New M50 prices

penexpers

Kahless wrote: »

What other roads have tolls? The ads say these tags work on all the toll roads. The only one I am actually aware of is the M50. I know the new Waterford bypass will have one when that eventually opens. Are there many more?

M4 at Enfield
M1 at Drogheda
M8 at Fermoy
East Link
Port Tunnel

Tags will work on all these toll booths.

penexpers

Del2005 wrote: »

My question is how much do you value your time? Because you are wasting a lot of it and petrol/diesel to spite the goverment 20c. Also you would proberly give the goverment more money if you drove that route as they get most of the price you pay for fuel.

The government don't get 20c, it's the toll collecters that get the 20c.

penexpers

Stekelly wrote: »

France is full of toll roads.

Yes, but in most cases there are high quality alternatives provided. And there are still large parts of the country (Brittany comes to mind) with no tolled roads.

Sam Vimes

Jip wrote: »

So you'd rather add what could be an extra hour on a bad day onto your journey not to mention the additional fuel costs ?

i've driven that way hundreds of times and it only takes about 20 mins, and i live over that way.

Sam Vimes

Stekelly wrote: »

France is full of toll roads.

my problem isn't with toll roads, it's with a government who don't want to spend tax building a bridge so they let a private company build it and turn it into a car park for 20 years (or however long it was) while they collect many multiples of what the bridge would have cost from the same tax payers and then when the 20 years are up the government buy out the company for what was most likely more than the bridge would have cost because they didn't do a proper deal in the first place and then put a ridiculous administration fee onto tolls to make back the money they spent buying out the company. We could have had a bridge to new york for the amount of money spent on the feckin thing

so to recap, my problem's not with toll roads

Guy:Incognito

Sam Vimes wrote: »

my problem isn't with toll roads, it's with a government who don't want to spend tax building a bridge so they let a private company build it and turn it into a car park for 20 years (or however long it was) while they collect many multiples of what the bridge would have cost from the same tax payers and then when the 20 years are up the government buy out the company for what was most likely more than the bridge would have cost because they didn't do a proper deal in the first place and then put a ridiculous administration fee onto tolls to make back the money they spent buying out the company. We could have had a bridge to new york for the amount of money spent on the feckin thing

so to recap, my problem's not with toll roads

Do you realise the actual state the countries finances were in when the bridge was built? Between the lot of us we didnt have 2 5p pieces to rub together.

Sam Vimes wrote: »

i've driven that way hundreds of times and it only takes about 20 mins, and i live over that way.

Well then theres no issue, just continue to go around the bridge.

penexpers wrote: »

Yes, but in most cases there are high quality alternatives provided. And there are still large parts of the country (Brittany comes to mind) with no tolled roads.

There are large parts of our country with no tolls either. In fact you can count all the tolls on your fingers.



I live on the southside and work mainly on the northside (I have different jobs all over the place) The only time I have used the toll bridge this year is 2 trips to Belfast. It's not difficult to not use it if you dont want to pay the toll.

Sam Vimes

Stekelly wrote: »

Do you realise the actual state the countries finances were in when the bridge was built? Between the lot of us we didnt have 2 5p pieces to rub together.

We didn't have the money to build the bridge so the government signed a deal that meant tax payers paid many many times what they would have done if the government had just built the bridge.....

luckat

It's the single biggest problem with this country: the inability - no, the unwillingness - to plan for the future and follow a structured, well-made, sensible plan.

It's part of personal life too, and business life. We don't use the 'Protestant Ethic'. The country would be improved 1,000 per cent if we did.

Meanwhile, my own strategy for dealing with this ripoff - and probably that of thousands of others - is to *not* get the tag. When billed for the €3 for each journey, I'll pay, but I'll take a while.

Now *that* would cause administrative costs.

If they decide to sell the tags with a one-off payment, rather than renting them out, I'll immediately buy one.

cgarvey

luckat wrote: »

The idea that 'administering' a million e-accounts is more expensive than counting coins, paying the energy for toll barriers, having staff costs on the toll 'plazas', etc is a makey-uppy.

Spoken like a man who has plenty of experience in OLTP and e-commerce... not! The energy bill for the toll barriers is negligible (closer to a light bulb, than a 1KW heater). The staff costs are large, and there will be a saving there. However there's new costs involved. The costs of the cameras (with ongoing maintenance/replacement costs), and the associated ANPR software (with ongoing licensing costs). There's the hardware and software costs of managing the daily transactions, and offloading them to the various tag companies, or the Kerry (?) solicitors awarded with the contract to chase non-payers.

So, who pays for that? Or are those (non-exhaustive) charges "makey-uppy"?

The idea behind the tag (and related storing of personal and payment details) is to make it convenient, not inconvenient. If you think it's inconvenient then you're not in the majority, by any stretch, and you'll have way more issues (such as banking, credit/debit cards, e-passports, data leaks, etc.) than just this measly toll tag! For the convenience you are charged rental (or a service fee, if you buy the tag outright). That charge goes towards the cost of hardware and software as well as credit/debit card charges the company are charged. They are companies, whose primary interest is to make a profit, granted. However, history shows us that they are in a much better position to run the service far more efficiently than the government, even allowing for their profit. Again, if they don't charge that rental/service fee, who pays it?

luckat

Tolltag.ie seems to be offering three other versions, but the price is still ridiculous -

a) €30 to buy the tag (or currently €25.50), then 10% charge every time you use it,

b) the tag for free, but a requirement to put in €40 the first time, €20 for the next top-up and then keep a balance of €12 and a 10% charge,

c) a 'free' tag, but a €1.21 monthly fee, no charge on top of the toll but the same first and second topup requirements (this third option is actually dearer than the NTR version, I think?)

philiph

In our defence the third tolltag option has a lower minimum topup than the others (20 eur) We have no choice and a legal obligation to charge VAT 21% as we are a private company, the state on the other hand do not have to charge VAT (something wrong with this competitive picture?:eek:). The price is 1 eur NET. Effectively if you are a business the price is the same. If you are not then the tolltag leas option is 2.42 a year dearer but your minimum topup is significantly less

PhilipH