Playing tag with the tolls

WHAT'S THE STORY WITH ELECTRONIC TOLL ROAD TAGS?

It has been a long time coming, but the day motorists, who have spent hours on the M50, parked and fuming, have dreamed of is nearly upon us. From next Saturday, we are promised that the tool-booth bottlenecks that have played a starring role for years in Ireland's motorway black comedy will finally disappear. Or at least start to.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) took control of the West-Link toll plaza at the beginning of this month after buying out the National Toll Roads contract for €488 million. On Friday night, the barriers will rise for the very last time after which they will be replaced by electronic tags and number plate recognition technology which will levy the tolls.

The hated plaza won't disappear until October at the very earliest, however, and the dismantling process means congestion is likely to get a lot worse before it gets any better. Diversions through the plaza will be put in place and speed will be restricted during the autumn demolition works.

Worryingly, the NRA has admitted it expects motorists to face "teething problems" with the new system and has said that it will take two years before the full benefits of the scheme are realised, news which is sure to depress the 100,000 motorists who use the M50 daily.

By the end of this week, the NRA hopes, nearly 80 per cent of those motorists will have registered with one of the eight providers offering a tagging service. With tags, the price of the toll will be €2, while drivers who decide not to bother with them will pay €2.50 if they pre-register their car with the NRA and €3 if they make no advance planning before hitting the M50.

The eight companies fighting for a share of the Irish toll pie are Eazy Pass, Mini Tag, Eirtag, Pass Direct, Transroute, eTrip, eFlow and TollTag. Their charges vary and, in addition to deciding whether to post or pre-pay their bills, consumers would be well advised to look closely at all the options before making a decision on which one to register with or to check if it is necessary to register at all.

Some of the companies charge a flat fee of between €29.99 and €35.20 for tags while others offer lease-only options of around €1 a month. Three of the eight insist on deposits of up to €15 for their tags while all of them charge a monthly administration fee.

Typically, the fee is between €1 and €1.25 although one company, tolltag.ie, charges 10 per cent of the toll charge in admin costs - something which could be attractive for someone using the road four or five times a month but will hardly make economic sense for someone using the M50 twice a day.

All the tags will be very poor value for money unless you plan to use the M50 more than 24 times each year as setting up a tag account will only save 50 cents per journey but will cost at least €12 in account management fees. The charges have attracted the ire of many, including Fine Gael's transport spokesman Fergus O'Dowd. He pointed out that almost €4 million in prepaid toll charges will be raised before the system starts running. "With that much money sitting in the accounts of tag providers, the system should be free of maintenance costs," he said.

Regular motorway users can check out www.tagcompare.ie to get an idea of the best value option for them - by Pricewatch's reckoning, the least costly option available is with eFlow. Run by the NRA, it has no upfront payment and charges just €1 in monthly fees.

While the charges and options for tag holders are comparatively straightforward, the e-toll could be more problematic for occasional users of the M50, estimated to number around 20,000 daily. Forgetful drivers who long-finger paying their dues could end up being hit with significant bills, hounded by debt collectors and, ultimately, or having their credit rating tarnished.

Drivers who pre-register their cars and submit payment details to www.eflow.ie will have their motorway movements tracked by video cameras and will be charged €2.50 every time they use the West-Link bridge. People who don't register will be hit with a €3 toll when they drive under the video cameras positioned on top of the bridge. Number plates will be recorded and drivers will have until 8pm the following day to pay over the phone, online or in one of 2,000 Payzone-enabled shops and garages.

If they miss that deadline a €3 fine is imposed, followed by a fine of €40 two weeks later. After 56 days, the fine climbs again, to €100, after which the debt collectors will be called in.

A firm of solicitors in Co Kerry has been appointed to act as the NRA's enforcement agent for the tolls. Pearse Fitzgibbon already looks after prosecution and debt recovery for the Revenue Commissioners, ESB, Bord Gáis and around 240 credit unions, so it has some experience when it comes to extracting money from reluctant payers.

The first step will see the toll evader given a civil summons. If they fail to pay, a decree for the amount owed will be issued by the courts service, which could result in the debt being registered against them, impacting on their credit record.

The one group which should be able to evade the toll handily enough are drivers of foreign registered vehicles who make up nearly five per cent of the cars on the M50. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to impose fines on these drivers and it could end up costing the Exchequer as much as €3m every year.

Another gripe some have is the apparent sleight of hand which has seen the NRA increase its take on the toll. When the tolling system was operated by National Toll Roads, the charge on the M50's West-Link included 21 per cent VAT. Public sector tolls, however, do not attract VAT, so as the basic toll charge of €2 has remained the same, the NRA is effectively pocketing 42 cent more from each toll than its predecessor did.

Companies who used to reclaim the VAT from Revenue as a legitimate business expense are now fuming and the president of the Vehicle Leasing Association of Ireland, John Wallace, said that the move meant a 21 per cent increase in cost for a business user straight away.

"It sort of slipped through and no one pointed it out. Of course, they [the NRA] wouldn't have pointed it out because it's not in their interest. This whole thing is just a fiasco. It's taxes by stealth," he says.