I just came back from Melbourne for an extended weekend and I always use the Citylink tollway when I drive in from interstate or when I leave to go back to Sydney. The Citylink and Eastlink tollways in Victoria are both fully electronic through the use of tags that are placed inside the vehicle or through the purchase of a day pass on the Internet or via phone.
Since moving to Sydney, I’ve been a bit frustrated with the fact that, until the last couple of years, electronic tolling was a bit slow to get going. Sure, the Cross City Tunnel, Lane Cove Tunnel and M7 projects were built to be automatic from the get go but you still have legacy cash tolling for the Eastern Distributor and the M2 & M5 motorways. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel went cashless about 18 months ago and the M4 has gone toll free in the last couple of months which I think is good news for motorists.
In my opinion, toll booths cause congestion as people slow down on approach not to mention people fumbling around with locating the necessary money and then causing delays for others behind them. Then, they have to merge into the flow of the electronically tolled traffic slowing everyone else down.
Come on people!
In this day and age, I find it hard to believe that we are still using physical cash (as discussed in an earlier blog, Cash – Relevance in 2010) for everyday purchases let alone tolls.
Maybe I am spoilt with the way Melbourne has been set up with cashless tolling but I reckon if Melbourne can do it then Sydney can have its love affair with cash booths pried from its fingers.
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