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.
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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.
Great news that the M2 is getting a long overdue upgrade. The M2 toll is currently $4.95 and will go up to $5.50 to pay for the upgrade. Compared to the M7 this doesn’t seem too bad. However with the M7 you only pay for the section you use whereas the M2 you pay the full toll even if you use just one short section -I live near Pennant hills and would like the option of jumping on at Beecroft Rd and exiting at North Ryde. But due to the $5.50 sting I usually go the long way round via Epping Rd.
I’m sure the M2 operators would get better patronage if they only charged say $2.50 for this short section. Does anyone know if the upgrade included on/off ramp toll readers that allow sectional toll charges and if so what will the section charges be? Many thanks,
I’m glad I found this site. I am a casual tollroad user (maybe 3 or 4 times per year) . two years ago I had a Roam Tag account – opted for manual top up because I was worried about my bank account coping with a random $50 top up…..and ended up paying WAY more in admin fees than actual tolls. When i refused to pay for not using the stinking tag i was referred to a collection agency. I told them where to stick their tag and have managed the last couple of years without one. But as a resident of Sydney it’s simply not convienient to try negotiating roads without using the motorways.
Last week I received $55 worth of toll notices ($40 in admin fees) from a single trip in to the city, because I dont have a tag and forgot to ring and pay.
Thats NOT fair.
but thanks to some posting here I realised that the RTA allows auto top-ups of $20 instead of $50 and no fees. I just signed up online for one.
I agree that cashless tolls are way more convenient, I just wish it hadn’t been so expensive and troublesome to find a suitable way to manage this.
I post again in frustration at the system of cashless tollways. Have used the M7 and tried to pay toll by ‘phone and was told the “system” was down and to ring back. Tried again but no response and then told to wait for the bill in mail.
As we live in the country (mail only 3 times weekly) and were away on holidays the bill arrived after the due by date and included a ten dollar administration fee. As this was paid after the due by date, another bill arrived with the administration fee increased to twenty dollars.
Again no allowance for country people who not only suffer the tyranny of distance but also the tyranny of big business. Two $6.64 trips now total $53.24.
This form of billing is legalised theft.
I didn’t see a single positive comment about the tollways. I’m a travelling salesman and I’m so fried with paying exhorbitant tolls I’m ready to leave Sydney entirely. The politicians who set this up should be shot.
This Etag is the most foreign tourist unfriendly system. Have foreign tourists visiting Australia have still the right not to speak English ? How do you want them to understand when they go over the gateway bridge in Brisbane that they have to connect on the net or pick up the phone to pay for a toll fee. This is ludicrous and quite an outrage in fact.
281 responses so far.
After about half an hour of reading through them, it seems at least 275 of them are negative. If this was a government poll, the statistics would be alarmingly obvious – the current e-tag system is EXTREMELY unpopular!
The main points of complaint:
1. Unfair to visitors to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane – deliberate ploy to reduce traffic in the cities.
2. Hellish bureaucratic nightmare to deal in any way with the RTA or toll road owners – obviously these people do not want you to deal with them. They don’t want you to call, they just want your money. And cash is too fiddly for them – they want your credit card details. Oh, and all your other details too.
3. The fact that we are forced to pay tolls at all. This is a big one. New roads are traditionally paid for by levies on our registration and fuel. The levies are still there, presumably making the govt more money that ever in history, but each new road comes with a toll. New roads are built not to make it better for us residents, they’re built to make some private entity money. They get very upset when this doesn’t work – like the Cross City Tunnel, so they close alternate routes and funnel us like rats into their stinking traps, where our money silently vanishes from our bank accounts. This is theft. There’s no other word for it. It is inconceivable that we have allowed it to happen. It’s just another example of our shameful apathy, which will eventually rob us of many other freedoms that most of us used to take for granted.
4. The refusal of the toll thieves to accept Australian legal tender. You can’t even pay for you tag with cash. You can’t pay the tolls with cash. How was this made legal? If they won’t put a person at their toll extraction points to accept our money, that is not our fault. We should just leave small piles of change at the booths and drive on.
5. The cashless system has done very little to reduce traffic congestion. Umm, I don’t think that was even part of the plan. The cashless system saves money on toll collectors wages and sorting mountains of coins.
6. Unreasonable fines for not complying with the system. “Administration fees” of $10 and more because you didn’t know you balance had run out or that you were even on a toll road or their scanner didn’t register your tag (this has happened to me on a few occasions). Who came up with that figure? The notices sent are designed like a speeding fine or some other penalty for actually breaking a meaningful law, to make us feel we’ve been really naughty. Made to feel like a criminal for driving on the road!
I could go on but I’m getting too angry. We have been sold an unfair and deliberately underhand extra tax by the RTA and unscrupulous politicians hoping for a big payout.
Blaaaah to you all!
I don’t agree with e-tags or or any other form of collecting money from the people to give to corporations. Problem is 99% of people are goats and suckers and do what they’re told without objection.
Cop this! Country motorists are to be slugged $50 to help ease city congestion and improve YOUR roads. How about we get to use YOUR tollways for free? Or how about this thievery (sorry- tax) is used to fix up the atrocious country road in NSW?
