France motor way peage tag

[Jaguar steve]

Dynion Araf Uchaf said:

Not sure that toll tickets are worth it, and French countryside alongside very lightly trafficked country roads was amazing.

It invariably is.

I plan French roadtrips to take in as much of any national park on or close to my route as possible between destinations as they're always gorgeous. But of course you need a mix of all road types depending on where you're going and how far you have to go to get there.

An early start and three hour thrash along a toll route might well be just what you need to free up enough time for a bloody good lunch and a delightfully lazy amble along some windy D roads in the afternoon.

[//j17]

Bluetec350 said:

Have the Emovis one. UK based. Note that when you receive the tag it must be activated on their web site.
Also be aware of new speed limits on French roads that came into effect a few years back, so not so new.

Actually things have changed again and "France" doesn't have new speed limits "departments" do, in a national framework (basically the national government forced the drop and paid to change all the signs to "80kph" but the French population started shouting, so the national government said "Each department can change back if they want - but will have to pay for their own "90kph" signs"). As a result in some (most) parts of France the national speed limit's 80kph but in other's it's back up to 90.

Bluetec350 said:

Driving on a dead straight "N" road restricted to 50mph can be a bit painfull...

I'd argue with that, well other than accelerating out of towns where you do tend to hit top gear and realise you're accelerating past 85. Having done a couple of Le Mans trips since the change (and change back in the Sarthe department) it's only added about an hour/hour and a half to our total cross country route and you soon get used to it. I mean it's just like driving on UK "A" roads, which all seem to be sprouting "50mph" signs.

[Gunk]

I can’t see the need, the signs giving warning of cameras are huge, you can’t really miss them

[andy43]

Shnozz said:

bolidemichael said:

andy43 said:

As above right now due to brexit there's no means of european plod getting your address details to send you a bill so unless it's a roadside stop you'd be ok.
I used Waze on my last trip, plus a dashcam with a speed limit database built in - between them they were spotting fixed camera sites in France and Spain plus a few extra 'police spotted' pings on Waze. First time I've used either - well worth it although in France I was religiously sticking to no more than a couple of kmh over the satnav speed reading as their enforcement people do have a reputation. Spain and Portugal I was sat at 150 kmh, or more if I could lock on to someone obviously local. Does knock hours off when you can add 15-20% to the estimated speeds on a long journey.

I'm intrigued by this, as I've been wondering if it is possible to get access to a database or map containing speed limits, particularly to aid route planning for roadtrips off the motorway, particularly in UK but also for abroad. I started a thread to get an answer for this question, but didn't have much luck. As I'm on the mobile and PH isn't particularly functional on mobile browsers, I can't find the thread right now in order to take the conversation there (assuming you mean what I think you do), so apologies for the thread segue.

My understanding was that any specific camera database was completely illegal in France and could get you in some serious trouble. I believe Waze works around that by being a community share thing rather than using a camera database.

Any French residents able to confirm?

French law changed about ten years ago so it’s illegal as you say. Garmin have a Cyclops danger zone database. Waze have police officers marked. These are definitely not speed camera databases - my mistake - although you’d expect the French to fit cameras where it’s most dangerous

[Rushjob]

Kermit power said:

how often and where do you actually find busy toll gates?

I have a memory of them from the distant past, but I've not had to queue at a toll gate for years! Latest trip was Eurotunnel to South of Strasbourg last week, without a single queue, then, surprisingly, there to the Netherlands yesterday without having to pay a single toll in 400kms!!

Every Friday and Saturday in July and August. Last Saturday I forgot and dropped on to the A71, quickly hitting two lanes of standing traffic. Luckily I was on the bike so cut along the dotted line and came off at the first exit and stuck to the D routes instead.

[Jaguar steve]

Bluetec350 said:

Actually things have changed again and "France" doesn't have new speed limits "departments" do, in a national framework (basically the national government forced the drop and paid to change all the signs to "80kph" but the French population started shouting, so the national government said "Each department can change back if they want - but will have to pay for their own "90kph" signs"). As a result in some (most) parts of France the national speed limit's 80kph but in other's it's back up to 90.

And the limit changes from 90 to 80 and back again whilst on the exactly same road as you leave one department and enter the next without any warning at all.

Ask me how I know...

[Rushjob]

Jaguar steve said:

And the limit changes from 90 to 80 and back again whilst on the exactly same road as you leave one department and enter the next without any warning at all.

Ask me how I know...

And it all changed again at the beginning of August depending where you are, thankfully my department, Puy de Dôme went back to 90. Waze caught up after 2 or 3 days so that was nice!

[Jaguar steve]

Rushjob said:

Jaguar steve said:

And the limit changes from 90 to 80 and back again whilst on the exactly same road as you leave one department and enter the next without any warning at all.

Ask me how I know...

And it all changed again at the beginning of August depending where you are, thankfully my department, Puy de Dôme went back to 90. Waze caught up after 2 or 3 days so that was nice!

We'll be in France in September.

Waze you say? Ta, I'll give that a go and try not to get another ticket then...

