip to his bill which avoids admin fees and time. One tag can be shared by many people with different cars.
We find that the alternate routes to the toll roads that we use only take 10 minutes or so longer anyway.
As usual the state government didn’t consider country residents when making their decisions.Why should we apply for an e-tag for the rare occasions we have to visit Sydney?The cash system gave us an alternative without copping fines etc.As the highest taxed state in australia why do we have tolls on our roads at all?Motorists are getting screwed yet again and the sad part is that we all accept it!
As an infrequent visitor to Sydney, about twice a year, I was angry when I first realised what the e-tag system and cashless motorways all around Sydney meant. My thoughts were and still is that very little or no thought was given to the country motorists who have to visit Sydney, be it for pleasure, medical or various other reasons. Why can’t there be one lane that has the automatic toll collector machine? These machines still work quite well in other capital cities that we visit. If we find ourselves anywhere near Sydney we ask our navman to bypass all toll roads, which we should not have to do. Us country people pay our taxes as well and we should be able to enjoy the luxury of travelling on quality roads for a change.
I too live on the Central Coast and have an E-Tag that I share between my cars for infrequent trips to (or through Sydney). The system works fine.
The problem is when I want to use my motorcycle. The tags simply don’t work. They won’t function if they are in your pocket, in your gearsack / backpack and there isn’t a windscreen to attach it to. They also aren’t waterproof and provide me with a headache. In addition, the tolls are identical to cars which is blatantly unfair and discriminate against vehicles which should be encouraged as they take up less space, use less fuel and reduce congestion etc. At a minimum we should be charged a more reasonable rate and be provided with a tag that works. Some other more enlightened states and countries waive tolls for motorcycles altogether.
I didnt really need an e-tag until the road I travelled to the M4 became the M7. Now I pay very generously to the M7 operators for the privilege of travelling on a road that was once free or go the long way to avoid the toll which adds about 15 minutes on a good day.
I refuse to allow Roam automatic access to my credit card as $50 top up at a time is way too much so I pay a fee for that. My father who is retired is on my account as he infrequently uses the M7 and does not have a tag so I pay a matching fee for that.
Then there is the issue of the tag’s not always beeping. The other day in a work car I had to use the M7 with my own tag, upon exiting my tag didnt beep so I guess, now I will be paying for that. With a fleet of about 10 cars should I put all of them on my account I dont think they even accommodate that many cars. Needless to say I am currently on ‘suspension’.
There really should be a better system.
Jens
Why should there “always be the option of paying cash”? You provide no argument to support such a statement. Do you demand to pay cash when you buy an airline ticket. Do you pay your bills by cash?
“Complaining is ridiculous” BECAUSE you have freedom of choice. Get a tag, ring up and pay within the time limit or dont use toll roads. YOU Choose! You already have freedom of choice.
Les, Why is it more convenient for non tag owners to find a service station, park, walk in and pay a toll than to just make a simple phone call when they arrive at their destination and pay over the phone (by EFTPOS if you wish)? Just maybe because you have to pay a little more over the phone to have your payment manually processed by a person (because you cant or wont get a tag)?
I agree with Denise – as an infrequent user, they are a pain. when i have to claim the occasional work trip, it takes WEEKS to go through on my credit card, and i only have two weeks to claim from work. And for personal trips, its always more expensive when you don’t have etag.
its got nothing to do with ‘joining the 21st century’; i support the congestion reduction policies (of which tolls are one option). cashless systems works well for the majority of regular users, they just never cater for the infrequent.
The introduction of e-tags virtually prevents me from conducting the business which sometimes drew me to Sydney (maybe once a year). I stay at N Sydney and a lot of business is in the eastern suburbs- I’m now forced to make a huge detour wasting time and money at the cost of wear and tear to my vehicle and my no-longer-citified nerves.
This is just another manifestation of the control the government wants over us- why introduce a system that tracks vehicle movements at all??? Just wait and see the diabolical ends to which this system WILL be put in the next few years.
And why toll roads at all? Anyone remember when the toll road replaced the Pacific Highway north of Berowra- there were two 20c tolls which increased to 50c when the Brooklyn Bridge was opened. When the debts were paid the toll was removed and the asset was in public ownership. Now roads are built as a means to make corporate wheelers & dealers wealthy and the asset lingers in private hands for (probably) most or all my lifetime. Shame on those who allowed this system to replace the older, fairer one!
A lot of people here are railing against the whole situation of us having toll roads. How else should we get the infrastructure paid for? The F6 to Wollongong and the F3 to Gosford were toll roads for a period – the purpose being that the users who were getting the express route to their destination were paying for the priviledge (and hence assisting in paying for the asset). Once the asset was paid for then the toll was removed. (as is now the case on the F3 & F6) The M2, M5 & M7 currently have tolls because the users are paying them off (to Transurban, who owns it, not the RTA or the NSW Government!). The M4′s concession expires either this year or next year (20 year contract – the first one signed) -> wait to see whether either Rees or O’Farrell will remove the toll on this one!
As for whether E-Tags are good or bad…I much prefer having my RTA one. They hold my bond and I top it up from my credit card when I hit the $15 minimum (I believe the RTA allow you to set the amount you top up with and also the point at which it tops up). Worst case scenario I just have $$ sitting on it until the next time I need it.
I find the RTA etag PASS a good solution to a tricky problem for infrequent users of the toll roads. You can obtain the pass online up to 48 hours before or after your intended travel time so if you happen to be in Sydney and travel on toll roads its not hard to get a pass to cover yourself. Having travelled fr Newcastle to Sydney 3 times in the last 5 months (1 wedding, an ebay furniture pickup and a weekend in the school holidays) it has been easy to get online to the RTA website after returning home, fill in a quick form with ccard details (it can take up to a month for the payment to be debited but come on, we are talking about under $10-$20 here depending on the trip) or you can ring the RTA and arrange over the phone and then have peace of mind knowing that I wouldn’t be fined extra just because I didn’t have an Etag. The issue of having to pay tolls on roads/bridges in the first place is a whole other matter which we can blame on successive governments AND compacency BUT at least they are attempting to make the process of payment more practical …
I am sure the etag thing works for regular users, but as someone who has driven to Sydney twice in five years, I found it to be a pain. Where is the advance warning to say that you are approaching an etag only road – maybe I missed it because I was too busy with unimportant things like following the GPS and watching out for the much higher volumes of traffic than I am used to.
I recall the NSW Labor government justifying the removal of cash tolls by quoting traffic flow numbers. Stopping to pay the toll reduces the total number of vehicles per hour so creating problems in peak periods.
Cashless tolls will avoid delays to motorist. They said.
Unfortunately the reality of life does not support this. Look for yourself.
Every single weekday morning traffic remains at a stand still on the harbor bridge.
Cashless tolls only benefit the operators. Increase profits and higher cost to users. Maybe for regular users this is a reasonable trade off, connivent. Not so the occasional traveller.
Its just another form of tax. Total the cost of the tolls over a per year and then add that to the vehicles registration fee as that is all a toll is, another tax.
I have no tag although I live in Sydney. I object strongly to having my money tied up in an over-large deposit which I only infrequently will need to draw on (several times a year). The temporary tags and paying after the act seem too expensive and are difficult to arrange. The easier alternative is to use public transport or to avoid toll roads.
I feel that it has become too easy to increase tolls with the full tag system in place. To many, the increase will pass unnoticed. I can’t help thinking of crabs being slowly brought up to boiling point without detecting their predicament. I could see how easy it would be to become innured to high bills. People will grizzle a bit but then accept it as a part of their life – just as they have accepted today’s mobile phone costs.
I also have concerns about inaccurate recording of the car tags passing the monitors and the number of times motorists report that they have been incorrectly billed. Paying the toll on the spot is a sure fire way of overcoming this problem.
E-tags only are a ridiculous step. No thought given to people who use the tollways very rarely. And what about overseas visitors? This is just another nail in the coffin of the tourism industry.
I am an infrequenet user of the Harbour bridge/tunnel so sn e=tag is not a finacial requirement that i can jusitify.
If i wish to travel north to the central coast ofr even disit the Zoo eith nmy fanily abnd friends, we need to book inaf=dvance and ar then rresticted by time lines set by thr RTA
They say it is to ease congestion on the roads, but in my view, it is nothing but another money grabbing scheme from the RTA and the NSW goverment.
IT STINKS
Ridiculous system!! By all means have cashless lanes but for people like me who go to Sydney rarely and would not have a clue as to where I might be going during the time I am there, there should be a lane to pay in cash. I have stopped my trips to Sydney because of the cashless system and I know many others who have done the same. Wake up Sydney!!
The only thing I’m annoyed about is that it took so long to ‘go cashless’.
Really the only thing about the system that needs improving is the initial purchase of the tag. You should be able to ring up the RTA (or whoever) give them your credit card details and have the thing mailed to you. Those that feel they shouldn’t pay for it if they don’t use it, I don’t quite understand. You pay for the bit of plastic, sure, but then you only get charged for the tolls you use (I do anyway with my RTA tag). Other than the cost for the bit of plastic there are no fees etc. I just pay for the tolls I use. I can drive my car to Melbourne and it works, I can put it in a hire car, I don’t have to have change in the car rattling around and traffic moves more smoothly. For the complainers welcome to 2009, as far as I’m concerned they should be linked to other parts of the road system like underground car parks, parking metres, national park entry, basically anytime you’re in your car and have to pay for something. Finally for those that find it a hassle, think about the French and Austrians who pay 10, 15 up to 20 Euros to use some stretch of their motor ways. When you’re carrying $100 around in the car for tolls, will that be inconvenient I wonder? Get a tag or get the bus.
I bit the bullet and got my car E-tagged, because of a (then) upcoming return trip from Canberra to Chatswood. I got the tag at the Queanbeyan Motor Registry – congratulations to the wonderful staff and to RTA for making the system so simple ( and for making it work in Melbourne and Brisbane as well!). Worked like a dream – I have never travelled from Liverpool to Chatswood so quickly and safely! I am quite sure I saved much more than the toll fees in fuel, wear and tear – not to mention stress!
I should have got tagged a long time ago! Well done RTA!
I live outside Sydney and don’t visit that often. E-tags are a major barrier for irregular users, and I now do everything I can not to drive to Sydney.
That’s fine, I guess, because it eases congestions but I’m disenfranchised from the city, and when I spend money, it goes elsewhere.
Overall, Sydney is the loser from not having my honoured presence, and more importantly, my money!
I cross the bridge once a week and it used to cost me $3.00.
I now have a $10.00 auto debit top up charged once a week of $10.00 plus $1.25 monthly admin fee so my monthly bill has gone from $12.00 to $41.25. Whilst I realise that $28 is a credit as such each month I dont need this credit. It is all too ridiculous and is an example of a non thinking think through by NSW govt and RTA. They have already had to backtrack over the 3 demerit point system when they realised that low range speed offenders were being harshly treated so lets hope they also review this non thought out introduction of cash less bridge for low range users
I am from interstate and travel to Sydney a few times a year.I refuse to use the toll roads since they removed the pay booths.
Why cant they leave one pay toll booth active to help tourist and interstate visitors.
I presume that the RTA and goverment could not care less how much people are put out to satisfy their greed and inconveinence to a large proportion of the motoring public
We visit Sydney sporadically so the cashless thing is a major headache. I set up a temp pass recently and found the company failed to pay the toll. Not only did I spent $3.30 in setting up the account, I received a toll notice – $2.50 for the toll and $5.00 in admin fees. I then recieved an infringement notice from the car hire company at nearly $40.00 for receiving a toll notice! One harbour tunnel crossing has cost over $50.00!
I now find myself having to fax and email all over the place to sort this mess out and its not the first time its happened. Toll companies need to get better at this if its going to be a viable option for visitors.
I have used the on line payment system for the M7 but find it clumsy.
I have not been to Sydney for a year but I believe I would find this all difficult. Pity the poor computer illiterate visitor! Trying to avoid toll roads leads one to the poorly signposted maze of Sydney.
I have often wondered how a government agency such as the RTA allows access to all registration information to a private company. Can anyone please explain?
Make all toll roads cashless. The sooner the better.
I live in Strathfield and I don’t have an E-tag. I think the whole ‘toll amount’ is a farce. If I get an E-tag I have to pay for it. If I don’t have one I have to pay photo fee, processing fee, admin fee etc that makes the actual amount of the toll so much higher. I refuse to drive on roads that don’t have a pay booth. I just don’t go over the Harbour Bridge or those paces I need to go with an E-Tag – I take my business elsewhere. So not only does the government miss out, so do those businesses who depend on my going there (e.g North Sydney).
Well since Sydney Harbour Bridge went cashless I no longer take trips to the North side to dine or for any other reason, such a Icon and visitors who use the bridge now would have to be penalized for not having a tag including administration fee’s what a joke.
I cannot see why one lane could not remain cash toll.
