[PR] Eflow.ie - information on M50 tolling regime

At this stage in proceedings all I have left to ponder upon is the sheer scale of this scheme which if not Actual daylight robbery,then is a very close runner up.

The original,and still highely questionable National Toll Roads "deal" has been left largely unexplained and unchallenged.
The extent of the financial ramifications and the entire ethos of the Original deal simply slid off the radar to be replaced by "techhie" debate about RFID cards and all of the wizardry associated with this introduction to electronic thievery.

One thing is certain,the new hi-tech operators have been gifted a licence to print money in vast quantities without even having to staff an oul booth.

The success or otherwise of this racket will determine how rapidly these parasites will descend upon the remainder of our Public Facilities.

ouch!

I hope I don't fall into the "parasite" bracket:( and if there were licenses to print money, we missed them:) Of course we need to run at a profit, what business doesn't?

The fact of the matter is we don't make people pay to use the toll roads, the respective road owners do, but we aim to make it easier and a bit cheaper and infinitely more convenient that the cash alternative. for that we have a charge and we lay it out upfront as clearly as we can.

On tagcompare, we don't control it but get to submit updates every now and again. I did say (i think) in my original post its a start point not an end, on our own site which we do control we have tried to lay it out as simply as possible because in our opinion the whole debate has descended into a jumble with very little clarity. This is reflected in the enormous volume of mail we get.

/P

Deleted User wrote: »

According to their website, No.
But you can change the car the tag is associated with, not sure if you are allowed to swap back and forth between two cars.

Hi, Yes you can change the reg number associated with a tag. The changes take some hours to upload to all plaza's so it's not something to do if you are just planning to 'nip' down the M50.

What you cant do is swap the tag around between cars at random. Not that the tag cares, it doesn't but on the M50 the tag must match the plate on the car. If it does not the tag provider will get a warning to correct it..after that the tag will be ignored and video toll will apply. This is part of the M50 bye laws (cl17.1) for those with an inclination you can find them here http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/TollingDocumentation/file,15356,en.pdf

Philip

okgirl wrote: »

Then why can you have two tags? It states a private user can have up to 3 tags. Can I reg my husbands car also for my account?

Yes you can have as many tags as you need, the only proviso being each tag must be tied to the registration number of the car it is in.

shoegirl wrote: »

The EasyFlow account is a clever scam. 1 euro per month this year, in 3 years time it will be 3 euros per month and more. Some of the other operators (for example Direct Route who operate the M8 toll bridge) only charge a small desposit and no monthly charge. I signed up for them as thats the bridge I use the most. I am curious to know as to why they can operate the same kind of system without any monthly fees while most of the other operators are adding extra on top of your tolls, deposits AND charges for the tags.

There are plenty of alternative operators who currently are not charging monthly fees. It would help if proper information was made available to help people choose the operator who will gouge them the least. Hate to say it, but its a huge scam and cash cow to ALL the operators and the consumer will be a big loser here.

Next thing we'll see are masses of debt collectors to gouge even further those who don't pay outright.

Actually Direct Route charge €1 a month aswell.
See hear: http://www.directroute.ie/directroute/faqs/faqs-passdirect.html#faq17

shoegirl wrote: »

The EasyFlow account is a clever scam. 1 euro per month this year, in 3 years time it will be 3 euros per month and more.

EazyPass has been the same price for 6-7 years since it was introduced...

I almost never use the M50 or any toll; I've just no need to. I resent the bureaucracy involved in having to register for all this (or face the huge financial penalties and further bureaucracy for missing/forgetting to make a payment within a day of you driving through). And I can't believe the government (or government agency/ies, whoever) is allowing all car users to be effectively forced to sign up for one of these accounts.

I've just spent 80 minutes reading through these posts (well done and thanks, everyone, much appreciated) and looking at all (I think) the websites from the tag providers. And I'm amazed how the tag providers present themselves and their products so sloppily.

It's as if they are making no effort to look for our business. Why? Perhaps because they know we (effectively) have to buy from one of them so they're going to rake it in no matter what.

I've chosen a provider with the best option for me, but I don't believe everyone out there has access to the Internet or the time to go searching through the mud. My Dad, if he was still alive, would be going nuts--and rightly so. There will be lots of elderly people who will be confused about the so-called options and this confusion will frustrate and embarass them, and will likely lead to many of them being ripped off.


The rip-off is at least three-fold:

1. Not just under most options do we have to leave a sum of money in perpituity with one of these companies (effectively reducing our bank accounts by this sum [yes, we get it back when you leave the company but then we have to sign up with someone else]).
2. But we also have to pay for the privilege of one of these tags! (Where you get it 'free' with tolltag.ie it's only for the period that you maintain an account with them.)
3. AND, we have to pay monthly fees to cover the admin/insurance/bla,bla (in nearly all circumstances: I chose the option where you pay just a percentage of your toll).

I agree with the person who said why not have one company distributing all the tags. There's very little sign of competition by these companies. There's plenty of signs of us being treated like captive schmucks.

(I wish I could agree with the person who said we have a choice--not to use the M50--but that's not always reasonable.)

What I was looking for amongst the companies was one that simply billed your credit card each time you used the toll... seems a fair way to do it. I didn't find one but if there is one or more, perhaps someone could post it/them here for others like me who would rarely use a toll road. (With the NRA's eflow.ie system it SEEMS to me that you have to (a) pay monthly charges and (b) have an account with a significant sum in it at all times.)

Well done, everyone, with this forum--it's a valuable source of truth (if I have any errors inbetween my rants, do correct them, thanks).

martinstuart wrote: »

And I'm amazed how the tag providers present themselves and their products so sloppily.

Especially the way in which certain information on some sites, such as maintaining a minimum balance is carefully skirted round on the main page, but only becomes obvious when you get half way through the sign up process.

I agree with the person who said why not have one company distributing all the tags. There's very little sign of competition by these companies. There's plenty of signs of us being treated like captive schmucks.

Agreed. It's a prime example of how more "choice" is not always necessarily a good thing.

Deleted User wrote: »

I would imagine it also costs extra to "rent" the paypoint system (or whatever it's called) as the shops that provide the service are paid a small fee for each transaction.

Thats for the post pay, but for pre-registered this doesn't exist.

I've had a tag for ages either way as it often saves me 1.30 each way on the M4 due to only having 2 euro coins on me!