Poor_John
Member
Thought I would post my experience of using the new barrier free Dublin M50 Toll. I know it's not something that most of you will experience, but if you visit Dublin you might learn from my mistakes. The first thing to say is that the M50 car park has gone and that has to be good.
My first mistake was to not go onto the internet and visit www.eflow.ie. Summer holidays and a faulty cable modem is my excuse, which also explains my absence from this site too.
Had I visited the site, I could have preregistered my vehicle registration and payment details. A camera would have recognised my number plate and 2.50 Euro would have been taken automatically. As I didn't, I had until 8pm the day after passing the toll to pay 3 Euro by phone. The problem with this payment method is that the telephone number is displayed on temporary road side signs and it is a low call number only available from a telephone in the Irish Republic. UK mobiles are no use. The other problem is that the signs are right at the point where the road takes a detour around the old toll booths, which makes them impossible to read as you need to concentrate on negotiating the diversion.
When we got to our destination, I got onto the internet and went to the Eflow site to pay on-line, where I discovered my next problem. Their payment system does not like Apple computers! So I got on the phone and paid that way. I asked if I could prepay for the return trip, which I was to make the next day, but was told that this was not possible. I explained that I needed a telephone number to ring from outside the Irish Republic and was given a 800 number.
When I returned home I rang the 800 number, but it was unobtainable. I tried various combinations of international dialling codes in front of it, but still nothing. So I rang our hosts in Dublin and got them to ring Eflow to get the number. Got a 0845 number which worked.
I know the system is new and there are bound to be teething problems, but for tourists like me, the current system is a pain.
John.
My first mistake was to not go onto the internet and visit www.eflow.ie. Summer holidays and a faulty cable modem is my excuse, which also explains my absence from this site too.
Had I visited the site, I could have preregistered my vehicle registration and payment details. A camera would have recognised my number plate and 2.50 Euro would have been taken automatically. As I didn't, I had until 8pm the day after passing the toll to pay 3 Euro by phone. The problem with this payment method is that the telephone number is displayed on temporary road side signs and it is a low call number only available from a telephone in the Irish Republic. UK mobiles are no use. The other problem is that the signs are right at the point where the road takes a detour around the old toll booths, which makes them impossible to read as you need to concentrate on negotiating the diversion.
When we got to our destination, I got onto the internet and went to the Eflow site to pay on-line, where I discovered my next problem. Their payment system does not like Apple computers! So I got on the phone and paid that way. I asked if I could prepay for the return trip, which I was to make the next day, but was told that this was not possible. I explained that I needed a telephone number to ring from outside the Irish Republic and was given a 800 number.
When I returned home I rang the 800 number, but it was unobtainable. I tried various combinations of international dialling codes in front of it, but still nothing. So I rang our hosts in Dublin and got them to ring Eflow to get the number. Got a 0845 number which worked.
I know the system is new and there are bound to be teething problems, but for tourists like me, the current system is a pain.
John.