For “out of towners”, the $10 additional “administration fee” is an utter rip-off. Typical NSW government allowing rich “friends” to get richer at the expense of taxpayers. Roads should be free and people encouraged not penalised for saving time/fuel/environment by using the quickest routes.
I have an eWay tag and apart from the small security deposit it costs me NOTHING if I don’t use it.
In terms of effectiveness, using the Harbour tunnel southbound is MUCH MUCH easier since the tolling went cashless. Traffic flows straight into the tunnel with none of the silly lane changing dance that used to slow evereything down perviously as users struggled to get into teh correct lane for their form of payment.
These are just another revenue raiser. How many people actually notice what the costs are now? If you just keep driving, and he toll has been increased, you will not even know until you notice more money being deduced from your card. Also the admin fees are ridiculous. There is no administration. A computer which is required to validate you passing a toll point, and also deducts the funds. This automatically initiates a funds transfer when required. This is a part of the toll companies business, and not something that they should be able to charge a fee for. If the government wants people to use the newer roads, then perhaps make all toll roads free. Take some of the fuel excise and pay the owners of the toll roads a flat annual fee. Personally I think that toll roads are wrong. I think that allowing companies to refuse cash as a payment is also wrong, after all it is legal tender. For those that only infrequently travel through Sydney, you are forced off toll roads and onto the regular roads where a plethoria of flow controls, poor traffic light timing, no left/right turns and, etc create a maze that not only triples the time taken, but wastes more fuel.
For the infrequent user it is an extreme penalty. My last statement 1/4/09 to 30/6/09 reads (complete):
start credit: $23
Auto refill: $10
Monthly fee: $1.25
Monthly fee: $1.25
Monthly fee: $1.25
Total for use: $3
Balance $26.25
It has cost me $6.75 for one trip and they have had more than $26 for 3 months. If it was not so serious it would be a joke.
Cashless motorways are AWESOME! Traffic flows so much smoother, and you don’t have to worry about finding change. Cashless tolling also allows distance-based tolling (eg M7) which is something that all (tolled) Sydney motorways should have.
AS usual this state government are hopeless and to them NSW is Sydney and to heel with the the rest of the state – until election time. I agree Etags are bet but we need an Australia wide casual user system – better still increase the petrol tax and use the money to buy back these private roads and make them free – but do not build anymore that lead into Sydney CBD.
I believe that cashless toll ways are more efficient than cash toll booths. However, there really needs to be a better, easier, more streamlined way for those without an electronic tag to pay. At the moment there are three or four different administrators of toll ways, which means finding the right place to apply for your pass and making your payment. Then some companies are quicker than others at processing your application.
The other drawback of a cashless system is the ease with which tolls can be increased. I believe we pay far too much in tolls for the return we get (ie slow trips in bumper-to-bumper traffic more often than not). It is also quite difficult to keep track of how much you’re paying in tolls – especially when crossing the harbour and using the M7 where there is no signage to tell you how much your paying.
When the bridge went cashless I expected the toll-booth plaza’s to be removed. 8 months later they are STILL there?!?! So going cashless has only marginally improved congestion because all traffic still splits into separate lanes through the plaza and then re-merges at the worst spot. The Cahill Expressway and Bridge toll plazas need to be removed urgently and replaced with gantries like the Falcon St, Harbour tunnel and M7 gantries. traffic flows through those gantries so smoothly. Then traffic on the bridge can get into the right lane to go the right way – Grosvenor, York, or Western Distributor, instead of getting caught in the wrong lane and having to make dangerous lane changes past the plaza causing flow-back congestion.
On casual drivers – the occasional visitor to Sydney would be inconvenienced with the M2, M4, M5 going cashless, but there are several simple solutions, the foremost being every cashless toll is extensively sign-posted advising drivers if they have no tag to call a toll-free number or go to a website to pay their toll within 48 hours – plenty of time for even the most simple people, or my preference would be – allow the infrequent country visitor 2 free return trips per quarter. That is, when non-tag drivers are detected and their number plates are automatically scanned by computers, if they have only made 1 or 2 each-way trips on a toll-road in 3 months, forget the toll. Just send toll-notices to frequent drivers. The admin cost of managing toll passes or sending toll notices to these infrequent visitors would far outweigh the 0.0001% of overall toll-revenue they bring in compared to drivers driving on up to 8 toll roads in a return-trip daily.
Definitely makes for a much more welcoming city than for a visitor to return home and in 3 months time be sent a toll-notice with an admin fee for the crime of visiting our city.
Until there is a safe option for motorcycles it increases congestion in so far as I use my car when I expect to use a cashless tollway – I prefer to use my motorbike, but it is so unsafe using the etag only motorways that I avoid doing so – either drive my car or take my bike on Parramatta Road / Gladesville bridge whenever I can.
So tempting to just ride my bike and cover my number plate when passing toll cameras!
Before we get too excited about whether etags are better than cash why don’t we ask our various State Governments why the UK has no (zero) toll roads and bridges despite a network of high speed motorways that link all major cities.
Solution – add an e-chip to every number plate, one-off negligible fee paid at registration by everyone in NSW, Vic and QLD, to use any toll in any state, and existing number plates can be retro-fitted at time of Pink Slip. Tolls paid annually at registration renewal. Non-Eastern number-plate visitors get a free ride at a negligible cost as part of their welcome to Eastern Australia. The cost would be a fraction of each state’s marketing budget.
Based in Perth, with my boss who was visiting the Eastern States quite a lot, I did the right thing and obtained an e-tag for him to use in his rental vehicles. This all worked fine when the tag registered but on one occasion it didn’t. What do you do then? My boss tried to phone the RTA without success.
The rental car company eventually charged us $33 to provide the RTA with the driver information and we were sent an invoice by Connector Motorways for $12.72. It was all resolved in the end with us paying only the toll fee, but not without a frustrating few weeks in the meantime.
It’s very difficult, overly burdensome and downright discriminatory for those of us who only occasionally need to use thr bridge / cashless tollways
I live outside the metropolitan area, and rarely have the need to use tollways, and object strongly to paying $40.00 deposit for a tag which would rarely be used. I have obtained a tag from Queensland Motorways on-line, and find it much more suitable. There is no deposit required, and a smaller sum needed to be credited to the tag. NSW needs to improve their system dramatically before I would consider using a NSW tag.
As a never go to Sydney user I have still purchased an RTA e-tag as it is user friendly all around Australia – and as I live near the NSW/Qld border any trips taken on the toll roads in Queensland have now became a dream run thru. What happens when I do need to go thru Sydney – no problems now – go to Melbourne, just jump onto the freeway system there to get from A to B……………
As a country infrequent user best thing invented for me as I never had change handy, and the staff at the RTA office Tweed Heads made getting the E Tag a pleasure – it’s easy and quick.
Now even my kids have E-Tag in their vehicles and none of us really use Toll Rads but when we do there are no problems.
But visiting/driving thru Sydney will be an experience I could do without….
I find the e-way tag is a good thing, but what i hate is the fact that even if you don’t use it for the quarter you get slugged ridiculous fees for actually NOT using it. I need to have one cos the government wants us to have one as they will all be cashless soon and if you need to use the tollway you need the damn e-way tag?? but what a ridiculous fee to pay for not using the E-Tag card. Just another total rip of and another government revenue fee. God knows we pay enough taxes. We should get the tolls FREE – yes cashless but the bill should be paid by the government, after all he brought them in?? we didnt ask for them. They don’t save you much time anyway, and roads are still clogged even on the freeways, so what’s the point of having freeways…..thought it was to lessen congestion?? far from it. I am so angry at being slugged this fee every quarter for not using my e-way tag. Bet you all didn’t know that…..then check your statements..
Evelyn
Living in regional NSW and traveling to Syd every now and again I find the cashless system to be very inconvenient. Trying to phone up or go on the internet to pay tolls is a huge waste of time!! It wouldn’t be so bad if there was a “One Stop” site but noooo users have to note which toll supplier it is and then on some you have to phone up within 48hrs and others you have to phone after 48hrs.
And what I really want to know is why is it so hard to pay for tolls when you hire a car. (Have you ever tried getting a business man to let you know all the details you need to pay!!)
In short I don’t mind cashless – JUST MAKE IT EASIER TO PAY THE DAMN THINGS!!!!
Just get a tag and get on with it. Some of the excuses for using cash are ridiculous – “reams of paperwork”. What rubbish – I have several tags for my car/motorbike/kids cars – get on the Tollpay website and it takes a few minutes AND they post it to you! One comment about being from out of state (or was it outer space?) – the tags are the same all over the country! Another resents giving the RTA their credit card details – geez.
Pay your deposit, get a tag and stop holding up the traffic.
Don’t have a problem with e-tags/cashless system. Find it convenient, easy, etc. Perhaps a better system for tourists & rental cars. Had no problem when renting car in Melbourne but was more expensive to purchase a one-off pass. However, if you have your own car with tag then it is compatible so, great!
I travel to Brisbane infrequently and use rental vehicles. The gateway bridge has recently gone cashless. I set up and account as suggested on the go via website, which is poorly set up and not easy to follow – and I am a competent Internet user (Heaven help those who are not familiar with the internet).
On my second trip I added the rental vehicle registration to my account and then removed it at the end of the trip. The web site said there was an error adn to call them. One of their published numbers was disconnected and the other was permanently busy. I sent them a note on the “Contact Us” link on their web site but I am just waiting for the fine to arrive via Hertz — what a disaster!
As a country driver, the e-tag system is a complete and utter waste of time and will cause no end of problems when approaching from the north, as we do and access to parts of the city will be denied to me. It’s simply not worth buying an e-tag for twice or three times a year visits. Good old cash was easy. There still should be that option.
I have an e-tag on my car, but I don’t use it every day, and I avoid toll roads as much as possible.
However, if I have to pay for the privilege of traveling on a road sometimes, then I much prefer to have my e-tag. It has saved me many hours of waiting in long queues to pay cash, so much so that I used to feel guilty about passing all the people waiting to pay their toll.
Now that most toll roads have gone cashless, the traffic flows much better. I do understand the frustration of people who come from small cities outside of the major cities, but the future of our roads has to be geared towards the benefit of those that use them regularly. What we do need is an easier way for casual users to be able to pay for their toll ahead of time, without having to travel many kms to find a payment point.
The actual e-tag does not cost anything. One does have to pay a bond for it and pre-pay for toll, but if you are not a heavy user, your prepayments could last you for a few months or even a year or more before you have to worry about paying anything again.
I believe that the benefits of cashless toll roads outweigh the disadvantages. Obviously it would be better if we did not need to pay any toll, but if we really have to pay it, cashless is much easier and more beneficial to the majority of motorists.
To make a piece of public infrastructure inaccessable to those using cash is inexcusable and a national disgrace.
There should be one cash toll lane available to those of us who are infrequent users, for ALL toll roads. This would be a minimal cost for operators, and maximum convenience for the public.
What other bill for access to major public infrastructure, is not payable by cash?
Living on the mid-north coast of NSW, I only need to drive in Sydney twice a year. I have devised routes through Sydney that avoid specifically those toll roads which do not have a cash booth, and my routes take very little more time than using the toll roads. I totally agree with other respondents who find that Sydney is becoming a very unfriendly, unwelcoming and confusing place to regional, interstate and overseas drivers – is this what Sydney wants?!? It may well be a fact that E-tags have reduced the congestion on the toll roads – if so, I suggest that a large contribution to that reduction is the number of drivers like me who are staying away from the toll roads in droves!!
It appears from reading peoples comments that they have not even looked into the system but are all too ready to complain. As constantly stated by people holding E-tags – there is no admin fee. There is a one-off fee for the tag that is refundable upon returning the tag. I know it was mentioned on talkback radio that there were all these fees for non use and monthly fees but I have had a tag since the M5 brought them in and have never been charged those fees by them and I know the RTA have the same policy. Get a tag and get over it. Why should everyone have to wait for you and a whole lane wasted on this service for the few. If you are a pensioner and don’t want to pay then get your tag attached to your sons or daughters account then pay them the tag fee and pay them as you go – I did that for my mother as she was convinced by misinformation supplied by talkback radio. The one tag is usable across Australia so you will never have to worry about it again.
As someone who lives outside of Sydney and NSW I find it annoying that I cna not just drive into Sydney for a visit without having to constantly pay tolls or remember to apply for a temporary epass that costs me more than having to pay the tolls if they were available to pay. I find the system unfriendly and offputting to the visitor. Also, most of the roads that have tolls are congested, slow moving and usually under repair of some kind or another. Why must I pay to use a toll road that supposedly has a speed limit of 100/110 km per hour when I can usually travel no more than 60km per hour and am constantly having to slow down or stop repeatedly?
To me, this is only another money grabbing enterprise with no real benefits to the road user or traveller.
