Is it worth trying to avoid the M50 toll?

minikin

I live and work in North County Dublin at the moment but I'm about to move in with her nibs soon (she lives near liffey valley).
Would it be worth taking alternative routes (any suggestions?) to avoid giving eflow a grand each year? (employer not interested in paying it)

I'm thinking about heading through lucan, across to the ward, st mags & enter motorway at the airport

alternatively anyone know where I can get those james bond revolving number plates (anyone know the minister for finance's reg?)

Scottie99

Or dirty plates. If you find any revolving plates PM me:D

RobAMerc

Believe it or not the toll on the M50 is there to reduce the number of people using it ( and of course generate revenue )

It means the surrounding areas are choccer full of lads bombing it in order to skip the toll but still make time.

Castleknock, Lucan, Chapelizod etc.

Personally - I try to skip it too, but go near any of the above mentioned spots at rush hour and you'll soon wish you hadn't.

Hal1

I used to commute to baldoyle in the mornings. What I did was cut into lucan heading towards clonsilla/clonee and back onto the blanch bypass. It added an extra 30 mins to my journey.

-Chris-

I'd rather pay it than spend the time trying to get around it, but I don't use it that often. It would sicken me to pay them €6 per day.

smartypants

when you think about it, its sick they make us pay for such a short stretch of motorway. compared with some of the roads in the UK which are 100 miles long.

minikin

what's even sicker is that it will no longer be a motorway - new official designation: N50 National Road.
Are we the only country to spend hundreds of millions to downgrade a road?
I wouldn't mind paying the toll so much if I could drive from the N4 to the M1 at a motorway speed at peak times... if not what was the point of the upgrade?

legs11

If you have a taxiesque knowledge of lucan and them parts of dublin then you could possibly do it, but if you have road rage like tendencies you better just suck up the 5mph m50....

I tried to 'avoid' this M50 twice in the last month, using my N82, but seemed pretty fruitless, the traffic around lucan et al is probably worse than the m50 tbh...
and if you make a few wrong turns add another 20 mins to your eta.

minikin

if by taxiesque you mean having a knowledge equal to that of a romanian dude in a 95 corolla then yes...

just working out the figures on this - gonna cost me 70 blips a week with the toll, polo mints... not to mention car juice

blackbox

minikin wrote: »

I live and work in North County Dublin at the moment but I'm about to move in with her nibs soon (she lives near liffey valley).

You could always threaten not to move in unless her nibs agrees to subsidise your travel!

minikin

don't think there's much mileage in that proposition

Run_to_da_hills

Get a GPS set it on toll avoidance and follow the route that most non Irish people will take.

unkel

Hal1 wrote: »

It added an extra 30 mins to my journey.

Half an hour to avoid €2? Madness imho. Or do you not pay tolls out of principle?

Thumper Long

for the extra juice you will use trying to avoid the toll, just bite the bullet and get the tag it is the only option that will not drive you round the twist, people pi$$ and moan about the 1 euro charge pm on the tag but just think of how much money you will waste going to cash machines and getting change for the toll, used to cost me a fortune. I have tried the liffey valley to north dublin route a few times ex M50 and it probably took twice as long and the stress of the back road break neck speeds just aint worth it IMO

minikin

i'll stick to the N50 so long as I'm not stuck in traffic the whole way... surely it crawls along at peak times? I presumed it would be quicker to go back roads...

unkel

minikin wrote: »

i'll stick to the N50

Where's that road?

minikin

The N50 surrounds dublin, surely you've been on it?

johnnyfox

I have a question, first of all I don't have a car and I've never used the M50 toll booth, but I was wondering what happens if you have no money to pay the toll. Can you actually turn your car around and go back the wrong way?

L1011

johnnyfox wrote: »

I have a question, first of all I don't have a car and I've never used the M50 toll booth, but I was wondering what happens if you have no money to pay the toll. Can you actually turn your car around and go back the wrong way?

You can loop around on to the other carriageway to head Southbound, yes. Its not 'the wrong way' as you're on the correct side of the road, etc.

Hal1

unkel wrote: »

Half an hour to avoid €2? Madness imho. Or do you not pay tolls out of principle?

Yea but luckily I don't have to do that anymore, and there increasing the price as you know so €6 for a day trip x 5 or 6 if you work some OT do the math! (€1440 a year for some)

cormie

N50? Don't tell me they are keeping the 100kmph limit once it's all done are they? Think reversible plates are the order of the day if they are charging to use an N road!