Barrier Free Tolling on the M50

• By: Editor
• On: 31/Oct/2008
• In: Ireland Travel Tips

Up until midnight on the 31st of August 2008 you'd have to queue up at the tollbooth plaza and throw your fee into a basket before continuing your journey. This was a significant bottleneck on the ring road and is now thankfully relieved with this new system.What this means for you

Well there are 3 methods of payment for getting through the Toll plaza.

The first way is Tag Registration. This method is the cheapest and easiest method for those who use the M50 frequently. There are a number of operators from which you can acquire an eFlow tag.

For a more comprehensive list of providers you can check them out here.

These tags will work on all tolled motorways in Ireland. This method costs €2 per usage and has a €1 charge per month for account maintenance.

The second way is Video Registration. This is where you register your vehicle license plate on eFlow.ie, and then each time the cameras on the M50 photograph your car, it will debit your account.

This method only works on the M50, so you will still have to pay on the other tolled motorways. This method costs €2.50 per usage, though there is no account maintenance fee.

And the final method is non-Registration. This is where the toll plaza will photograph your car and if you haven’t paid by 8pm the following day, a bill will be sent to the registered owner of the car being driven.

This method costs €3 per usage and has no account maintenance fee. You can pay this on the eFlow.ie, over the phone (In Ireland - 1890 50 10 50) or in a Payzone Outlet (there are many located throughout the country, including Dublin Airport).

If you don’t pay by 8pm the following day, there are penalties that get bigger over time until it is finally paid or if payment is not forthcoming then legal proceedings will be initiated. There are processes in place to track bills back to other countries as well.

You can opt for a pre-pay or a post-pay system. In the pre-pay system you'll be debited on each usage of the motorway; and in the post-pay you get a bill at the end of every month.

What if you're driving a car rental in Ireland?

If you're driving a car hire in Ireland then you may think that this doesn’t affect you, but it might. If you're flying into Dublin Airport and you're heading to the South West, then you will almost certainly be using the M50. Some of our car rental agents are using a different method of dealing with this. 

If your car rental is with Europcar or Budget, then they will let you pay the toll on your own accord using any of the methods mentioned above under non-Registration. Of course if you don’t pay, the bill will be sent to the car rental agent instead of you.

If this occurs, the car rental agent will bill you directly the value of the toll, any additional fine incurred for late payment and an additional €30 administration fee.

If your car rental is with Alamo or National (Irish Car Rentals), then you won’t have to worry too much as both of these have registered all their vehicles with the Roads Authority already.

When they receive the bill they will pay it and then charge you in turn, though there may be an additional administration fee of about €4.50 (€5 for commercial vehicles).

Hopefully this should help explain a simple process made complicated by the many variations. If you would still like to drive in Ireland than you can find our rental options on our car hire Ireland page.

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