I think it stinks. I don’t use the tolls enough in order to use an E-tag, but it causes a huge dilemma on the few occasions when I need to, as I don’t know if the toll is cashless or not, and if it is, I need to do a lengthy detour. If I accidentally end up on a cashless, well – there’s no turning back. This is especially difficult when I have my teen learner with me, who does not need this confusion in an already challenging learning experience on busy motorways. All motoways should have a cash option for casual users – just one lane wouldn’t cause much congestion and, as a casual user, I would be happy to be held up a few extra seconds to use the motorway.
It’s a wonder that many of these bloggers can find their way onto the streets in the first place! Was the question “are tolls fair? or are tolls too expensive?’ No, it was “Have e-tags eased congestion? How difficult is it for visitors or those not regularly using cashless toll roads?.
I pass through or visit Sydney several times a year and use the M7/M2, the M5/Eastern Distributor and the harbour crossings – e-Tag makes this much easier than all of the hoo-ha associated with queuing up to pay the same amount in cash and though traffic congestion is still a problem the process has lessened it or at least slowed down the increase. There does need to be a better way to manage those who can’t or won’t get an eTag.
WE have 2 cars but one tag, as even the rta tage costs the deposit and initial start amount, so sometimes we accidently pass a tolgate without the tag in the car.
In this electronic age we surely should be able to log trips via the internet. Users should be able to register non-payed trips, pay for them with credit cards, and/or attach unpaid trips to their e-tag accounts.
Borrowed vehicles also presents a problem, the other week I borrowed a small truck from my work, and you guessed it, no tag, so I couldn’t cross the bridge for fear of my boss getting the toll notice.
And you try and find the toll company phone number without committing to cross the bridge. The phone numbers should be more widely displayed around Nth Sydney and the city in places where you can still get off the bridge approaches.
The cashless toll system has considerably reduced congestion – by keeping visitors out of the city. As an out-of-towner I rarely take the car into the city because of the confusing, potentially expensive, toll system. The bus is great – let the bus company worry about the toll.
I live in Canberra and travel to Sydney frequently. I have had an e-tag for about 5 years (?) for the convenience of faster travel to my destinations and without having to worry about the toll. The cost of the e-tag is refundable if you wish to hand it in – seems pretty logical to me to have a tag.
I am only a casual user of the motorways but I still bought an e-tag for the convenience when I do have to use it. I still think the technolgy is not being sufficiently exploited as these tags could also be used for parking stations if the government could get their heads around it. Send someone on a junket where these systems work correctly as in singapore and don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
I live in the Riverina region of NSW. I travel to Sydney (M7 & M2) twice a year & Melbourne 3-4 times per year. I have a roam e-tag I can use in both cities, and have 4 different vehicles on the same e-tag. I manage the account online & recieve quarterly statments. Works well for me. I don’t like toll roads, but seeing as we have them, we should make paying for their use easy. Embrace the future for it is coming!
I seem to have constant issues with the tag. It beeps the same but sometime it works and then other times I get the letter about it not working etc. I have not had it long.
I have a problem with TOLL roads full stop. Nationalise them please. I pay half my wage in tax and more in fuel taxes so cannot we expect to have access to the roads without tolls. I have not researched this but would be upset if all these tolls result in a net transfer of dollars out of the country.
Sydney has more tolls than any other major city I have ever been too. Very expensive, very inconvenient, very confusing for visitors, guests, and infrequent travellers. It costs me over $20 just to go to the airport and back. Complete joke. Get rid of tolls all together and then we don’t need to worry about etag v. cash.
I’m a very infrequent user of the tollways – 2 issues for now:
1. Naming: My GPS device assumes a motorway is a freeway – whereas I assume a motorway can either be a tollway or freeway. Why do the tollways have a M prefix rather than a T – eg M5 should be T5; if it ever becomes a freeway it can become F5 (though RTA may need to reconsider the numbering as we don’t want M5 becoming F12 (because F6-F11 have already been allocated).
2. Payment: It may come as a surprise to the RTA and their partners but I don’t know when going to Sydney if I’m going to use a tollway; and if I’m visiting for several days paying within 48 hours is inconvenient. I’m happy to register my vehicle with an email address so you can send me a bill with the standard 30 days payment terms – I’ll happily pay within 14 days. BUT I do not expect to pay any additional fees – if you are not willing to provide cash or credit card booths then you can accommodate us.
I cannot understand why ppl do not sign up for an e-tag from govia in Qld.
There is no set-up costs
No fees, except one dollar to top up account.
Just pay an amount you think you need, in our case, $25.00
Lasts forever
can be used for ALL toll roads in Australia.
No admin fees taking monies each month
Can be topped up at, United Petrol,nextra, night owl,freedom fuels,Matilda fuels, Supanews, Coles Express, Caltex, BP.
I was amazed when I travelled in a 5 tonne truck from Eumundi ( Nambour) to Surfers Paradise for $5.70, paying cash at Gateway Bridge, and then get slugged for $12.00 to go a distance of 4 klms in Sydney.
That, NRMA, RACV, is a real rip-off.
You can use an RTA etag in more than one vehicle as long as the different registration numbers are recorded on that tag.
Before Easter I travelled from near Newcastle to Canberra, using the M2 and I think the M4 each way. I do not mount the tag so I experienced minor difficulty holding the tag correctly so that it would record. At the time the vehicle Iwas driving was not recorded on the Etag. I had it listed as soon as I arrived in Canberra.
One of the tolls didnot register . Three did. I looked it up on my online account statement. It took the RTA until after the close of the financial year to deduct the missed toll from my account. Nearly three months!
I agree that these systems are an imposition, But I also agree that we will all get used to them. I am an infrequent user.
The vehicle I wasdriving was a Motorhome weighing just under five tonnes.
I was informed that some of the privately owned motorways will charge a higher rate than normal. The RTA doesn’t charge more.
I agree that these companies and the RTA can be difficult to communicate with. No one was interested in taking any payment for the missed toll. I gave up after a few attempts and left them to sort it out.
HAS ANYONE THOUGHT ABOUT PASSING THIS BLOG ONTO THE RTA AND THE MOTORWAYS COMPANIES? They are the ones who should be listening to their customers
Rod Gibson asserts that the UK has no toll roads. If only it were so! That portion of the M6 Motorway which runs around the north-east quadrant of outer Birmingham (allowing traffic from London & the South-East bound for Liverpool, Manchester & the North-West to NOT have to go through Birmingham!) is a toll-road! It was, and may still be, part of Macquarie’s toll-road operations (like the 407 ETR around Toronto, Canada). And the fact that it is a toll road is clearly marked on the maps!
any Toll Road is a bluntant rip off… we pay dearely in rego and fuel levies more than enought to make supa highways, free to any vehical.. these Toll roads are greedy, conspiracy of usless polititions and BIG companies wheeling and dealing to RIP the public off, the govenmant does NOT spend OUR money Wisely. What a pain in the back side for us country people whom travel infrequently to sydney and use the toll roads, sure they quicker, but very expensive.
and the Poor suckers whom havfe to use the toll roads everyday. come in spinner, we all been had!!!!
These systems really disadvantage country people visiting Sydney irregularly. I have a tag but it is used very infrequently (once so far in 2009) and that incurs fees as well as the deposit for the tag. I really do not like any company having access to my credit card account to extract money when they want it.
Before I had the tag I had to pay for one trip using mobile phone and credit card. I was charged a higher rate for the trip an administration fee and had to make three calls to complete payment because of congestion on the system a total of $28.00 for ten minutes on a crowded tollroad.
If the traffic on these roads is bumper to bumper and you have to stop because of congestion then the trip should be free as you are paying for a fast trip without stops. At least that what the tool road advertising states.
I find the NSW E-tag system to be biased against visitors. Is this any way to promote Tourism is Sydney????
I don’t have an E-Tag, on principal. I along with all other NSW motorists have been paying 3cents a litre levy on petrol for God knows how long now, yet we Have to Pay a toll to use the roads this petrol levy money was supposed to be used to build and maintain. I would like some accountability in the spending of the levy cause I can’t see any new or improved roads as a result of it.
The e-tag is beneficial in terms of traffic flow and economic collection, but as many posts point out it is a pain for irregular users and renters…..and what about the overseas visitors? To me, the solution is a single cash toll lane which could have a slightly higher fee so as to encourage the use of e-tag.
Why not build an etag into every vehicle (perhaps a “smart” numberplate) or have one issued by the RTA at re-registration for all vehicles? Then bill me monthly or quarterly just like a telephone company bills. Then infrequent users will not avoid cashless roads.
How many times must we pay for the Harbour Bridge? Four times a year, that’s how. If 160,000 vehicles use the Harbour Bridge each day, an average 80,000 tolls are collected at between $2.20 and $4.00 a toll. Given peak hour usage, let’s say conservatively that’s an average of $3.50 per toll $280,000 – $1.4m per working week (conservatively) – which means that every 10 weeks, Sydney motorists pay one more time for the total cost of the Bridge ($13.5m). Tha Labor Government’s hike of $1 per toll in peak hour in January nets a mean estimate of $50,000 a day – $250,000 a week, paying for the Bridge’s construction over again every 12 months. And yet we already pay taxes. Why do we pay road tolls at all? It’s a medieval practice that should’ve been left there.
Yes, eTags are inconvenient for infrequent users, but getting rid of cash tolls has made a really good difference to traffic flow.
Probably the only valid complaint about eTags is that the government was too chicken to make them mandatory long ago!
I love the e-tag system in my car. The bad old days of fumbling around for coins are gone. I don’t even mind it when I visit Melbourne, calling up for a day pass or whatever. Easy.
However it is a complete pain for motorbike riders. You can’t stick the e-tag on your bike (not waterproof, likely to be stolen) or on your forehead. Now many of us simply have to take an alternative route. It was only a little better having to stop, remove gloves, retreive coins pre-planted in pocket etc. The motorway owners need to come up with a reasonable solution for the growing numbers of bike and scooter riders. How about free travel??
We in the country rearly use these roads so it is not a problem as it is for the city dweller. However if the companies who build our roads could send us a free tag and we could use the roads in question and submit the costs via a bank of email. The companies who build these roads only do it because our Government does not have the intelligence to do it. We the end user always eventually have to pay for whatever we enjoy. Ray…
E Tags are purely for the convenience and profit of the private operators who run the Tollways. I object to being forced by these companies to obtain an E Tag. I object to having to pay in advance, and then when the available credit falls to a certain limit, they automatically deduct more. As a comsumer, I have no rights nor choice. I always avoid compulsory E Tag Motorways.
Have the users of E Tag found there is less congestion? My experience on the M5 is that people may fly past the toll booths, but they crawl along other parts of the Tollway. It’s only the congestion location that changes.
All well and good but pity the poor tourist (either inter or intra state) who doesn’t have an etag.
All well and good but pity the poor person who used to have a job and now is on the dole and/or can’t pay his/her mortgage.
Why are we always led by the nose to these things.
Yeah, I love them. No more having to dig around in the handbag when I realise there is a toll ahead, and travelling times are certainly much faster. As I discovered when visiting Melbourne years ago before we had e-tags, there is always a way to miss toll roads or a simple way to pay if you inadvertently drive on one without a tag. E-Tags Rule!
Cashless tolls are a misnomer. You have to give the Toll company a non interest bearing deposit regardless of usage. That amounts to a lot of cash.
As a country resident I must search for non toll routes to navigate through Sydney. surely lost souls like myself will increase congestion rather than ease it as I try to avoid the massive penalty for not acquiring a tag.
Having just driven 5600km around France half of which was on motorways, they appeared enlightened enough to maintain cash booths with the free flowing Tag gates. The cash booths even handled credit cards.
“Maybe an option is to fine vehicles who break down (for no good reason except that they haven’t serviced their vehicle regularly) and stuff up the whole peak hour traffic situation.” – M Dierick.
Fine those who often have to go without services due to low income? Yes, perfect solution… Why not fine homeless people for being on the street too? Or fine you for being ignorant?
God Bless those of you who are ignorant and vindictive.
Yeah, I love ‘em. No more suddenly having to dig around in the bottom of my handbag for change when I realise I am coming to a Toll Road, no more waiting while some driver up ahead hands over a large denomination note and has to get lots of change. Traffic times are shortened and I come away happy and not frustrated as in days of yore.
I remember visiting Melbourne long before NSW had E-Tags – I found it easy to either avoid toll roads or to pay tolls afterwards if I had strayed onto one by accident.
E-Tags rule !
Cashless tolls are good in theory, BUT THEY DONT HELP IN PRACTICE. I come from rural australia where there isnt any of these ridiculous tolls – so therefore we dont have any E-tags fitted.
Me and my friends and family have ALL received toll fines after trips to Sydney due to the fact that in good old Rural Oz, information about changes on roads isnt really made available! why should it be
Being a visitor – no knowledge of roads to know how to get around the bloody tolls anyways means more and more unknowing visitors and tourist will be slapped with a stupid fine
Whilst having an eTag and living in Sydney is very convenient, for those who don’t live in Sydney and have to pay extortionate amounts it is very inconvenient!! There needs to be a better, fairer and easier system put in place for people visiting the city on an infrequent basis.