By the way, how come big business is making money out of what a government should be supplying anyway? The ultimate insult to the taxpayer is when the government agrees to fund the tollways when big business stuffs up and runs at a loss (TOUGH).
Cash is generally going out of fashion anyway, it’s all cards as lenders want us to spend whenever necessary without worrying about what money we really have. A toll will mean that people will pay because they have to travel, and barely think twice about how it all adds to their current debt.
As a vsitor to Sydney who didn’t realise their wasn’t a cash option to cross the bridge I find its amazing there is no way to pay the fee late without being penalised. In Brisbane visitors have 3 days to pay with an On-line option. Becuase I was in a rental car this crossing will cost me about $40 for a simple mistake I genuinely wasn’t aware of. Surely there must be a more fair way to treat visitors to Sydney.
Basically electronic collection of tolls work great for tollway operators.Not only are they gauranteed the actual toll is paid for each journey they can also levy a raft of charges if you don’t comply to the complex conditions of use. The money being quietly direct debited out of your bank account whenever they like.
For road users electronic toll collection is big negative.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is probably an employee of a tollway operator.
As long as cash is legal tender it should always be legal to pay in cash. I note on visiting the USA that all tollways i encountered had a cash option , in fact cash was the main option.Why do we in Australia have to bow down to corporate interests?
Best option is to avoid all tolls & hence starve the operators of funds.This will at least make the banks which fund these projects think twice before they fund the next white elephant eg cross city tunnel & lane cove tunnel.
The problem with the harbour bridge & tunnel is there is no viable free harbour crossing consequently it shoud never have become cashless.Currently is you cross the bridge without a tag you will receive a toll notice in the post from the RTA for $7.50. This is preferable to complying with the crazy Etag/pass regulations & charges, at least for the infrequent user like myself.
I note also the the harbour tunnel & bridges will revert to Government ownership in the future (as the M4 did recently) Will that mean the lifting of the toll as happened with the M4 or are we to be saddled with this toll + congestion tolling forever.
I HAVE JUST RETURNED TO BRISBANE AFTER VISITING CONTRY NSW. I HAD DRIVEN THE NEW ENGLAND HIGHWAY GOING DOWN AND ENJOYED THE DRIVE STOPPING OVERNIGHT ETC. I WAS TOLD THAT RETURNING THE PACIFIC HWAY DRIVE WAS THE ONLY WAY TO SEE THE SIGHTS VIA THE COAST AND WOULD BE VERY ENJOYABLE. SO OFF I TOOK AND WENT UP THROUGH NEWCASTLE ONLY TO FIND MYSLF ON THE M7 AND NEW TO THIS TOLLWAY. A PHONE NUMBER WAS WELL IDENTIFIED AND PAY IN 48 HOURS, ONLY PROBLEM HOW DO I PAY WITH NO PHONE NO CREDIT CARD AND I WANTED TO TAKE MY TIME GETTING BACK TO BRISBANE STAYING OVER A COUPLE OF NIGHTS ON THE WAY BACK. I GET BACK TO BRISBANE PHONED ON MONDAY NIGHT AND SEEMED TO WAIT FOREVER ON THE PHONE JUST TO SPEAK WITH AN OPPERATOR, I EVENTUALLY HUNG UP AS NO ONE CAME BACK TO ME AND I COULD HAVE WAITED IN LIMBO FOR HOURS. I THOUGHT I WILL PHONE IN BUSINESS HOURS ON TUESDAY. WHEN I PHONED ON TUESDAY I DID NOT WAIT LONG AND THEN EXPLAINED MY SITUATION. I WAS TOLD THAT BECAUSE I HADN’T PHONED WITHIN 48 HOURS I WOULD HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I RECEIVED A NOTICE IN THE MAIL THAT COULD TAKE 4 WEEKS AND COULD PAY AT A POST OFFICE FROM THAT, PLUS IT WOULD COST ME AN EXTRA $10.00. I ASK THAT SURELY THIS CAN BE DONE BETTER FOR VISITORS AND NOT AS A GREAT RIP OFF THAT AS MANY THINGS IN OUR MODERN WORLD IS.
BECAUSE OF THIS I WILL ENDEAVOUR NOT TO USE TOLL ROADS AND IF IT MEANS TAKING ME LONGER AND COSTING MORE IN FUEL THEN SO BE IT. IT SEEMS THAT THE RTA HAVE NOT REALLY CONSIDERED GETTING THEIR ACT TOGETHER IN LOOKING AFTER THE TRAVELLER, BUT PLEASE IF YOU WANT US TO HOLLIDAY IN NSW THEN MAKE IT MEMORABLE IN A PLEASANT WAY. SO THAT WE WANT TO COME BACK.
A SUGGESTION WOULD BE THAT THE TOLL COULD BE PAID AT CERTAIN GARAGES ALONG THE TRIP. REMEMBER MANY PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE CREDIT CARDS AND WISH TO PAY BY CASH. MY LAST COMMENT IS THAT DO THE RTA READ THESE COMMENTS AND TAKE NOTICE OR DOES SOMEONE SAY OH! ANOTHER WHINGER.