[Phil.]

bolidemichael said:

I'm intrigued by this, as I've been wondering if it is possible to get access to a database or map containing speed limits, particularly to aid route planning for roadtrips off the motorway, particularly in UK but also for abroad. I started a thread to get an answer for this question, but didn't have much luck. As I'm on the mobile and PH isn't particularly functional on mobile browsers, I can't find the thread right now in order to take the conversation there (assuming you mean what I think you do), so apologies for the thread segue.

TomTom on your phone is great for navigation/planning and speed check/camera alerts across the EU. Costs £20 per year including live traffic data.

[Phil.]

This is a good route planner and provides realistic estimates of toll road charges and fuel costs:

https://www.viamichelin.com/

[Shnozz]

Phil. said:

This is a good route planner and provides realistic estimates of toll road charges and fuel costs:

https://www.viamichelin.com/

That is what I always use to plan Euro trips. Excellent.

[G321]

Well, after all the good advice on here this has turned into a bit of a nightmare.
Ordered a Ulys tag, all fairly straightforward on the website. They're supposed to take 1 euro from your account to verify the details. Get an email this morning saying payment was blocked and I now need to pay a 40 euro deposit to continue with the account. If not I have to send the tag back. Trouble is parcelforce have lost it and are now on strike until 5th September (when I'm in France). Been told to contact ulys so they can put a claim in, not sure how straightforward that will be!

If I can get the bip and go website working for me, how quickly are they delivered? If not did somebody mention about getting a tag from folkestone services? Are these easy to set-up quickly (ie. Whilst in the euro tunnel)?

[Gunk]

G321 said:

Well, after all the good advice on here this has turned into a bit of a nightmare.
Ordered a Ulys tag, all fairly straightforward on the website. They're supposed to take 1 euro from your account to verify the details. Get an email this morning saying payment was blocked and I now need to pay a 40 euro deposit to continue with the account. If not I have to send the tag back. Trouble is parcelforce have lost it and are now on strike until 5th September (when I'm in France). Been told to contact ulys so they can put a claim in, not sure how straightforward that will be!

If I can get the bip and go website working for me, how quickly are they delivered? If not did somebody mention about getting a tag from folkestone services? Are these easy to set-up quickly (ie. Whilst in the euro tunnel)?

I’ve just come back from a 1500 mile trip and the Bip and Go was faultless plus the app is really good at checking expenditure, however from memory they don’t arrive in the post particularly quickly about 10 days. May be worth checking on line to see if there is a shop in Calais where you can get one over the counter.

[Tyre Smoke]

I really don't get this.

How much time are you saving at what financial cost?

Just scan your contact less card and away you go. 30 seconds? If that?

[Deesee]

G321 said:

If I can get the bip and go website working for me, how quickly are they delivered? If not did somebody mention about getting a tag from folkestone services? Are these easy to set-up quickly (ie. Whilst in the euro tunnel)?

.

Tolltickets.com

And pick up from harbour shipping Folkestone services.

They are live on pickup.

[G321]

Deesee said:

.

Tolltickets.com

And pick up from harbour shipping Folkestone services.

They are live on pickup.

Thanks, I'll have a look at that

[Phil.]

G321 said:

Well, after all the good advice on here this has turned into a bit of a nightmare.
Ordered a Ulys tag, all fairly straightforward on the website. They're supposed to take 1 euro from your account to verify the details. Get an email this morning saying payment was blocked and I now need to pay a 40 euro deposit to continue with the account. If not I have to send the tag back. Trouble is parcelforce have lost it and are now on strike until 5th September (when I'm in France). Been told to contact ulys so they can put a claim in, not sure how straightforward that will be!

If I can get the bip and go website working for me, how quickly are they delivered? If not did somebody mention about getting a tag from folkestone services? Are these easy to set-up quickly (ie. Whilst in the euro tunnel)?

It took Bip&Go about a week to deliver mine to a UK address. That was in the summer of 2020. Very easy to set up.

[normalbloke]

Tyre Smoke said:

I really don't get this.

How much time are you saving at what financial cost?

Just scan your contact less card and away you go. 30 seconds? If that?

Have you ever used one?

[Phil.]

Tyre Smoke said:

I really don't get this.

How much time are you saving at what financial cost?

Just scan your contact less card and away you go. 30 seconds? If that?

It’s the journey time saved from queuing and stopping that is one of the biggest benefits especially at peak travel times like the summer.

[omniflow]

Tyre Smoke said:

I really don't get this.

How much time are you saving at what financial cost?

Just scan your contact less card and away you go. 30 seconds? If that?

You obviously don't travel on European Toll Roads very much.

Contactless is by no means ubiquitous - there are large sections in France and Spain where contactless just plain doesn't work.

Plus, if you're in a car that's quite low then you need to get the passenger side of the car really close to the machine, so that your passenger can actually reach far enough to take the ticket.

Plus, if your passenger is asleep, then you either need to wake them up, or get out of the car and walk around

Plus, if you don't have a passenger, then you need to get out of the car and walk around.

Plus, it's quite likely that at one of the toll booths you're going to hit the limit of number of contactless payments and need to enter your PIN.

So, there are quite a few reasons.