I live in Canberra, but fortunately it’s easy to catch a train or bus to visit central Sydney and then use public transport while there. I will drive to outer Sydney locations, but then once there again I use public transport. More visitors (and residents) should do the same and E Tag problems would be nonexistent.
Cashless tolls what a joke what about the people who only go to the city every now and then, yes i know they have a e-pass but that is for only a 3 day limit and if you stay longer you have to either find a rta office or pay the fine via internet if you stay longer give us back our toll booths where you are served by people who say hello
I live in rural NSW and drive to Sydney only a couple of times a year. Getting even a temporary e-pass is more inconvenient than having to wait a few more minutes to use a cash booth.
I feel for the poor tourists who wouldn’t even be aware an e-tag is required.
It would be wonderful if there was just 1 cash lane for us out-of-townies, and the regulars can have the speed and convenience of the rest of the lanes.
I hate the etag system. As an infrequent user the cost of having an etag is uneconomical. Now I cannot access parts of the city and try to avoid some roads to get where I have to go, and feel that I am being discriminated in my own Country just because I live in the Country and it is not worth me having an etag just in case I have to go and I may not have the luxury of having 24 hrs notice.
NOT IMPREST WITH CASHLESS SYSTOME DEVISED BY A BRAINLESS BURACRATE.
Why are there so many e-tags. I was shocked to find out that if I purchased one e-tag it would not cover all of the cashless toll roads.
I very rarely use the toll roads as I’m from the other side of the blue mountains but find it very short sighted to let all of the toll providers into the market without first establishing a central billing system.
Really your rego label should be your e-tag pay it with your rego, we pay enough fees & taxes already, however we can’t use the good roads without paying again & again &…..again
eTag fees and charges.
I use a ROAM eTag. I cannot understand why there are any additional fees and charges for using toll roads other than the tolls themselves… it is literally highway robbery!! Admin charge that, account keeping fee that…what’s the deal. With the banks starting to get that we all hate these fees, it is time for these charges to be taken away…
Max, Newcastle NSW
I remember being taught in school that tolls were archaic barriers to trade and pay as you earn income tax was the solution. We must have roads. We must have good communication systems. All of us. Not just the drivers.
I am against tolls in any form unless they are part of the normal taxation system. Commercial drivers pass the cost on to their customers and all of us pay road tax. Why have a toll system that needs further administration?
I will not use toll roads without a cash option.
I live in Queensland country now. All toll roads are cashless. All of our cars have Etags (no deposit and up to 5 per account in Qld. What a great system. If you don’t have a tag you have uo to 3 days to phone and pay without penalty. Wake up NSW! I will never live in that over taxed southern state again!
I disagree with the cashles system 100% – I believe it is very unfair on infrequent users, pensioners and visitors to Sydney (and other state capitals where the approach mirrors Sydney’s).
Heaven help you if you don’t get an e-tag – what about people who can’t afford it? Or don’t have a credit card? Or electronic access which everyone from big government to big corporations like Telstra are penalising the little man for if he doesn’t?
I live in Canberra yet have been forced to get an e-tag to visit a relative who lives just over the Bridge so I object most strenuously to being forced to obtain it to suit the Govt’s greedy approach. Free up traffic- what a joke. Anyone who uses the tollways knows it doesn’t.
I am only an occasional visitor to Sydney now though was borne and bred there. Frankly you couldn’t pay me enough to return – the NSW State Govt has made the place a misery to visit let alone live in.
Meanwhile, the State Govt benefits from my infrequent useage by using my money (deposit & min payment) while I am here in Canberra.
E-Tags are great if you live in the city and they do speed up traffic flow.
But if you are an infrequent user there is no simple way to pay .
surely they can allow you other means of paying when you are just a visitor.Also they only give you 3 days to ring but if as happened to us you go through on a Friday and they dont answer on the weekend then you get caught. The extra high admin fee is a blatant rip off. also why so many different numbers to ring? I agree that its about time roads were free again ?!??
Cashless toll gates? Terrific, EXCEPT why is the speed limit for the gate on City side (Eastern Distributor) is 40kph, while the Northern entry of tunnel is 60kph? Surely the technology/tolling units identical!!!
In any case, if a plane is identified by Air traffic Controllers while 100 kms away and flying at 600 kph, surely the tolling unit can identify a car 3 metres away and travelling at 80kph (Harbour Tunnel speed limit).
I live in regional NSW and the less I see of Sydney the better I like it. Once when I forgot to notify Roam that I had used the M7 I had to pay $17 just for a one way trip.
Its time the authorities realised that not everyone lives in the city and developed a fairer system for visitors.
Kill me now!!!
What a pack of whingers we all are. The fact that there are so many people opposed to TAGs is stunning!
If you dont want to get a tag teach the toll companies a “lesson” and do us all a favour by not using toll roads as some of you have stated you already do. That way there is less conjestion on the toll roads!
Thanks in advance!
Master, is there pain when wealthy merchants and corrupt rulers rape the wallets of the peasants?
No, Grasshopper, there is only the sound of crickets. The pain comes later.
Master, What is the sound of crickets?
Chi-ching, Grasshopper, Chi-ching.
♫♫
Hello
How is everyone ?
After living in Japan, its good to see Aus using this whole cashless system!
BUT
The issue I have is that in Japan no matter how high tech things get, there is always the option for face to face contact, that includes highways and toll roads. IF YOU WANT TO PAY CASH, we should be allowed to!!
Not all of us have th time to ring in if we don’t have a tag!
THis is most annoying for those you visit the country or thsoe from other states with no tags.
I plead for the opening of cash booths on the M7!!!!!!
Please do not get rid of JOB’s and Face to Face service all over a bit of Technology,,,,, its good, but when Japan has all three systems, (and huge amounts of common tech to its public, e.g. its normal for Negative Ion Generators to be in Fridges),,, THEY DON’T FIRE PEOPLE JUST BECAUSE ITS COST EFFECTIVE , thats just too greedy for a polite nation.. and we should think of technology taking jobs,,
AND,, besides,,, I don’t want to be electronically identified by someone I don’t know behind the Technology everytime I use the M7 or anything else…. I’M NOT CARGO GOING THROUGH A SCANNER!!
Thanks for reading!
Cheers
Andrew
In principle I support the idea of electronic toll collection – but as a resident of Japan – who occasionally has to visit Sydney. With either a rental car, or a tagless car borrowed from country relatives in NSW – it is a pain to get information get registered and deal with the e-tag e-pass.
How real foreigners (I am an Australian – who has been living in Japan for 10+ years) ever manage to cope with rental or borrowed cars I have no idea.
We need something simpler, and preferably common across all the states. Imagine if you needed different credit cads for different roads and different states………….
I’m totally against any fees for using roads and avoid using any road or bridge that has a charge attached. Why do we pay taxes for a government to supply services and then pay a fee for those services. Same thing applies to essential services such as electricity, water, railways, hospitals, etc. These services are being sold by our government to private companies, after we paid for them via our taxes. Who gave them the right to sell our assets and what do we get in return – higher taxes. Wake up people, you are being ripped off.
This is a significant extra difficulty for people from outside Sydney. We have to pay extra fees to use the tooways as casual users. The system costs more than collectors. Why isn’t it like Qld with no extra fees for casual use?
We are paying enough tax as it is to improve our roads and these etags and/or toll booths are nothing more than extra revenue for the government. May be a levy like a medicare levy to improve roads would be less red tape. One another thing that I find quite disturbing is having private enterprises building roads and charging the general public a road toll for a lifetime. Roads should not be ‘owned’ by private enterprises. Roads are a responsibility and ownership of government and the general public.
E Tags and a cashless toll road discriminate against those who never use them .
I live on the Central Coast of NSW.
I go to Sydney on average once a week to various parts of Sydney and rarely find the need to travel on them as they are usually a carpark anyway.
A suggestion would be that if you live within 50 klms of the GPO You are given an E TAG and the average cost added to your registration all others travel free.
Thanks
after scrolling through most replies i have found 3 names of significance:
Breeze in Vic
Queensland Motorways
and Govia in Q’land.
perhaps a visit to these companies will be the answer to most peoples prayers for a pre paid account !
Coming from the country the E-Tags are a great deterrent to tourism. I would prefer not to visit a capital city that only provides E-Tags.
As per normal NSW stands for Sydney – Newcastle – Wollongong.
Cashless tolls are most visitor unfriendly. E-tags have a place & are the way of the future, but cash-less tolls have to be made more user friendly.
It is difficult to write down the number to ring from a bill board (& dangerous if you do manage to do it while driving a toll road.) When you do get the number & phone in you are charged a day pass fee (in Melbourne, I don’t know what Sydney or Brisbane do) which was $17.00, probably more now, for one pass of a toll gate costing $4.50. If that is not plain revenue raising I don’t know what it is!!!
As a South Coast resident who has to cross to the north occasionally, I find the toll system in Sydney a complete farce. With 7 different numbers to ring depending on which toll roads you drive over, how am I supposed to know what to do because I can’t remember which is what – all the numbers don’t mean anything to me. I’ve tried the RTA’s E-Pass system and so far it has worked in my favour – I’ve been hit with the $1.50 pass registration fee, but no tolls
But the E-Pass doesn’t appear to be applicable to all Sydney’s toll roads
What a mess !!!
I’ve used Melbourne toll roads and one phone call set me up for the weekend with unlimited usage. Compared to Sydney it was fantastic.
I live outside Sydney. I have an RTA etag because I am unable to pay by cash. I believe that tolls are fair. Why should those who do not drive regularly pay for raods, when there are more efficient options available.
I object that the options available to me are:
1. The toll companies have my money in advance. I pay about $20-30 per year of tolls, but must give the RTA (and other providers) far more than as an upfront payment. Why do they get free credit at my expense?
2. I buy an epass. The cost of buying an epass is:
a) time on the internet – which often exceeds the time spent driving on some roads
b) phone purchase – again 2-3 mins instead of 5 seconds at a toll booth
c) fees to pay tolls which in some cases exceed the cost of the toll. This is an outrage.
The system is totally unreasonable for people who do not use toll roads on a regular basis.
I don’t mind having an etag but I object to having to have it paid up in advance. I live in Parkes, NSW and rarely use my tag but the RTA takes out $160 for 2 tags before I have used it. Surely having our credit card number is enough. Plus we have to pay a deposit on the tag and holder. Why can’t we own it and send it back for a full refund if the day ever comes when we don’t want it anymore.
My kids live in Sydney and don’t have a tag so they are attached to mine, something the RTA doesn’t advertise but you can have up to 3 (I think) vehicles on 1 tag.
While we are New South Welchmen we currently reside in Adelaide. Consequently our use of the motorways in the eastern states is limited. A cashless system was inevitable so to ease our infrequent use we shopped around for the most economical etag. Brisbane’s etoll won. It works on all tollways in the eastern states and there’s no more pesky phonecalls to make. Topups happen automatically (our choice). An economical and trouble free solution to a ‘problem’ that has increased the flow of traffic on our motorways.
I am amazed that the truly alarming issue of ‘expanded citizen tracking’ that is involved in carrying an eTag has not been raised on this site.
ETag scans on Sydney Roads now comprise a set of points which are potentially a complete record of exactly where motorists have been on any given date.
Yes, I have heard the old…” If you not doing anything wrong you have nothing to be afraid of” argument but the gradual and relentless erosion of citizen privacy through “Big Brother ‘ Surveillance systems like the Etag is paving the way to a very frightening future for our children. I simply cannot understand how people can actually sign up to carry a tracking device.
Coupled with the RTA’s despicable complicity in overuling the Australian people’s overwhelming rejection of The Australia Card at a national referendum; by storing and making available the photo from your driver’s license in what has now effectively become a National Citizen Identification database (We got our Australia Card by stealth); the recent removal of cash booths to force our acceptance of this Etag tracking system is just one more step towards an increasingly Orwellian world.
Freedom is always so easily lost but what is alarming is that these days it is so often lost simply because people place personal ‘convenience’ before principle.
Those Australians who fought against totalitarian regimes to protect us from such erosions of liberty must be rolling in their graves….. all the way from he Eureka Stockade to the Kokoda Track
Etags are a pain. I don’t use toll roads on principle but have on occasion loaned my car to in-laws in emergencies only to receive a fine 2 or 3 months later for not paying a toll and have then had the embarrassment of having to contact the driver concerned who has admitted to forgetting to contact about the toll but has still left me with the fine. At least with booths one has to pay on the spot. It is easy to overlook making contact within a time period if there are more pressing concerns and who can write down the number to ring when driving and I for one would not even recall the name let alone the number to ring. Added to this is the additional charges that effectively triple the toll for casual users! It all reeks of money making rather than convenience!
