Toll fees for bikes

I thought of starting a poll, because I'm interested to see what you guys & gals do when you are confronted with a toll gate. I've seen a couple of attempts from bodies like Think Bike that have (unsuccessfully) tried to petition for lower toll fees for bikes, because us bikers end up paying the same as a Land Rover towing a caravan!

And at the same time we've had other discussions around the principle that small crimes are likely the start of bigger crimes and that we should start obeying the little rules (such as paying toll fees). There are many ways to rationalize why paying toll fees are impractical and unfair towards bikers, and how despite the community's best efforts, there has been no concession towards us. But despite this, I always feel a little guilty not paying like the other road users.

To top it all off, the proposed toll roads on the N1 between Pretoria and Johannesburg will make it a daily reality for many commuting bikers.

So I'm curious to see what you think about this?

The criteria is double sided. The 3rd one is insuffient - i think it is unfair but will nevertheless pay????

I have passed a tollgate on acosion, but more than often plan my route to avoid them.

Leo wrote:I have passed a tollgate on acosion, but more than often plan my route to avoid them.

One of the reasons that the authorities gave for not considering a reduction was that not many bikes use the toll roads - guess they too dumb to figure out why.

This has been an ongoing exercise for years now.
Nothing has ever been achieved and doubt ever will.
Most of our rides avoid the Toll Roads due to the cost as well as the inconvenience and you also get to see more on the non-toll roads.

My gripe has always been that if I take my bike on a trailer ( CAR+BIKE+TRAILER), I pay the same toll fees if I ride my bike. How could this possibly be????

For us that usually ride on two bikes it is en expensive exercise. So we try to avoid the tolls.

Whenever we have to pass through we stop next to each other. slooooowly taaaake oooooff my gloves, then slooooowly taaaaake out my wallet, pay for two and then Trudie passes through on the first boom lift. Only then do I slooooowly return my wallet, sloooooowly put on my gloves and sloooooowly pass through.

Wouldn't pass through without paying

I avoid toll gates as far as possible and if I do come accross them I stop to pay (every now and then )!

I also try to avoid them, but sometimes this is not always possible. Fact of the matter is that it is unfare to let the bikes pay the same amount as a car. Why do they then differentiate between cars and trucks.

We do not use as much tar or road for that matter as cars and truks do. So why not reduce the price for bikes and I am sure that more bikes will then use the toll roads, or more bikes that uses the toll roads will pay, I hope.

I always paid like a good citizen, lately decided to only pay one way. I do not want to promote riding through the toll gate, but what damage do a bike cause on our roads. This is an ongoing thing for years and uncle Simon Fourie undertook some years ago to address the situation on behalf of bikers, sadly nothing happened.

Bikes do not pay toll fees in Zimbabwe. A few 'demonstrations' by bikers in the past were also ignored by the authorities. One of these demonstrations ended up in a fist fight between bikers and cagers. Bikers 'blocked the toll gate by paying with small change and taking loooooong to do it, this caused cagers to get upset. Cops can not charge you for riding through, the toll concession company must do this and they must sue you for riding through. I know it is not expected from a person not to pay toll fees, but imo it is ourageous what they charge. At the Carousel a few weekends ago, there was this big Hummer, caravan behind it and a boat hooked behind the caravan, they paid the same amount as what I did on a bike. Is this fair???

I also plan my routes to avoid the toll gates, however I have noticed that the so called alternative routes are now more often than not badly maintained and full of potholes. Living in Limpopo and traveling on the non toll roads is also scary as drivers of cages apparently cannot recognize a bike travelling in the opposite direction and will invariably try to pass a long line of slower moving vehicles without taking the bike into consideration. Lately I use toll roads more as you only have to worry about traffic traveling in the same direction as you do thus making you feel more comfortable. I always pay the toll fees except recently on my return from the toy run when the toll gate person demanded money instead of accepting the ticket handed to me.

daans wrote:except recently on my return from the toy run when the toll gate person demanded money instead of accepting the ticket handed to me.

The ticket was a discount on the toll not a free pass....

[quote="DaveS The ticket was a discount on the toll not a free pass.... [/quote]. Then I will have to go back and apologize but this was not what we where told in Bella-Bella or at the carousel when we were given the tickets.

I plan my routes to mostly avoid tollgates as it is a real annoyance in having to semi undress just to be able to pay. Though I also agree that the bikers get totally ripped off. The only tollgate I ever seen that has a reduced tarrif for bikes is the Champman's Peak road. Why can't all the other toll gates also charge proportional to vehicle load/type on the road.

I was in a meeting once with representative of the Department of Transport prior to the N-S N1 being tolled as part of the E-W N4 (because it wouldn't make enough money for the Consortium!). They claim that the automatic sensors read bikes like any other vehicle and this would cause problems. I suggested that if they just put two poles 1m apart on the left emergency lane, any vehicle that could fit through could ride toll-free and not confuse their automatic sensors.
Problem solved - simple and straightforward.
I have yet to see it implemented.
(Like blacklisting stolen cellphones?)
Too much money is being made...!

Volgens die Wild Dogs is daar weer soort van 'n protes deur motorfiets ryers in die Kaap op Sondag 24 Jan. Soos ek verstaan gaan hulle deur 'n tolhek ry en met 'n R200 noot betaal om sodoende 'n kleingeld probleem te skep. So niks onwettigs nie. Ek hoop van harte iemand kry iewers iets reg... maar met al die "replies" lyk ons kanse maar skraal.

Hey katjie, wat maak jy op Wild Dogs... begin daai GS spirit roer...?

Het van die eerste Gesie nog altyd 'n sagte plekkie gehad.
Dalk as dit weer my beurt is om 'n nuwe fiets te kry

Jip, check net vir Daleen. Sy het die regte bike vir haar en kyk hoe laat waai sy. Bygese, sy het nie 'n bang haar op haar kop nie!

Yup, You try keeping up with her on a fully loaded 1200 on the rough sections

Buiten dat ek snerpend bang is, moet julle onthou ek is nog blond ook!!

martin wrote:Yup, You try keeping up with her on a fully loaded 1200 on the rough sections

I have a couple of replies to this one...

And

...I'll be in trouble!

Gemmerkat wrote:Volgens die Wild Dogs is daar weer soort van 'n protes deur motorfiets ryers in die Kaap op Sondag 24 Jan. Soos ek verstaan gaan hulle deur 'n tolhek ry en met 'n R200 noot betaal om sodoende 'n kleingeld probleem te skep. So niks onwettigs nie. Ek hoop van harte iemand kry iewers iets reg... maar met al die "replies" lyk ons kanse maar skraal.

I must say that the only bad experiance we had on our december trip was at the tolgate befor Heidleburg on the N3, they no longer let you pay for both bikes with one card, so the second transaction was done manualy, the tolbooth attendant was very helpful and polite, but the guy in the 4x4 behinde me got so agetated that he eventualy got out of his bakie and grabbed my helmet and started pulling me around, It takes longer to go through a tolgate on a bike at the best of times, I will just try better to avoid them in the future.

As we often ride through toll gates on two bikes we have also experienced this practise.

In fact it is logic and incorporated for security sake. As no signature is requested when your card is swiped, the system will only allow one swipe on that specific card. The operator also cannot enter a 'double' entry as the system is 'operator proof'

It makes sense but is still a niusance.

It will help if two cards are presented. We prefer to use cash. She logs one entry and ask one bike to go and then make the next entry. I presume there are cable sensors on the paving or cameras that check the operation.

I'm still considering to get e-tag and then we can pass through together/simultaneously with nobody watching??