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Sunday, September 10. 2006Electronic Tolling in SydneyTrackbacks
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Hey buddy.
Yeah I've got the RTA-tag. I reckon it's better than the E-Toll one coz: a) It looks funkier, which is totally important for impressing the chicks (it looks like a component off the millenium falcon) whereas the E-Toll tag looks like a packet of breath mints hanging off your windsreen (not cool). b) it makes a totally awesome noise when you use it (sounds like space invaders). Unfortunately it doesn't always work when I use it on the harbour bridge. Maybe coz my car is so low to the ground the detector thingy can't pick it up. Sometimes I have to pull it off the windscreen and wave it above my head to make it work (it's a good look - trust me). If I go through the "Tag Only" lane I often see the flash from the camera hitting my car coz the tag doesn't register. They send you a letter telling you you didn't pay and you just write your tag number on and send it back and they charge your account. I signed a letter saying they can just go ahead and charge my account without writing to me if that happens. Which made me ponder the following...... If my E-tag were to fail altogether and they just take my photo when i go through the gate every time and then charge my account.....why bother with e-tags at all? Why don't we just give them our credit card number and our number plate number and we could save all this fiddling about with tags?
But the RTA-tag is the E-Toll, they are one and the same!
Look at the links I posted, they spell it out. As for your observation about number plate recognition, that's exactly how the London Congestion Charge that I helped set up works, and there's no real reason why it couldn't work that way. Supposedly it's "harder", but it obviously works.
Sorry.
"E=Way" is unfunky, mint-packet, beeping job. "E-Tag" is funky millenium falcon component shaped, trilling number from RTA (that doesn't work properly but is cool anyway).
Well if mine's shaped like the millenium falcon then I think Lucas has some explaining to do. No idea what sound it makes because it hasn't been used yet, but I'll be sure to let you know about such an important matter!
OK, yep - I can confirm that the RTA's etoll does comply with the wacky beep requirement, enough for us to mute the stereo as we drove through the tolling points today.
The novelty has now worn off though.
The 2 things that really annoys me are:
- the $40 deposit. how much interest is generated on this ? - top up is $40. i only use it at weekends but that is not taken into account. I have an $70 or so credit, which will take 6mths to use.
Sure I agree, but if you were giving people some electronic device to use that you owned, you'd want some assurance that you'd ever see it again too.
I expect my credit will take much longer than six months to use up. That's not really the point though. It doesn't expire, unlike most of the other operators who seem geared towards frequent users. |
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