I live on the South Coast and think that casual drivers on the tollways, such as ourselves, are penalised and are required to pay heavier costs for the benefit of using these great roads that are only there to benefit the locals.
I find that the motorway system in Sydney is great for people who use it every day, but as I would use a motorway only a few times a year, I find it difficult to decide a week beforehand which road I am going to use. This is because I need to grovel to some person somewhere in the great unknown to say can I please use your road next week as I wouldlike to go and see my friend.
Thanks for your consideration of the average Jo.
The whole tollway idea is flawed. All the roads should have been free to use and government funded. I use a tollway about 4 times per year, so it is crazy tying up 40 dollars in the pocket of the E-tag company. At least the cash system enables me to use the tollway occasionally. If cashless comes in I will be forced to use the old roads, which luckily as an out of city visitor is mostly ion off peak times. The tag systems are far too complicated. If really needed there could be a ticket office before the toll gate where we could pull over and get a ticket for the tag gate.
Even better the interstate cars could be let through free!
I have no problem with the principle of the eTag, and paying to use roads. We would expect no less of good railways, so the principle of paying the same for roads should be the same.
I moved far away from the clutter of Sydney many years ago but visit once or twice a year. I don’t have E-tag or Breeze tag.
Technology is the money spinner market and we are influenced into believing this improves the quality of life. I believe many projects like this are driven by greed. It may be easy to pay but should we have to? Where ethics and equity considered for the disadvantage lower socio-economic groups?
Taxes, GST, Insurance, Registration, HEC’s debt from 2.4% last year to now Uni debts have jump to 3.9 %, Rates and Water to pay for. If your unemployed you claim nothing back.
I am very concerned when I approach Sydney that I may suddenly find myself on a tagged road. I would be greatly stressed about finding numbers to call while in transit without computer access or a credit card.
This spoils the joy of travel and just adds stress. I already have enough to consider. Direct debit payments need to be checked so would e-tag. I avoid all tagged roads and resent this greed driven initiative. I also never want to drive in the tunnel under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Sydney buses for visitors are the same, many will not pick you up without a travel credit ticket, so I walked about 2 kilometres. Unfortunately after a horrible train trip to Sydney, trapped and crammed in like cattle, with sealed windows, no air conditioning and the train stopped waiting to enter Central for quite some time. Now as a result; the train is not an option I could consider. Travel in Sydney generally disadvantages once a year visitors which achieves a feeling of exclusion.
I am a North Coast resident who travels to Canberra on occasions. I find travelling on the motorway convenient but confusing and expensive. When about to exit the motorway back onto Pennant Hills Road, there is this cute little poll booth that wants $2.20 for about 200 yards of road. I thought it was included in the roaming pass I had, so didn’t stop and then got a lovely bill in the mail that cost 4 times as much. Very confusing for an occasional visitor.
Sydney should stop thinking that they are the only people in the country. People who live outside of Sydney do use Sydney roads too…! I don’t need to have my money tied up for a road-toll system that I rarely use. As far as I’m concerned the tolls should only apply to the Sydney Rat Racers that insist on sitting in traffic to get to their job that is halfway across the other side of the city and whom insist on DRIVING TO THE CITY DURING PEAK HOURS. The jokes on them anyway, because quite often you find that the tollways are jammed while the non-tolled roads are fairly clear because everyone else is scrambling for position on the tollway. haha
This system of tolling takes the spontaneity out of life! What if you want to travel to Sydney, or beyond one weekend? Pickup a rello from the airport? go check up on someone hospitalised in Sydney? RTA needs a credit card to set up their system, so what of the people who are financially responsible and don’t actually have a credit card? Do we REALLY have to organise our lives around the desires of profiteers? what are we doing?????
If all motorways are to eventually become cashless then access to E Tags must be more user friendly without an enormous admin FEE. Surely with modern techology E tags and Registration labels can be combined with user accounts sent to the registered owner on a regular basis just like electricity and gas bills etc. If you pay then OK if you don’t then you can not re: register your vehicle until you do.
However, whilst tolls are a necessary evil, the motorways do not function well in peak times and there does not appear to be a holistic plan to link motorways. The missing M4 link from Concord to the city MUST be finalised and it MUST be at least 3 lanes. Just look at the M5 debacle. Also, link the M2 to the F3. It regularly takes me an hour to get from Parramatta to the F3 along Pennant Hills road struggling for road space with enormous semi trailers but, not much more from Hornsby to Newcastle of the F3. Get the motorways running smoothly and most would not object to a reasonable toll. Why sit in traffic on the M4 or M5 and pay a toll when you can sit in traffic on Parramatta road or Hume Highway for free?
As an infrequent user, it makes it uneconomical. To get to the city from North Ryde I now use the Gladesville bridge instead. I feel as if I have been barred from entering my own city and feel discriminated
As an infrequent user of tollways, I find it very frustrating not to be able to pay cash. I found myself in an unfamiliar area in the Hills district recently and had to get to the Eastern suburbs from there. I ended up on a tollway unintentionally and decided to stay on it all the way there. To my horror I received 3 bills from 3 different organisations: the HillsM2, the RTA and Connector Motorways (Lane Cove Tunnel)….each of them charged a $10, $5, $10 administration charge, respectively, on top of the normal toll. This meant my short drive cost me over $35.
I avoid using the tollways whenever possible as it is such a hassle afterwards and I can’t justify having an E-tag.
I often wish we could have our old, simpler Sydney back!
Like many people who do not live in Sydney I do not have an e-tag and find it inconvenient to have to register on line if I think I might drive on a cashless tollway. Surely if this system is going to expand a tag could be provided for every vehicle as part of the registration process and be perminantly affixed to the vehicle. Carrying it to the next step this tag should be able to work on tollways throughout Australia avoiding the problem that arises when you happen apon a cashless tollway while travelling interstate.
I live in Canberra and go to Sydney only one or twice a year.
Three years ago I ordered an e-tag and it was delivered in three days and have only had to top it up once. I find its use a godsend.
I have not yet travelled with it interstate and fully supprot an Australia wide e-tag registration.
You can get a visitors account online through the RTA, you just use a card I use a debit card not a credit card and it deducts what ever you use and its valid for one month. Friends of ours used it recently to travel from Newcastle to the Blue Mountains on the M5, we didn’t and we forgot to ring up within 48 hours and when we got the notice through the post it was only $6.53 for the toll and a $10 admin fee which I paid because I could have rung and paid the $6.53 in 48 hours but I forgot therefore it was my own fault.
If toll-ways are here to stay, then all cars should have the electronic responders as part of the ordinal equipment when manufactured. The toll-way deposit should be included in the rego payment. As for the different state systems its about time we had “standard gauge”.
From the country I visit Sydney once in a blue moon. I hate the system. Why can’t we have some kind of system where the toll can be charged to a mobile phone account for infrequent users. It would be simple to have a set up where all you had to do is send a text message that includes the rego number to a special RTA number and the toll can be charged just like a 1900 premium call. This would be a far less cumbersome and less costly system than buying an Epass on line.
Hey, to all people above who have stated that they avoid the tollways because of the eTag & no cash system – great, keep up the good work, stay off them coz less vehicles on Sydney tollways is a godsend for us regular users.
It’s clear that the cashless motorway/bridge toll system in place in NSW is not user friendly for the casual visitor to Sydney. Suggest an Etag that can be bought at any time for a fixed sum, say $50, and lasts as long as there is still some credit on it. Each trip through the sensors reduces the amount of credit left on the Etag by $3.50 (or whatever) a trip. Now that would be fair! Is anybody taking any notice of these comments?
I totally agree with the comments of Carole Ferch-Johnson (aug 7 09). I AM a casual visitor to sydney 3-4 times a year and have had to purchase a street directory just to find my around the back streets to avoid the cashless motorways! I hope someone IS taking notice of these comments. I would be happy to purchase an etag if I was able to use it over an extended period of time. And to Nos from Maroubra (aug 7 09), who it seems is too ashamed to use there real name, I don’t think it reduces the traffic all that much when the only ones really inconvenienced and stay off the cashless roads are the visitors. Most people traveling regularly into and around Sydney eventually succumb to the use of new technology and eventually say ‘hang the expense’.
Hi Guys,
I’ll put my hand straight up and declare I am “someone taking notice of these comments”
Your feedback is appreciated and will be considered in both refinement of messages explaining how to use toll roads (especially cashless) and future product development.
Frances, please note that there are tags on the market that don’t erode your pre-paid balance if you’re not travelling. For example the Roam e-TAG account and Roam Express e-TAG account. Just have a look at the various options available and choose the one that best suits your needs.
I find the system of road tolls extremely difficult. Quite frankly do not understand how it works or why it has to be geared to those who use the system all the time. It does not make allowance for non Sydney residents.
I am elderly. Have never had an accident or infringement in more than 55 years driving. I have driven in many countires overseas without any difficulty.
I rarely go to Sydney and then only for specialist medical appointments.
I cannot understand why I can not pay cash as I go through a toll.
Being from the country means the cost of an eTag is expensive compared to the number of times it gets used.
We have used the toll roads once since the cashless system came into place. We phoned up to confirm our use of the toll and pay the toll. We thought that was the end of it. We have twice received a dirty letter from the toll company demanding it be paid, and twice we have rung to confim payment. It really does make it quite frustrating
I moved to Sydney just after the bridge became cashless. I went to the RTA the next day and got an e-tag, money in hand which they refused to take – I had to provide my bank details instead. I didn’t like the idea of this as my money situation is flexible and I prefer to stay in control and not let attract further bank fees by having companies take money out of my account when it suits them and not me. The RTA has never taken the money from my account and I’ve been trying to sort it out for nearly six months now. I even sent them a cheque which they posted back to me. It would have been much easier had they accepted cash in the beginning. I only infrequently use toll roads and I accept that the first time I crossed the bridge I was in breach of the toll. I even payed the first toll and “administration fee” for the first time I headed back north which I should have stuck to my guns about (I don’t like the toll, but I used the road – but the admin fee on something out of my control????). There has to be a better way than this which gives people more control and more options. I think that their should also be a casual user rate and a frequent user rate. Some people get bled dry by the amount of tolls the have to pay to get to and from work. Let them feed their families not help the fat cats get fatter.
They need to shine it up a bit. Too much is done on assuming that we are all suburbanites doing all the same thing.
There are other people in this world. Sure, cash is a pain.
I think etags are just wonderful, I am on an easy plan which just stays capped at $30, and $1.50 monthly fee. Have used in Melb and will in sydney and never have to worry about which roads i am on
I refuse to participate in this system. So I don’t use the motorways and plan my routes on the other roads that have now freed up as the motorways are looking more & more like lines of lemmings heading to self destruction. I’m also considering to challenge the system by repeatedly attempting to pay in cash, being the legal tender of this country. I cannot see how a state government can legislate to over ride federal legislation, i.e. the Currency Act, 1966, I think its called. I understand that if I proffer legal Australian currency for patyment of goods or services, then legally it is required to be accepted.
I use the harbour tunnel or Harbour Bridge daily, and personally think traffic flow is far better than it was in the 1970s when I was a student driving crossing the bridge.
The eTag costs no more than paying in cash, (any deposit made is refundable if the tag is returned) so it is beyond me why people are complaining. However, I guess am pleased that there are those who avoid tolls. It means less cars on the roads I use, and therefore I can get to work more quickly.
People from outside of Sydney, who decide to have an eTag will experience the least stress. An RTA Tag is the cheapest to have as it will take the least amount of money. How much interest can you earn in the bank at the moment on $40 or $50! Not much, so it might as well give you the satisfaction of not having to worry whenever you arrive in Sydney! The cashless system has been working all over the World for years. It is far more efficient for me, I get to work more quickly and I like it. WHAT I DO NOT LIKE is that the cost of crossing the harbour increases for those who have no choice but to travel to work in the Peak times! However, In think it may have reduced the crowds a little between 7 and 7:30am – so I guess I should not complain. I can get to Double Bay, in the Eastern Suburbs in less than half an hour from Killara on the North Shore! SO, in conclusion, eTags are brilliant, and those who do not use them are missing out, whilst in many cases spending far more of their cash on petrol, wearing down their vehicles brake pads, and their clutch (if they have one) because they are driving far further and more slowly! The M7 and M2 although great are too expensive – but that is whole new story for another day!
Toll Roads. There should be no pay for use roads in Australia. We pay enough as it is. All freeways and Toll Roads should be free to use for all road users. I am from a small country area and we do not charge people to drive through. To mandate that you cannot pay for a service with cash does seem to be a bit “Big Brother”. All roads should be free! No wonder we avoid Sydney like the plague.
i signed up for roam for a one off trip to sydney of three days and was continually billed for months after, not fair for regional users.
