Toll roads

jeffred

Hi we're traveling to Oz for 4 weeks and are planning driving up the east coast from Melbourne to Cairns. I was wondering what to do for toll roads ? Any suggestions appreciated.

brendansmith

Watch out for melbournes roads, i got shafted with a fine.
http://www.citylink.com.au/

Buy before you drive anywhere if you dont know your way around.

Ozeire

Electronic “beeper” or etags are currently used on all major Australian toll roads, including Melbourne’s City Link and Queensland’s Logan and Gateway motorways.

In Sydney the road network includes the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel, Cross City Tunnel, Lane Cove tunnel, M1 Eastern Distributor, M2 Hills Motorway, M4 Western Motorway, and M5 South Western Motorway and the M7 ringroad

The tag is a small device attached to the front windscreen of the vehicle. As the vehicle passes one of the tolling points of the tunnel, the tag will transmit a signal to the tolling equipment. This will acknowledge and deduct the appropriate toll amount from your toll account.

There are several different beep tags you can sign up for around the country and Motorists can use any of them on all Australian toll roads.

The NSW RTA E-tag is probably the best e-tag to get as it has no fees at all (other than the cost of a toll) and no stupid fees for tag inactivity plus you get statements posted every quarter for free.

Another good option from Queensland Motorways is an E-toll tag that seems to be the good value for people living out of town and only doing occasional trips to cities. There is no joining fee, no inactivity fee, minimum initial payment $25 and then top ups when you get down to $15 to be made in multiples of $25.

Two alternatives im aware of are the “Beep Tag” system setup by Sydney’s Cross City Tunnel, and the E-way™ tag powered by the consortium that runs Sydney’s M5 & M4 motorways as well as the Eastern Distributor.

Hope some of this helps

Drop by the site and let us all know how you go . Travel blog would be great for everyone .

DamoDLK

Purchase a sat nav from harvey normans or jb's or anywhere! select destination, options: select; avoid toll roads! works for me!! don't buy a navigat8r- pure balls.

Turn Left bud.. roight!

jeffred

I was checking out on the internet and had seen the e-tags system but was looking for a system that can be purchased in Melbourne and used in NSW and QLD also. Avoiding toll roads is possible but I would have thought that this would lead to slower progress up the coast. One option will be to check to see what the hire company have.

brendansmith

DamoDLK wrote: »

Purchase a sat nav from harvey normans or jb's or anywhere! select destination, options: select; avoid toll roads!

Thats a great idea

daftdave

brendansmith wrote: »

Thats a great idea

id beg to differ !!

when i was coming back into sydney central from north sydney a few weeks ago , my sat nav said 6k to my destination if i used the toll road and 29 to my destination if i want to avoid the toll:eek: , thats a difference of 23k , and 23k in sydney traffic could end up costing you an hour or two extra on a day with heavy traffic , and lets be honest , sydney traffic is not great , especially north sydney .....

it is an option but not one i would use for the sake of a few dollars that you are gonna use in petrol anyway

brendansmith

I still think its a worthwhile investment. That 2 hours that you loose in Sydney traffic will more than be made up for by not having to keep drive around the block over and over again until someone spots the hostel etc etc and the melways is all well and good until you loose your concentration and get shouted at by the driver.

daftdave

lol...you misunderstood me..... im not saying dont get a sat nav , im saying not to get the sat nav to bring you the long way into sydney just to avoid the toll's, as the money you save by avoiding the tolls will cost you 2 hrs in traffic.