French Toll road payment

[Wapping]

....... could probably squeeze about half a dozen bikes through on one payment.

Which is about the most pikey thing anyone can do, saving a few pence. It gives the locals (and the police) good reason to despise yobbish British visitors. Hopefully the barrier will come down, spanking one of the riders off into the path of his mate behind.

If anyone wants to save some real time:

The lead bike arrives, proffers their card or cash to the bod in the booth, gestures that he wants to pay for X number of bikes, paying for them all in one easy transaction. BUT, take a bit of care..... The barrier often has to raise and lower for each bike to pass through.... so don't go hurtling towards it

 

[Wapping]

.....have a little bag of cash ready, the toll staff are quite happy to sort out your money, lack of French needn't be a problem, hand signals and a smile will suffice.

Another bit of simple but good advice.

I have never been robbed by a payage attendant, pinching a couple of euro. Quite the reverse, I have more often than not found them remarkably cheery souls. There's no language barrier after a basic "Bonjour" from the rider, hand gestures and the internationally recognised 'army-wavey' routine will always serve for the rest.

 

[Wapping]

There are some completely unmanned toll booths now - generally at smaller exits rather than the 'right across the autoroute' peages - that detect what kind of vehicle you are in. I used a couple last summer. Both detected I was a bike OK.

That's true. There are also some where the detector on the road (they work off the magnetic field generated by a large lump of metal) isn't powerful enough to detect the bike's presence. This happens most often when the bike stops close to the payment box thingy, outside of a normal car's position. A push on the buzzer will often trigger a disembodied voice (unless there is a person secreted in the box thingy.... who knows, there might be) and a raising of the barrier, sometimes for free.

 

[Rasher]

The worst I had was near Grenoble when the machine stole my toll ticket, I then got a chap who spoke little English, and my very limited French could not explain I had put my ticket in and it has been eaten.

He kept talking in louder and louder pigeon English asking me to put my ticket in the machine

After a long wait and a queue had formed behind me some chap came out, opened the machine retireved my ticket and tells me this machine keeps doing that!

We were close to just going around the barrier (there was room) at this point.

The staff are very helpful in the booths, I sometimes used to give them a bag of cash and let them sort it, until I discovered by accident (when I ran out of cash) that if you give them a card your on your way in seconds.

I don't know about all of France but the bits I use you don't seem to go through tolls very often, a few times in a full day seems typical to me

 

[Doon]

I have a Vinci tag which I assume is the same as a LiberT, and in fact it is a lot more efficient than folk seem to give it credit for on this thread. I know that some Peages are more modern than others, but down here in the south of France on the Escota network and whatever the one is that continues to the west, if you go through the unmanned lane with the automatic vehicle recognition the tag is picked up by whatever reader they use, you're charged as a Class 5 vehicle, and (going very slowly) you don't actually have to stop at all.
You can use the same tag in a car, and you get charged at the car rate.

 

[Peirre O`Bollox]

Bump

one for the experienced liber-t users

I`ve just aquired a liber-t tag (from the link below), and want to ask:
With the barriered 2m liber-t lanes I notice using streetview the signage on some liber-t lanes shows a circular sign with a motorcycle symbol. The exit off the A31 for Beze is one I have in mind. does this mean I would be automatically charged class 5 motorcycle rate at this lane or would I have to hand over the tag to get the class 5 rate

As for the TAG, a little research has turned up a potential cheaper option for new customers outside france to get hold of a liber-t TAG without paying the hefty fees levied by sanef UK, and be able to pay the toll costs to the French opperator via credit card. (Albeit consideration to the fees levied by the credit card Co for the exchange rates needs to be considered) but if you have a zero card, afaik that isn`t a problem

So if anyone is still thinking about getting hold of a French Liber-t toll tag, https://www.telepeagepourtous.fr/fr/particulier/vos_avantages they are offering liber-t tags for free, abeit with a €10 setup fee (€10 refundable on your 1st bill)

However unlike most french Liber-t tags you don`t need a french bank account to apply, as you can pay via a credit card (mastercard/visa)

service charges: online billing charges at €1.60, or paper billing at €2.10 per month only (but for only the months you use it + the toll fees you accrue).

apply here: https://www.telepeagepourtous.fr/fr/particulier/souscrire/en_ligne

There are no deposit fees for the tag persay as the initial €10 fee when you apply is refunded via your 1st bill. The only additional fee I can see for using it, beyond the billing fee & toll costs, is that you pay €3 for delivery.

 

[PaulW]

Now, you see Rasher has it about right.

Ride up, give bod in booth card or use the auto function on the unmanned booths and ride off. Hardly hard, as the actress said to the bishop. As to the tosser who removes gloves, stretches, wanders about, pays, wanders back, re-dons gloves etc. No wonder the French think we are cnuts. Pay, go through barrier, pull in on left, stretch, pick wild flowers (if you must) inconveniencing nobody. Probably sees it as exercising his 'rights'

I made a right old cockup of finding manned booths in France last year
Even worse as I had a first time abroad rider with me who would have preferred not to be jumping across lanes.