I live in Brisbane and they recently changed the Gateway motorway (and the logan) to cashless. They failed to have accurate signing about the change in the highway leading onto the Gateway motorway and I mistakenly found myself on this road with absolutely no way off it. I was on the North side of Brisbane and didnt even WANT to cross over the bridge but found I was stuck… and then I found I had to pay for the priviledge.
But enough about the crappy signage… this is about the tolls themselves.
I am a young man who is quite technologically minded however as a infrequent user of toll roads I found the situation very frustrating. Instead of just being able to pay a toll with cash (which I had!) I was forced to navigate through their confusing website to pay the toll. Not only that but as an infrequent user I was forced to pay an ADDITIONAL 40c! This is highway robery. Queensland Motorways have implemented cashless tolling purely to cut costs… yet if you infrequently use the tolls you have to pay more… this just doesnt add up… they should be REDUCING tolls.
Add to the fact that to get an etag or to pay a fine (toll) you have to give all of your personal details which is an invasion of privacy.
If you don’t want to pay online then you can buy a pass at a seven eleven or this store or that store…. well whoopdydo…. I find even this option painful. Why would I want to go in search of a store that sells a pass when in the past I was able to just throw some money in a machine and be done with it and not have to worry anymore.
Another thing that really gets my goat is the fact that to buy an etag (free my bum!!) you have to put $25 on it… and then it automatically tops up at $15… so queensland motorways is sitting on at least $15 for every etag they have out there… thats millions and millions of dollars prepaid before the service. You can see why they did this.
All in all I was so frustrated by the experience as an infrequent user of tolls and rather than spending 30 seconds lining up and handing over money it took me 2 days to pay a $2.95 (well $3.35 with the video matching FINE) toll.
Like then or not E-Toll is here to stay. I live rural and initially found the whole thing very confusing. Took the time to do some reading on the internet (probably not ideal for some people eg my elderly parents) but once I got my head around it I organised e-tag for family car which we share with our son, who went to Sydney to live for a short time. Paid the deposit and they have credit card details and take money as required. Very handy earlier this year when I went to Melbourne for a driving holiday. Sailed through all the booths with no worries as account was paid automatically at the end of the month. Only issue I have is the name of the motor ways – paid for my daughter going into Sydney in her car and was a little concerned that I may have paid for the wrong motor way. Not rocket science but the information could be a little clearer.
NO! the cashless toll system does not speed up traffic, when it is jammed up its jammed up and no amount of toll will ever change that. If we do have to pay for something we already pay tax for, then we should be able to pay however we want, it is our choice and our roads. Not only that but yes it is the 21st century so why cant we pay by phone 24/7 )it took me three days to get on to pay by phone(in business hours). It is a bit hard to take out my computer, log on, (if there is service) and pay by credit card .. (if you have one,) while driving aproaching the bridge or any other road to pay my toll!! what about the people who are very low income, country and interstate???? this system is so much more expensive .. fines charges etc etc etc…let alone businesses being over charged going under the radar.
Due to study requirements I must cross the bridge at least a couple of times a week. Living on a student budget and providing for my young child means I cannot afford to do direct debit and am ineligible for any form of credit card for toll fees to be deducted from. I have had to do the manual top up and this incurs a monthly fee. I am away in Victoria there is a system where the $40 deposit is credit on your account, not just wasted money you may never see again, and further that one can manually top-up his/her etag account at the post-office, without incurring any fees at all. I am planning on handing my etag back in at the end of my training and would rather take a route where I can pay cash. The bridge/tunnel is the only cashless toll I use, for everything else I take the tag down and pay cash, ensuring I have pre-planned and budgeted for the specific journey a fortnight earlier. I lived interstate for a few years and one of the great memories for me when visiting friends/family in Sydney was the freedom to drive over the Bridge and handing over cash, knowing I didn’t have to think about having finding an alternative route (particularly as there is no alternative route signposted) or calling up to pay a fine or etag without having a credit card to do so with.
Personally I have noticed no different, except that it is slower at times, due to going cashless. I further dislike this as it has taken away jobs, and I have a great respect for the booth operators, especially after a cab reversing into me when I was stationary waiting for the cab to drive off. The booth operators were fabulous and I’m sorry to see them go. Bring back at least 1 cash lane for the bridge; take away the fees for manual top-up etags (the bridge has been paid off so fees should have decreased, not increased as there are no operator staff to pay and only maintenance, obviously the government wants more revenue for meal and travel allowances/bonuses); and let people top-up accounts at a post office or service station rather than having to go into the RTA everytime a top-up is needed.
Etag is great, but cashless is criminal.
I am one of the thousands who also totally dislike the concept of e-tags.
I live well away from any cities, but when I do travel, I always keep well away from these grids now.
On a few seldom occasions I did use the expressways, I found I was locked into some traffic snarls anyway. Doesnt take anything to slow the traffic to a crawl, so just what is the point of these damn tags. AND, when I tried to find the ph number to make travel legal, I was too busy watching traffic and missed the signs anyway. Good thing wife was with me. I MUST be getting old!!! Its all too much. Give me the country roads any time.
I have no tag although I live in Sydney.
I object very strongly to having my money “borrowed for nothing”, tied up in an over-large deposit which I would hardly ever need to draw on (twice a year at most).
The temporary tags and paying after the act seem too expensive and are difficult to arrange. I tried this after I got stuck into using a toll road by mistake on a Friday afternoon and couldn’t get the payment through with in the 48h dead line because my computer was playing up and the RTA only take payment by phone during business hours and not on weekends.
I wounder how many of thees and other fines and fees people have been caught out with because of the lack of communication options and hours?
It has also become too easy to increase tolls with the full tag system in place. To many, the increase will pass unnoticed and uncontested.
I could see how easy it would be to become a victim to high bills. People may grizzle a bit but then accept it as a part of their life because we have become far to busy disputing bills and registering for petty things just to function – just as they have accepted today’s mobile phone costs, water and electricity bills.
I also have concerns about inaccurate recording of the car tags passing the monitors and the number of times motorists report that they have been incorrectly billed. Paying the toll on the spot is a sure fire way of overcoming this problem.
Lets not give up the fight to make the system fairer.
I am a daily user of toll roads in Sydney and of course, I use an E-Tag. I think my daily trip from Northern Sydney over the bridge to South Sydney has been sped up with the diminished volume of traffic since it went cashless. I shudder to think what it’s like to be a daily user of Victoria Road!
I have just returned from a European driving holiday and the thing that was interesting about French toll roads (they’re the only country that we experienced where you can pay cash rather that buy a sticker) is the ticket system where when you enter the motorway you pick up your ticket at an automatic toll booth and at the end of your journey on that motorway you present the ticket at a manual toll booth to pay cash. You can use credit cards or a seemingly very low volume E-tag system. We were amazed at the number of booths some of these plazas had (20-25 wide) and it was a VERY slow process to pay cash and very expensive. We paid 46 Euros for one 80Km section of road. The quality of the road that costs so much is superb. Virtually no roadworks (unlike Germany and Holland) and 130 kph with at least three lanes each way. We commented at the time that you’d think the French would make more use of the E-Tag system. But think of all those out-of-work toll collectors!
Yes, it’s expensive to drive around Sydney but it’s better than the alternative.
As an infrequent visitor to Sydney and Melbourne this has to be the most unfriendly user systems I have ever experienced. Also given the road taxes that are paid annually I strongly object to having to pay for road useage. Access to our own country should not be charged in small bites. Parking and roads should be free!
My daughter (a student) recently visited Sydney and got caught on a e-tag road but as she does not have a credit card had to ring me to take out a casual account for which they charge an arm and a leg to set up.
Our politicans should be ashamed of inviting such an imposition on their constituents. All I can say is I’m pleased I don’t live in Sydney as the constant use of such systems would put an even greater strain on family budgets. Shame to all those who supported such an archaic practice- takes one back to the Robin Hood era!
i am an infrequent visitor to Sydney and Melbourne, but got a RTA e-tag because sooner or later i knew i would be caught out.
i believe its a really good system. applying for a etag from the RTA website is a little confusing, but dont bother with any other tag company because you can use RTA tags Australia wide and they dont charge you any admin fees.
its just one less thing to worry about.
it is a little bizarre how the top-up of accounts work but i just have it linked to my emergency credit card so it wont affect my daily spending.
you should be able to use e-tags for more things- in Portugal you can use them to pay for parking in some carparks, i think to even pay for petrol.
a cashless society is going to be very interesting indeed. i used my PayPass Mastercard on a vending machine the other day-contact-less, cashless payment.
We should be given the option to pay cash using the exact money option most of us will probably even pay more just for the convenience.
As a visitor to QLD from Switzerland for a vacation we had to use the Gateway Bridge once without a tag. The telephone number provided, not prominently by the way, was not working ! Isn’t technology wonderful when it works ?, in the Smart State??, so, we had to sit in the bar at the Hilton using their wifi to enter our credit card details just for one bloody trip. If anyone has hacked our data I shall send the bill to Kevin. When are the States going to get out of their parochial mentality, QLD depends upon tourism & bugger all is done to help them visit.
To Michael the TPI Pensioner.
You are entitled to a free e-tag with no balance for crossing The Harbour Bridge. It took me one google search to find this information.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/newsevents/downloads/minister_releases/081204_new-flexible-etoll-sydney-motorists.pdf
Also in Salute Nov08
Exemption from payment of toll charges on Sydney
Harbour Bridge/Tunnel. Passes are available for
incapacitated members of the defence force who receive
a disability pension of 100% or above while either a
passenger or driver of a vehicle. Application forms are
available from TPI Head Office. There is an additional
form if you are using Etag.
As far as paying for tolls foes, it is far easier, safer and timely to have an eTag and use it. There are other issues at hand, however, which need to be addressed. Like tolls in the first place. Why do we pay tolls for roads that were supposed to be paid for from our taxes? Why is there still a toll on the harbour bridge? Weren’t we, the public, promisedd this toll would be abolished once the bridge was paid for? Why have they made the toll now variable depending on what time of day you use the bridge or tunnel instead of abolishing it??
Why are we still forced to pay these excessive and unnecesary tolls when the traffic is in grid lock and worse than it would be on toll free roads? Aren’t the toll roads there in the first place so we can all save time at the very minimum? Why are tolls still charged when this basic right is flagrantly disregarded??
Why does NSW pay more for the very cost of living than any other state?
Surely if we had more business astute leaders in government instead of the selfish self serving politicians we have who are only interested in keeping their snout in the public trough as long as they can, our state could be restored to it’s rightful place as Australia’s leading state.
e-tags, they give you only 48hrs to pay for a trip IF you don’t have a tag, but on the other hand i am getting bills for october 08 in my june 09 statement, instead of my december statement,
IF we have to have our end sorted within 48 hrs why can’t the toll companies? it is supposed to be “”electronic” tolling isn’t it???
Why can’t the bills be wiped “IF” they don’t come in within a timely manor ??
Maybe we should bill the toll companies for “LATE BILLS”
regards waz
I do have an RTA E-Tag, as I was a frequent visitor to the city and the airport, but not any more, as I am semi-retired and working in a nearby suburb.
I have just two comments to make on the issue. Firstly ALL travel on the tolls roads should be distance rated AND time rated, so that there would be an easy mechanism to reduce the cost at off-peak times. This would also allow roads that have been “paid for” to be toll free, or a minimum toll for maintenance purposes, and no political payback areas for selective groups of electors such as om M4and M5.
Secondly, it is about time the tag technology was updated. It should be incorporated into the registration sticker, thus renew each year, using something like the RFID technology in the passport. The tag should be connected to an account, such as a credit card, at no cost, with a minimum balance/ top-up system similar to the RTA Tag. This would also allow relevant Pensioner groups, etc to receive a discounted rate.
We are supposedly a Smart Country, but have allowed our politicians to impose on us out of date technologies, as they do not seem to have the ability to keep up with the new facilities that the new technologies make possible.
I go through Sydney about once per year – on a motorcycle! You work it out.
I am a truck driver who pays heaps in fuel taxes,road taxes etc.and I believe all roads should be free but aren’t due to government incompetence . Therefore I absolutely refuse to pay tolls,especially as they are slower than general roads.I don’t want the RTA in my pocket helping themselves to my money whenever they feel like it.I agree with an earlier writer who said there should be a way to get off tollways if you accidently get on one( it once cost me over $20 to drive less than 1/2 of the M7)The fact you have “donate” money just to get the tag and then pay through the nose to use tollways is a ripoff and proves the tollway owners are thieves.I also don’t trust the machines to do the job properly,constantly hearing about people overcharged or being fined because the tag didn’t work.
Privatisation of public utilities like roads, electricity, water and phones is a major mistake. These are services provided for public use and should not have profit as their main goal. Profit lead decision making will always lead to the least service offered for the greatest profit. E-tags are such a situation. I am a rural resident who only occasionally comes to the city. It is a nightmare to navigate in city traffic in unfamiliar and poorly sign posted streets, adding extra time in congested back streets to avoid toll roads. We are being governed more with less services all the time. Who is reaping the profits? Certainly not the people!! We need to reorient our thinking to having governance that benefits the population rather than a chosen few!
