Toll Charges

Strandlope

In case it is useful to anyone, here is the breakdown of what it costs in toll charges to drive from Drogheda to Cork City and back again using the Toll Motorways:

I am using an Easytrip Tag and driving a car in September 2013.

M1- Dundalk Plaza Southbound €1.90
M50 Southbound €2.10
M7/M8 Portlaoise Westbound €1.90
N8 Mainline Southbound €1.90
N8 Mainline Northbound €1.90
M7/M8 Portlaoise M7M8N-L07 €1.90
M50 Northbound €2.10
M1 Dundalk Plaza Northbound €1.90

Total: €15.60 (including VAT)

I am happy to pay the tolls as the roads are well-maintained.

corktina

i remember doing that journey many years ago when there were no motorways or indeed bypasses... 15.60 seems cheap for the time saving involved and if someone don't like it the old roads are still there

For Forks Sake

There are so so many towns around the country that I am more than happy to pay to never have to see again (Enfield, Mountrath and Fermoy, I'm looking at you in particular)

Cleveland Hot Pocket

That is a hell of a lot of tolls

I'd still pay them (and this is the problem) as it would cost less to pay the toll than to drive on the non m roads

CiniO

15.60 on motorway tolls for travelling from one side of the country to another, seems quite cheap comparing to other EU states that do charge tolls on motorways.

However on the other hand, when you think how much motortax we pay, then additional motorway toll seems unnecessery.

pred racer

I'm not a big fan of tolls as I feel we pay enough motoring related taxes already, but having said that I do use the m7 and m50 quite alot because its so much easier than going any other way.
Just to give you a bit of perspective though, I drove from Charleoi in belguim to the south of Paris last night and the toll charge was €11.50

(its would be more expensive during the day though)

Chippy01

Ichisaq wrote: »

That is a hell of a lot of tolls

I'd still pay them (and this is the problem) as it would cost less to pay the toll than to drive on the non m roads

€15.60 works out to just over 2 gallons of petrol, and a bit more in diesel.
Take into account modern day cars's mpg figures (real world, not published) of about 40 - 50mpg, and again more for the diesel, that equates to between 80 and 100+ miles.
Is going on the old roads going to add up to that many extra miles, or is it just time you're saving?

CiniO

pred racer wrote: »

I'm not a big fan of tolls as I feel we pay enough motoring related taxes already, but having said that I do use the m7 and m50 quite alot because its so much easier than going any other way.
Just to give you a bit of perspective though, I drove from Charleoi in belguim to the south of Paris last night and the toll charge was €11.50

(its would be more expensive during the day though)

In France, in general you can assume €10 per 100 miles on motorways.
In Poland there is infamous motorway stretch between Krakow and Katowice, where 60km on motorways costs €4.5 one way.

Heroditas

Chippy01 wrote: »

€15.60 works out to just over 2 gallons of petrol, and a bit more in diesel.
Take into account modern day cars's mpg figures (real world, not published) of about 40 - 50mpg, and again more for the diesel, that equates to between 80 and 100+ miles.
Is going on the old roads going to add up to that many extra miles, or is it just time you're saving?

Also, you may be more efficient driving on the old roads because you'll be going ~100kmph. Once you drive over that, fuel consumption may increase.
In my mind, the key metric is the time you save and what value you place on that.
€15 is good value if I'm saving at least 30 minutes over the course of the whole journey.

CiniO

Chippy01 wrote: »

€15.60 works out to just over 2 gallons of petrol, and a bit more in diesel.
Take into account modern day cars's mpg figures (real world, not published) of about 40 - 50mpg, and again more for the diesel, that equates to between 80 and 100+ miles.
Is going on the old roads going to add up to that many extra miles, or is it just time you're saving?

Just time.
If you have planty of time, it is cheaper to go through old roads.

Yakuza

That's not bad (~€8 each way for a ~320km journey). I had to pay €24 in tolls (€21 and €3) for a one-way 170km journey from Burgos to Bilbao port in Spain - roughly six times the cost per km (and the cost of living is generally lower in Spain so those tolls are proportionally more expensive relative to the average Spanish wage as well.

I reckon I saved about €10 (~6 litres) on petrol as the toll-free route (that didn't involve using goat tracks) is about 100km longer but also I'd have had to set off a lot earlier in order to make the ferry, so between money and time, it was well worth it.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Chippy01 wrote: »

€15.60 works out to just over 2 gallons of petrol, and a bit more in diesel.
Take into account modern day cars's mpg figures (real world, not published) of about 40 - 50mpg, and again more for the diesel, that equates to between 80 and 100+ miles.
Is going on the old roads going to add up to that many extra miles, or is it just time you're saving?

Well I get 20-25mpg on local non m-way roads and 38-42 on motorway cruising at 110. So it equates to a much bigger saving for me.

If you add together both of my cars mpg figures, 28 + 10, it doesnt even make the 40 mpg.

George Dalton

pred racer wrote: »

I'm not a big fan of tolls as I feel we pay enough motoring related taxes already, but having said that I do use the m7 and m50 quite alot because its so much easier than going any other way.
Just to give you a bit of perspective though, I drove from Charleoi in belguim to the south of Paris last night and the toll charge was €11.50

(its would be more expensive during the day though)

I drove from Nice to Calais before and it cost me over €70 in tolls :eek:

biko

Odd, viamichelin reports tolls as 5.40 each way

TireeTerror

I dont think just because it may or may not seem cheaper than other countries, means that paying a toll is good value.

Considering the amount of VRT and motor vehicle tax paid in this country, these roads should be provided by the state.

corktina

Good theory as well it might be after two months thinking time. Unfortunately to do this, VRT and Motor Tax would have to be increased (or some other tax) or services/benefits cut somewhere. You don't get ought for nought tha knows.

marketty

Just for balance....
Kells to Palmerstown using motorway as much as possible, 120km return, €9.80.
Maybe a silly example I know but still!

Mycroft H

For Forks Sake wrote: »

There are so so many towns around the country that I am more than happy to pay to never have to see again (Enfield, Mountrath and Fermoy, I'm looking at you in particular)

Off peak, the old N4 going through Enfield is not worth paying the toll at kilcock to avoid it. Only a couple of minutes slower to Kinegad.