Sydney tolls visitor's e-pass

[brucelaidlaw]

My nephew took the car over the harbour bridge last night. It's cashless now and we don't have a tag. We rarely use the toll roads.

He's got 48 hours to pay without penalty, so I've been checking the options. Of the three companies that offer e-passes, Roamexpress.com.au seems the best.

$1.50 set up fee (via the website), then the toll, plus 75 cents "matching fee" per trip (cameras read your numberplate). No other charges or minimum balance (I phoned them to clarify). The pass lasts for 30 days and every 21 days any charges are taken from your credit card. The pass can be extended free for another thirty days before it expires.

There's many a slip, of course... Has anyone else used the visitor's e-pass?

 

[straitman]

There's many a slip, of course... Has anyone else used the visitor's e-pass?

On the rare occasions that I venture to Sydney I just use my Victorian eTag. You can do it a little cheaper but the dollar savings are not worth the time IMHO.

 

[trooper]

I live in Canberra and only take my car up to Sydney a few times a year... and then only use the M7..

I signed up for the Roam E-pass and am very happy with how it works...

 

[thewinchester]

I've used both Roam and RTA visitor passes on recent trips.

My recommendation is to use Roam, simply because they are easier to deal with.

One thing I strongly recommend is requesting a toll statement is emailled to you when the bill comes in. I say this because of an issue on a recent trip, where it was a bit of a lifesaver.

We went for the RTA on the last visit (Feb '10), and we'd hired a car from Thrifty - which are all licensed on Victorian plates. During the day we crossed through no less than two different toll ganties from each of the tollway providers.

When registering for the visitors pass, I accidently selected NSW instead of VIC in the online registration screen.

This caused all sorts of kerfuffle from the RTA, who issued Thrifty a toll collection notice, and subsequently onforwarded it to us. Scanned and emailed them all the paperwork, and they said they'd forward it back to RTA for resolution.

Two months later, the RTA tried to collect the toll fee directly with a penalty notice. Spoke to them on the phone, and they wouldn't budge unless I sent them (by mail) all the details.

They wouldn't take a fax or email, nor would they fix it over the phone despite their own computer systems clearly showing toll charges from all other providers except their own were successfully matched back to the visitors pass - and all because NSW and not VIC was selected when registering.

Needless to say, the RTA won't be getting my visitor pass business again.