Being charged a $10 “Administration” fee for the priviledge of being posted a Toll Notice that would cost the RTA no more than $1.50 to produce (the cost of a sheet of paper, printing, a stamp and an envelope) is absolutely outrageous.
Why not provide more Cash booths and create more jobs?
There should be no tolls – ever. Government’s job is to provide a suitable network of roads for its citizens. For years, we have paid vehicle registration fees and taxes that contribute to the building and maintenance of the vast majority of roads. Add $1 per week to our taxes and let everyone share our roads equally and remove the infrastructure associated with the collection and administration of tolls.
Why should commuters be forced off major roads to save $50.00 per week in tolls to add to the congestion on suburban roads?
If this is unacceptable, at least remove tolls for motorcycles/scooters, etc as a way of encouraging a greener solution to traffic – and recognise the little damage they do to the roads.
RTA – get your act together. Either remove the tolls, on all roads (these should be covered by our registration fees) or come up with a better solution so that people are NOT penalised for entering toll roads accidently. Melbourne has the best one that I’ve seen, if you don’t have an eTag, toll road users can purchase their toll (either before or after travelling on the toll roads) from petrol stations – much easier than trying to find an RTA. Not everyone has access to a computer nor a credit card. And how about better signage for the Sydney city areas. I’ve lost count of how many times my kids’ friends have accidently ended up on the toll/tunnel roads while trying to navigate their way into the city.
E Tag problem, the RTA E-Tag payment, this occurs when $80 has been used and your bank account is debited for this amount, the problem is knowing when this is going to happen, so that you can have sufficient funds available to cover this debit, otherwise, no debit occurs AND YOU ARE NOT INFORMED, so that you start to receive DEFAULT OF PAYMENT NOTICES from the toll road payment providor.
I suggest that any E-Tag payment system use what other energy providors do which is to take a monthly debit of a set amount $ and average it over 12 months for the next 12 months.
We should not have to pay tolls as we pay excessive registration costs for our vehicles which should cover the building of new roads after all isnt that what the registration fee for? Also, the RTA should not be allowed to be a tag issuer. The RTA, in being a tag issuer, has a vested interest in approving toll roads and this is clearly a conflict of interest. This should be investigated. Also, when is the NSW government going to announce the removal of the toll on the M4 Motorway? The concession expires in Feb next year. Why no announcement? Why are they not in the early planning stages of removing the toll booths?
Etags aren’t needed. RTA advises motorcycle riders to rely on Automatic Numberplate Recognition and not bother carrying an E-Tag. BUT, numberplates are not unique, I have had local and interstate cars charged to my E-Tag account. I also get demands for administration fees. It’s a nightmare of inaccuracies, messy paperwork and frustration.
Cashless tolls are costly and time consuming for most of the population and only benefit a small regular user elite who can afford it or have no other option.
Privacy legislation states there must always be an “anonymous payment method” – i.e. cash booths. Legalities apparently don’t bother this government
NSW is arrogantly governed for private profit, not public good.
I normally commute by motorcycle. Many e-tags don’t work properly on bikes and they are an extreme inconvenience to carry – no where to attach them safely and securely to a bike.
Additionally, I would only ever be an infrequent user of motorways, so as far as I’m concerned the disadvantages of e-tags outweigh the advantages.
As a consequence I avoid most cashless motorways. The exception is the M7 which recognises the problem and allows motorcyclists to organise an e-pass at no cost. The end result is the same – I use the motorway, they take my photo and my account is debited. Why the hell do we need e-tags???
I also tend to avoid roads that feed onto toll roads, especially those I’m not familiar with (most of them) to ensure I don’t end up on a toll way by mistake.
The result of this is that any businesses in the near vicinity of a motorway entrance don’t get my custom.
As a motorcycle rider I am now pretty much forced to have an E-tag that I cannot even use safely, securely or conveniently.
E-tags are not free, they cost you a security deposit of about $40 which sits in the Government coffers as a nice little interest earner, whether you are a frequent user or not. What is the interest on $40,000,000 anyway?
The Government increased the toll on the Harbour Bridge with “congestion” cited as the reason. Wasn’t getting rid of cashbooths supposed to alleviate the congestion problem? Can you spell snowjob?
How about giving motorcyclists, scooter riders and anyone on two wheels a fair go and introduce tolls based on the size of the vehicle? We have different tolls for trucks to cars so why not a cheaper toll for motorcycles? We don’t expect a free ride, just a fair ride!
Motorcycles help reduce congestion and keep traffic flowing as well as reducing wear and tear on the roadways, which in turn reduces maintenance costs. The Sydney City Council is encouraging two wheelers by trialling free parking in all ticketed parking zones across the CBD for 12 months and various other positive initiatives.
How about the RTA take a leaf out of the councils book and try to do something positive for the public for a change intead of increased tolls, charges and fines? The road users of NSW have never been so penalised and over-charged whilst being under serviced in all their lives. Well you can thank Mr Roozendaal for some of that and look at his reward, the job of Treasurer of NSW!
I live in Canberra and use Sydney motorways infrequently, but I choose to have an e-tag for the convenience it offers me. I am not opposed to paying a toll on a new purpose-built motorway, but I would resent paying a toll on existing roads converted to tollways.
As a motorcyclist I find the whole Etag thing a pain in the butt. I have two. One for business and one for private use but I refuse to carry it on my person and there is no satisfatory mounting for motorcycles. When I ride it without a tag. The state govt has a lot to answer for in their lack of transport planning when it comes to riders.
I have no objection to etags as an option but to close major roads to people without, or impose a surcharge on those who cannot afford one, is wrong. The system is inequitable. I rarely use the toll roads but sometimes I need to and would like the option of paying cash. As the owner of a car and a motorcycle I am expected to have 2 tags, one for each vehicle for roads I might use 5-10 times a year. This is ridiculous. Also there is nowhere on my classic bike to put the tag.
Why don’t make available to motorist a sort of casual Etag that you can buy like you buy a phone card on any Newsagent or convenience store, and you can put on your windscreen whenever you have the need of going through a cashless-ETag motorway, this way you are not obliged to be attached to a contract and you just pay for what you use. I hope you understand what I’m trying to say. I’m sure lots of motorist would like something similar.
Have a nice day
Bill
By the way I forgot to mention something related to the roads in Sydney.
for the past 10 years or so I’ve noticed that our roads has been running into disrepair, potholes everywhere, maintenance nearly ZERO, etc. As an example, check the section of Church St, Ryde northbound from the Concord Bridge up to Victoria Rd.,( another Road needing repairs allover), potholes has been there for the past 5 years since I’ve been traveling to work at Homebush, and when it rains…………….it’s a disgrace
Bill
I hate the cashless system. Cash is,after all,described as legal tender,& it should be accepted without question. I haven’t gotten an e-tag yet,& it means I have to drive home via Ryde,Epping,Pittwater & Victoria R’ds. when I visit my doctor who is north of the Harbour.
Low volume e-tag users still have to pay a monthly administration charge(which has GST on it-how can this be considered a good or a service!!).
I find it very confusing when we travel interstate knowing which Roads we travel on that we have to pay a Toll, on a trip to Melbourne, I rang to find out how we should pay as we were leaving Melbourne and they asked which roads we travelled on and we could not remember the names of them. We lived in N.T at that stage and didn’t even know what a Toll was when we saw the signs.
We now live in Queensland and have bought a GPS to help us get around and we try to avoid Toll roads and Bridges on our rare occasions that we travel to Brisbane and that is usually for medical reasons, as we are now pensioners, as with the cost of fuel, add a toll fee to that, it is an expensive trip. We pay GST on services, food, etc, why isn’t that covering our road use as well. Maybe as pensioners we should be able to get a free etag – as we have paid our taxes all our lives and still paying taxes as pensioners. What if people don’t have a Telephone or Computer how do they arrange this? I do believe that as a Country, we should have all the same rules and regulations all over Australia, it would be less confusing?? Also we need to slow the world down, everybody is in such a rush – not healthy for us all, too much stress is causing too many health problems for us all, let alone the danger on the roads from everyone speeding over the limits and the amount of people being killed or crippled!! Please everyone slow down.!! Maybe some-one can explain the speed rules on the road, if the road says 100km do you have to do 100km on the dot, when I got my licence which is quite a while ago it meant up to 100km, but now they(I don’t know who they is), that we have to drive at that speed, even if the road or conditions is not suitable or we can get a fine – Please Explain? Is this why so many people are getting killed on the roads?
As an infrequent visitor to Sydney these days, I find the E-Tag system is more indicative of the government (and RTA) apparent belief that noone exists west of Penrith!
I recently visited Sydney and had to use toll roads. Following my visit, I duly paid the toll via the Internet. However I was unaware that there were a number of private companies that own parts of different toll roads (e.g. the lane Cove Tunnel) and was subsequently charged a significant “administration fee” because I had not contacted all the different companies that own the different motorways-not something occasional visitors would know.
Representations to the RTA to have a central point for paying the various companies resulted in a grudging acceptance that this would be an issue for travellers and “would be looked into”. Meantime I have had to pay the “administration fee” and will work hard to avoid travelling to Sydney in the future – which may be what the government is looking for to reduce traffic congestion. Very frustrating and enough to get the blood boiling.
I live about 2.5 hours from Sydney and visit regularly. I travelled once in a hire car and didnít notice that the tag didn’t beep properly – I had four teenagers in the car going to a concert and all singing etc. I was charged a $33 dollar admin fee fron the rental company and fined by the tag company eventually I was refunded the fine from the toll company but the whole event probably cost 8 hours in lost time phoning,emailing and faxing forms etc etc. the phone queue goes on foreever.
That was prior to cashless.
For visitors to go through the current system – most people would give up. The process needs to be simplified or have one lane for visitors only.
The RTA seems to prefer congested roads and annoying visitors and tourists rather than implementing a user friendly system.
Have they phoned the contact numbers to review the process?
To be told that you can wait in the queue or log on to the website?
Not everyone travles with a laptop or if you are on a trip would be home within 48 hours to log on?
Since a number of tolways are basically in the city what is Sydney City Council doing to encourage visitors?
I too think the system of paying tolls in Sydney is an absolute rort – driving a hire car along a toll road and then getting charged an ‘administration fee’ for the privilege of receiving a computer generated letter made me see red – and to cap it all off the internet site charged the admin fee twice because apparently I had not received the first toll notice. NOT MY FAULT, ALL I DID WAS HIRE A RENTAL CAR. Then when I got my credit card statement the double up admin fee, plus the original toll appeared twice! So for a $6.59 toll I ended up paying $53.18. The toll company treated me like a nuisance and begrudgingly paid back half of this after SIX WEEKS…. If I ever get a toll notice again I will send the money by cheque, for the toll only, and fight them tooth and nail if they try to stick me for their ‘admin fees’ again. The system stinks.
I have 2x eTag’s on 1 account. One is used about once or twice a year, the other has been used once in 2 years. So my ouytay of $100 plus the $40 for each, means $180. At 5% interest, I am losing more on lost interest than the cost of my actual trips. The RTA has won !!! What is the alternative.
I used one on the motorways in Brisbane. What a great road system. I wonder If ANYONE from the NSW Labor Party has seen their infrustructure. I don’t mind paying for that sort of stuff.
We’ll its 21st century, we need to get with the technology to help speed up the traffic flow. If we have to pay then we have to have a tag. I don’t necessarily believe in the “user pays” in this fashion because the overheads to collect the money mean that we pay more, but hopefully with the tags the ongoing cost of wages is reduced thus hopefully reducing future toll rises.
I live near Newcastle and go to Sydney infrequently. To me the cashless tolls are a major inconvenience. I hate to think how much more of an inconvenience they are to interstate visitors. I certainly avoid going to Sydney as much as possible. When you think about it, it’s not doing much to encourage tourism.
E-tags work very well for traffic flow but there are some problems.
I feel for the visitors to Sydney. I think every vehicle in the country should get a nominal allowance anually, then once you exceed it you need to get an E-tag. Give our visitors and tourist a break!
Also, I ride a motorcycle as well as drive. The tollways are very nice to recognise my number plate as the E-tag doesn’t work on the bike, but I do feel like a criminal having my photo taken every time I cross the bridge.
Motorcycles create less traffic, require less parking and lave a lower impact on the road. Why should they be charged as much as a 3 ton 4×4 or a truck? Tolling should be proportional to GVM. You can’t tell me it’s impossible.
I purchased an e-tag in January this year. I have used the M4 twice since then. On one of the occasions the E-tag did not work so I got charged an extra $14 anyway. Whyy bother?.