So, a question or two for Mr Wapping please - could I have gone to any unmanned booth and paid with my credit card at the bike rate? Some years ago, I thought they had a sign above the manned booth clearly showing a man with a hat. I did not see any of these last year which is what caused the confusion?

cheers, paul

 

[Greg Masters]

The only problem is that many of the tolls are automatic and have no manned booths , so you will be charged class 1 instead of 5.

I have one and it makes a huge difference in the car.

I am assured by Sanef that, if used on a motorcycle, you will be charged at Class 5 as they not only detect the transponder but also detect the length of your vehicle.

Greg

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

Just ordered one of these and the process is simple even for my level of French.

apply here: https://www.telepeagepourtous.fr/fr/...crire/en_ligne

I plan to use it initially on a trip down to the Biarritz area over Easter in a campervan with an xCountry on a carrier on the back. Hopefully the gismo will arrive in the next couple of weeks. I assume in this case I drive through the telepage booths and it'll detect the length of the campervan and apply the appropriate charge.

Thanks for the tip, it'll be interesting to see how it works.

 

[Hustler]

Just ordered one of these and the process is simple even for my level of French.

apply here: https://www.telepeagepourtous.fr/fr/...crire/en_ligne ..............

That link gives me
"Erreur 410 - Ressource non disponible"

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

Yes, I get the same 410 if I click on the link in my post, but it works in Pierre's post above, which I copied it from. Not sure what happened in the copying... Use the link in Pierre's post and you should be fine..

 

[Greg Masters]

I am assured by Sanef that, if used on a motorcycle, you will be charged at Class 5 as they not only detect the transponder but also detect the length of your vehicle.

Greg

Hmmmm....

Not what it says on their website. I may have been rolled ....

 

[John Armstrong]

Just ordered one

 

[Glyno]

Automatic booths in Spain.....If theres a few of you rolling up to the pay machine at the same time and you want to pay by card for all of them. The machine will only accept one payment from the card i.e. the first payment as I found out recently when having passed through and dismounted I put the card in again for a mate but it was declined.

 

[Wapping]

So, a question or two for Mr Wapping please - cheers, paul

could I have gone to any unmanned booth and paid with my credit card at the bike rate?

Yes. Many of the automatic lanes have a sensor that detects the presence of a motorcycle as opposed to any other vehicle.

Simply avoid those lanes which specifically exclude motorcycles... clearly shown on the signs as you approach.

If you get it wrong, the worst that can happen is that you'll pay a car rate.

DO NOT go through the 'Rapid transit' lanes, which require a 'bleeper' (Telepayage) usually bright orange, marked with a 'T' and to the left of the carriageway.

The barrier will NOT open unless you have a bleeper and you'll only annoy the bods in the cars behind whilst you hold them up.

Some years ago, I thought they had a sign above the manned booth clearly showing a man with a hat. I did not see any of these last year which is what caused the confusion?

Here's a usful guide to the motorway signs. Scroll down a bit.

http://visitnormandy.wordpress.com/...sarthe-french-traffic-signs-highway-code-etc/

 

[Peirre O`Bollox]

I am assured by Sanef that, if used on a motorcycle, you will be charged at Class 5 as they not only detect the transponder but also detect the length of your vehicle.

Greg

IIRC when I ordered the TAG I was able to input the details of the make/model/registration of the bike
A little research on my initial question regarding the signage at the toll, the round red/white sign with a motorcycle in the centre seems to show that motorcycles are forbidden

 

[Greg Masters]

DO NOT go through the 'Rapid transit' lanes, which require a 'bleeper' (Telepayage) usually bright orange, marked with a 'T' and to the left of the carriageway.

The barrier will NOT open unless you have a bleeper and you'll only annoy the bods in the cars behind whilst you hold them up.

If the car behind is on French plates, it doesn't matter.

 

[Browny]

I use the Sanef tag, and it is very useful if there is a need to make good progress. Particularly helps to quickly get ahead of the other queues in standard toll lanes.

The Tag is not vehicle specific - so, can be used for Car or Bike (or, indeed, in a car that you may just be a passenger in), etc.

I will be off to France on the bike for a week on the 16th March, and will be using the Tag if I venture onto the autoroute (at all).

 

[Deer Stalker]

Ah yes, travel often through France and I have two of these handy little devices for me and the wife. As mentioned they are great for less gaff, more go and getting ahead of he queues...

 

[franco]

Automatic tolls are all over the place nowadays, and do seem to be getting better. However, I'd say between 10-20% of the time, it still incorrectly detects the bike as a car and charges the higher rate so they're not fullproof.
If you're looking to get into the correct lane, when on a bike, this is what happens.

Green arrow + T => works fine
Green arrow => car price charged
T => car price charged
T+CB => works for bike
CB => car price charged

If you don't mind paying car prices then you can go through any of them you like, including the telepeage sans arret which work at 30 km/h

Bon route