I'm visiting Sydney in September for a Wedding. We need to travel from the Airport to Lavender Bay and was wondering if it is worth paying the extra for the tollway or should we just take the long way around and avoid it.
From what i can work out the toll is only a few dollars each way, but the hire car company charges $3.30 each day we use a toll road.
Thank you
Another out of towner here. It's not much $ in the scheme of things and will make getting around more pleasant. Is the hire company going to charge you an additional $3.30 per day on top of the tolls? If it is $3.30 per day only I'd take that offer.
You might be able to organise your own tolling method, but that might be a headache without knowing the rego of the car you are using. eg bring your own e-tag or sign up for one off visitor system.
yes the $3.30 is on top of the tolls. I just found a toll way calculator an apparently it will cost $6.81 so in that case it might be worth it.
i recommend to use toll while you are going towards Lavender bay and avoid while you are coming back due to Harbour bridge toll is only one way(coming towards City)
thanks that makes things easier.
The Harbour bridge toll is in one direction. Taxis charge you both ways because if they go northbound and don't get a fare, they have to pay the toll to come southbound.
OP is in a rental car so the taxi charge does not apply.
Do you have your own e-toll pass?
the car will have one but i don't have one personally.
The difference is roughly 10mins according to google map… up to you whether you think its worth it.
You forget that on the return, the only way to avoid the bridge toll is to go via Gladesville bridge
https://www.google.com.au/maps/dir/Lavender+Bay+NSW+2060/Syd…
oh right, completely forgot that only one way is free… thanks!
No problem, sorry dont know how to use the link function
this is the route i was thinking i would have to take both ways.
No, if you want to avoid a toll going northbound, you can come off on South Dowling St and go a few different ways to get onto the bridge, eg Crown St or Macquarie St in the city. Personally unless the $7 is a huge deal, I don't think it's worth the hassle if you're not familiar with Sydney's roads
You should be able to decline toll from the hire car company and pay the toll directly if you use the toll road. So you will only pay what you use.
Unfortunately that isn't an option provided.
Just curious as to how the company will know that you use a toll road if you are using your own e-toll pass.
you can stick up your own toll pass you have one. I did but missed to put the tag up for one toll point.
$15 toll admin fee + toll cost - what a rip off!! Tried to call up the number and pay with cc for the hire car registration number (as per sign after the toll point) but operator said it could not be done for hire car. So you will be sitting duck for the admin fee.
I'm hiring the car through Thrifty. the pass is stuck permanently the window. If you remove it, you have to pay to replace.
@nivag01: how to remove tag from holder. The NSW RMS is twist clockwise, push to stick back on.
Bring your own tag from interstate and stick it up at toll collection point. That is the only way I can think of to avoid $15 admin fee. Correct me if this is not right?
Did you check if Thrifty charges admin fee to use their toll tag!
@eatwell365: there are no toll roads in SA so i don't have a tag. Its been 10 years since i was in Sydney and i wont't be back for a while. The Admin fee is $3.30 per day the toll way is used so not much in the scheme of things.
It is an option in melbourne. But not sure in Sydney. So the toll company would not allow you to pay toll for a rental car? How do they know that it's rented? Just curious to know.
Apple, if the vehicle is linked to the hire car companies account you can't call up and buy a pass to cover it in melbourne. (I work for one of the two melbourne toll road companies)
@slimdavy5: Interesting. Every time I rented from bunnings/handy rental I paid the toll online for east link and never had any issues. I am not sure of Herts/Avis etc. I thought they should be the same.
@apple2016: bunnings and handy rentals don't have accounts for their vehicles so yes you are right buying a pass would cover travel. Hertz and Avis have accounts so they pay for the travel then bill the customer. Bunnings waits till it gets a bill in the mail then nominates the customer
Cost of wedding: $10000
Cost of toll: $3
Sounds like it is not worth it
Most hire cars have an e tag glued to the windscreen, so you can't remove it. Sydney traffic is unpredictable but not undoable if you plan ahead. If you're here for a few days why not see if there's an unlimited toll option (for $12 a day or something) and go use as many toll roads and see as much of Sydney as you can fit into your trip?
It also depends on where you are staying. If you're north of the harbour bridge, the M1 makes it quite worthwhile to save time for a little cost. Having said that, the ED is often chock a block full anyway so it doesn't save much time.
Hertz charges $15 admin fee +toll costs.
Thanks yes are hiring a car with Thrifty and the tag is glued to the screen.
I think there was an option of pre registering for temp toll. In that case, your hire car company will not get toll notice and won't charge you.
Does not work for most rental cars as they're on a fleet account. Hertz even go so far as to warn you that trying to do that will result in being charged by Hertz and the toll operator.
The amount of time saved by the northbound Eastern Distributor toll ($6.68), depends a lot on the time of day.
Half the time it is just as easy to join the M1 from the domain tunnel entrance or the harbour bridge via Macquarie street
At the end of the day, look at how much time you have and work your answer based off that. As someone who regularly take this route.
Airport -> Lavender Bay: You save about 15 - 20mins during normal traffic by taking the toll road (Eastern Distributor). This will balloon out to as much as 30mins during peak hour. The Exit you'll be looking for from the freeway is around Randwick. Either choice is fine in my opinion, just make sure you end up on the bridge. Tunnel is a big nono for Lavender Bay as you'll overshoot it and need to loop back. Lane 1 on the Bridge and 1st exit.
On the way back: Ok this is where you'll likely have to cop the Bridge Toll. If you don't take it the way around is long and smaller roads. You'll be saving anywhere from 30mins - 1hr based on traffic. Hopping onto the bridge via the Cahill Expressway entrance (Lane 8 and this is separate to the rest of the bridge so make sure you enter into the correct side) will put you back onto the Eastern Distributor and fast track to the airport.
Great thank you!
This past weekend I drove to Sydney for the first time. I looked up a non toll route, and Google Maps said it was roughly 10 minutes difference, so I thought "hey, why not?". Well, as someone who is not used to such dense metro traffic, doing the drive during rush hour was a damn stressful experience (I live in Canberra; a 5 minute delay is a bad traffic day here). I paid the tolls on the way home, and it was a much more relaxing journey.
So if you're used to heavy traffic, it's definitely doable, but the simpler journey is worth a few bucks imo.
I'd gladly pay the toll because it means arriving without the sweaty armpits and more time to be spent with the married couple and out of town guests.
The taxi's and shuttle bus will usually avoid the tollway so it can be done. If you're used to city driving and its not peak hour traffic its very do-able, especially if you are driving an automatic with air-conditioning. If its rush hour traffic or you don't enjoy city driving the $3.30 is definitely worth it. The route into the CBD often shrinks into a single lane and expands back into double lane so there's about a dozen lane changes+merging. There are a few mandatory right hand turns so you'll find that during rush hour the traffic turns into stop start where you'll only crawl a few car spaces before the traffic light turns red again and more industrial vehicles come from the driveways to share the road. Once you make it into the CBD there are traffic lights every corner. During the peak hour you'll expect to be stopped at every traffic light.
I'm from interstate so I don't get to drive there as much. The local Sydney drivers will have more experience and better insight.