Once again the state government believes that nsw ends at the hawkesbury river and therefore EVERYONE beyond is an alien and fair game. The RTA has for sometime now been an apologist and willing partner of this government. I have avoided sydney for years and will continue to do so whilst “out of towners” are charged above the going rate to use a facility that belongs to ALL taxpayers.
Why should we have to pay to drive on our roads anyway??? What a joke the State Government is. Firstly they rip your hard earned money for everything else and then charge an absolute rip off to drive on roads that should have been made years ago!
What about motorcyclists?? Why should they pay the same as a car. One, they use less fuel. Two, the do not pollute like a car and three, they free up traffic congestion. Again, the State Government is a joke. I would hate to be invited to their BBQ, they wouldn’t know how to cook the sausages, butter the rolls, or even turn the BBQ on!!
VERY DISGRACEFUL!!!
I agree with John Liston – there should not be any toll roads. Perhaps bicycle riders could start to pay for their share of using the roads and getting in the way of the rest of us who are paying through the nose for the privilege of using a motor vehicle….
I rarely travel in/through Sydney. How are you supposed to write down the number/website while you’re driving alone? There is an assumption that you will be within reach of a phone or internet within 48 hours – not true for everyone. Surely one cash lane isn’t too much to ask! I thought we were trying too encourage tourism in this country – etags don’t do it.
why not have the cost of the road toll added to registration of the vehicles.
therefore no hassels buying tags, ringing numbers when you use the toll in your travels, and no cheating unless you sell the car which could be checked when the toll expense was purchased and when the car changed hands.
Recently I had to travel to Sydney for medical appointments and was not happy to find out that I had to pay an additional fee to pay via phone (as my internet connection we down) to pay my road toll.
Is it assumed these days that everyone should have the internet connected? I know my parents (70 and 78) would not know what to do on the cashless road and do not have the internet connected at home. Should they be made to pay more too?
I agree with E-Tags as they would be very useful to those who use the roads regularly, but why punish the rest of us. E-tags don’t work for everyone!
I agree with Chris – Why not provide more Cash booths and create more jobs?
The E-tag system is just another money sucking venture. At least $60 of my money sits in someone else’s account so I can use the toll roads maybe once a month – or pay extra for one off use. I would much rather line up and pay cash.
While the Etag might be great for regular users, it is a total pain for very infrequent users. I really appreciate that the M2 still has a cash booth but was very miffed after recently using the M7 and discovering all the extra charges on top of the toll. $3.30 to ring and pay plus $1.50 vehicle matching fee (return) plus $13.38 toll charge turned into a fairly expensive trip – even tho it is a far more relaxing drive without having to stop at traffic lights every few minutes.
Bring back cash booths for casual users and tourists please………as the ultimate of free roads seems beyond hope!
I have two views, which appear to be shared by every single person I meet.
1. E-tags make it a little easier and faster lanes with multi lanes, however
2. Removing the option to pay cash, and creating a surcharge to pay later is simple not something that can be forgiven.
Australian tender is supposed to be accepted as payment, if a person refuses payment of a reasonable amount then you can ride free….
Why is it, the Govt seems to think they can break their own rules and charge (and allow private roads) extra money to pay for the same services because you use cash payment?
I believe it is part of the strategic user pays vision of charging per use of roads… which will make it far more costly to use the roads and vehicles.
In QLD they have a number plate recognition system which they charge extra for.. unless you have a motorbike, in which case it is free as they realise you can’t carry a tag on your bike.
Honestly, the money collected every year in fuel tax and vehicle related levies doesn’t entirely get used to fund our roads (the purpose) and our infrastructure has been so poorly supported and extended by successive governments, each person must voice their outrage at having to pay additional and extra money to ‘fix’ the shortfalls in road infrastructure which would not have occurred if the Govt’s of the day did their jobs in planning properly and correctly investing in what are costly but neccesary upgrades.
1. We already pay road taxes to register our vehicles to drive legally on the road.
2. Not only does the RTA/government get the toll, just stop to think about the interest it is earning on the consolidated funds it hold for the deposits users pay for the tag!!! Talk about having your cake and eating it.
3. Agree with so many comments about unfair on tourists and out of towners. We should recognise the value of spending money here. No wonder the attraction of Sydney is dimming not just internationally.
‘WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?’ is simply answered – avoiding tolls and going elsewhere!!
4. Infrequent / out of town bridge users should not be financially penalised for not having a tag. It is not the publics choice to continue the toll. The government has lost toll income because I advise friends / visitors alternative routes, and I myself now undertake multiple taks when taking alternative routes instead of just jumping in the car and crossing.
5. There is absolutely NO reason why the RTA/authorities can not sell a prepaid, same theory as bus tickets and as in Melbourne.
6. Why should someone have to get a tag which then is essentially a tracking system by the authorities. I live in a supposed free democratic country and should be allowed to move about freely.
7. Removal of cash tolls has not proven to improve traffic flow 100%. Walking across the bridge on a number of occassions on weekends, I regularly see the same build up – cars moving 10km an hour!!!
8. A much overlooked aspect of removing cash tolls was another method for job reduction for the toll workers. I would rather know I was assisting someone retain their job.
9. I believe that the harbour bridge toll was only meant to apply until it repaid the bridge construction? This apparently occurred a number of years ago, the government should have consulted the public/road users/electorate for approval to continue it.
Cashless roads in the City are another unjust inconvenience or expense for motorists living in the Country who may only visit the City once or twice a year!
I live in Tenterfield, Northern NSW and I have an e-tag. It’s no burden to have it. It means when I go to Sydney or Brisbane I don’t have to woory about where I drive as far as tolls are concerned.
Please, please, please build a road (even if it has to be a toll road) on the northern beaches to get into and out of the city. The Spit Bridge and the Roseville Bridge are a nightmare. We paid for the Sydney Harbour Bridge so give us something in return. No more expensive think tanks, committees, studies and the like – a traffic light free road will do just fine. Etags are great but just wish we had somewhere useful to use it.
Unless it is made much easier to purchase a short term e-tag then there should always be a cash option. the bottlenick occurs regardless of the cash paying. The other concern is when coming from the country I was all prepared for the e-toll then accidently drove through 2 booths upon entering the tunnel (confusion caused by lack of direct signage). I thought I had paid appropriately in advance only to find I’d missed one of the tolls.. It’s way too difficult a system for very infrequent users.
I can understand some people, who don’t use toll roads much, complaining about eTags, but the simple fact is that traffic is moving much more freely on the roads where cash tolls have been withdrawn.
I live on the Central Coast, it is a night mare to have to travel where these toll roads are, pay on the internet they charge like a bull, for something thesestate government should provide for, not by some private company keeping its share holders happy as we all pay for it in taxes on petrol and new cars and other things were is all this coin going. I now dodge the harbour bridge
eTags DO NOT work on motorcycles – they should be free as it reduced congestion on road. The bike has neen put onto the car’s eTag and the charge is the same as a 4.5 ton truck. Some better way or use Vic’s sensible NO Fee for scooters
eTags are great for regular users of particular roads to save the motorists time. However there should always be a cash lane on all roads which charge for using them. I agree with Eileen,the system is way too complicated and costly for infrequent users. Roads should be Government run as we all pay taxes on our cars and petrol.
eTags see to be the NSW Govt’s way of saying to the rest of the State, “don’t bother visiting Sydney, it’s all too difficult and we’ll pick your wallet if you end up on a tollway by mistake”. I avoid going there. If I have no choice, soon I’ll have a GPS in my phone, which I’ll be using to avoid tollways.
In these tough economic times tolls of any kind are huge burden on families there should be some kind of subsidy! Given we here in NSW are the highest taxed citizens in the country you would think our motorways could be free, or at least the Bridge and or tunnel. Motoways are generally death traps (speed kills) and at peak hour are so badly congested what on earth are you paying for? In addition I thought we the human race are supposed to be cutting greenhouse emissions so why do we keep building motorways? Why don’t we replace the motorways with fast efficient commuter travel services? The M2 motorway space could be reaplced with a fast efficient train track/service, servicing areas that recently had bus services cut and are in desperate need of better options.
We live in Canberra and bought eTags for our 2 cars in December 2007 as we were visiting Sydney (from Canberra) with a group of overseas visitors and needed both cars. It’s been handy to have the eTag on the one other time we’ve visited Sydney in the past 2 years but as there’s no way to check that it’s working it makes a nervous entry onto the motorway.
As a visitor to Sydney, all I see now are the toll roads, the airport and the city. Sydney seems smaller than Canberra because we don’t drive though any other parts of it.
eTags make sense for someone making daily or frequent use of toll roads.
One tactic for the infrequent visitor to Sydney includes NOT getting an eTag ahead of time. Rather, simply use the toll roads as you see fit. Ownership of these roads is fragmented (I thought private enterprise was meant to be oh-so efficient!), it becomes a headache to keep track of whose road one has used and when.
The tactic continues: after departing Sydney, do nothing. Don’t phone up and pay. Let the various road owners’ (or operators’) accounting departments work out the bill for you and send it to you. Sure, you’ll have to pay an admin fee (i.e. a fine), but it’s small and worth paying to simplify life.
I know someone who uses this tactic and finds quite it the easiest way to pay this form of tax. He’s never had more than one bill, no matter whose roads he’s used.
For infrequent visitors to Sydney the Tollway people should set up a system that Victoria has. I paid a once off account set up fee and now when ever we go to Melbourne we use the Toll Road and our credit card gets charged at the end of the month with the cost of the toll and a vehicle matching fee of a couple of dollars. I hate having to pay the tolls but as I have no choice this is the better of two evils, I also do not have to buy an Etag and have money tied up on something I might only use once a year.
I recently went to Newcastle from Canberra and had to use the Sydney tolls for the first time so I went online and purchased a pass, valid for a month then drove up & down. A few days later I received a letter in the mail saying I had not paid my toll and now had to pay an admin charge etc for the trip up. The down leg was a week later so it had not shown up on the system. A quick phone call to the Toll people to sort them out & advise that I will not be paying any “admin/late fee charges. It was a “Computer Glich” ho hum!
I’m 53. Been driving since age 17. Living in Sydney off and on the whole time. Frankly, I think the politicians who introduced tollways and cashless tolling should go the way of the Cousescus – ie stood against a wall and shot. It is an outrageous rip off and has made life in Sydney miserable for those who have to spend a lot of time commuting or travelling around Sydney. Main roads like Epping Road, Lane Cove Road and South Dowling St are a congested nightmare due to social engineering. That wasn’t the case pre the tollways.
If you live in the Northern beaches and have to go to the western suburbs, unless you want to pay the toll on the Lane Cove tunnel all traffic is funnelled through the Fuller Rd and Pacific Hwy intersection in Chatswood. Another prime example of a deliberate and mindless political swindle.
I am an infrequent user of the RTA E-Toll tag (check out http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au) – NRMA have already done a story on this. No ongoing fees – just the actual amounts. Can use in either car. Take with me and use in rental cars when interstate too. Too easy. Actually got it before I even moved back to Sydney and was living with DIRT roads!
The cashless M7 is a wonder. Want to resist change? fine by me. Quick and smooth run makes it all the more worthwhile! No stupid toll booths, slowing down, and drivers trying to merge while they check under their seat for loose change. The M7 road is much better than anything our tax dollars were going to pay for in the near future. Similarlt I would pay $50-80 to drive Sydney to Brisbane at a reasonable speed much like it costs to drive the A1 from Naples to Florence in Italy.
1. Typically you have all missed the point, Government does not think or care about individuals or community, it is big business that feathers their pockets with perks and rewards in the form of jobs after government and other forms of corrupt rewards.
2. If Government was interested in true user pay we could all pay a greater fuel tax, as this equals a dollar per kilometre value, not perfect but much fairer than any current means of paying for road infrustructure, as it is no politician or government offical will inform us of exactly where the current registration and fuel tax goes anyway.
3. E-tags are the invention of private enterprise to get our money upfront which they can then generate an income with through interest.
4. This all goes back to the start, that is we the Australian public are inheritly lazy voters and most likely derserve all the frustration and mis-management we get.
Why dont we just have a micro chip inserted in us at birth, this will address many identification, location, security problems.Bet that wakes up all the right to privacy fanatics.lol.
I run a volunteer Motorsport fire service in Sydney and find it appalling that there is no exemption from tolls for volunteer organisations.
All the RTA & the NSW Government seem to do is:
1. Build roads with 2 lanes
2. Make it extremely difficult at the registration office
3. Allow these toll roads to spring up everywhere
When is the government going to get our out of its “old school” mentality and move with the times. We all pay our taxes, there should be NO TOLLS.
It seems to me that the wealthy are the ones that are in favour of Etags most average jo blows dont have the extra money after paying all the other road charges like rego GST on top of stamp duty for our insurance etc.
Like a number of post on this site I agree that there should be at least one pay booth for out of town visitors who want to use the roads with out all the red tape involved and for those who dont have computer access. to get the tags before travelling.