French autoroute toll booths

[RayS]

More and more of these are converting to unmanned stations, even on the major routes. It seems that their credit card readers are somewhat unreliable. A few days ago, the main tool point on the A7 just south of Lyon and the other tools on the same network suffered from this problem with the result there was about a 20 minute delay while everyone tried another card (as requested0 which also failed and had to scramble about for cash. The point of this is to make sure you have cash available as well as your card. Talking with the natives I was told this situation if fairly frequent.
Does anyone know how easy it is to get the orange telepeage card and whether it would be a reasonable proposition for the visitor - it would certainly save considerable time.

 

[Sproket]

Have a look here it might be of some use

There are links on the page.
When i follow the link on google chrome it translates it for me,
Just checked the link on IE8 & still in french
If you copy the text & paste it into this link
http://uk.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt
tab down french to english & it works ok ( it only does 150 words at a time )

You want to save time? Of living l' motorway differently… and with less d' irritation? Adopt the télépéage Liber-T! Thanks to him, you circulate without concern. More than 8000 km of motorways open with you, everywhere in France. Save time! More queues nor of pane to drop… Easily recognizable with their " t" orange, of the ways are reserved to you with tolls. You simplify the life! More problems of currency, nor of risk to awake your deadened children… With your badge Liber-T, the barriers rise from now on automatically to your passage. More easily manage the cost of your displacements! More receipts for payment which s' accumulate… or which s' mislay. An invoice is addressed to you at the end of the month, with (except adverse opinion of your share) the detailed statement of your ways.

 

[ValA.]

There is now a UK company offering Telepeage services - https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/liber-t

Another way is to avoid the toll road altogether - we do!

 

[RayS]

Thanks for the link, Val - very useful. I'm afraid old age is taking it's toll (pardon the pun) on both of us and we cannot reach tickets or pay machines without getting out of the car and I'm also finding that the higher average speed on autoroute and the lack of hassle in negotiating Rouen, Lyon etc etc not to mention little town compensate for some of the extra cost and the better fuel consumption helps to bridge the gap further. Not to mention the idiocies of the satnav- no more built-in ones for me.
I shall probably get a tag in time for the southbound trip December 28th when time before dark will be of the essence - if so, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[jaffasdad]

We've also noticed the increasing use of automatic booths in recent years. How do they differentiate between solo cars and those towing vans? (A huge difference in cos t.) Presumably there are sensors but does anyone know for sure?

 

[NickinFrance]

There is a 2m height limit on the left hand telepeage lane, although this doesn't stop (mainly Dutch) caravan towers trying to use it.
You need to use the right hand lorry lane which will only recognise a Category 2 telepeage unit.

 

[RayS]

I asked the company and they tell me there are two types of sensor at each gate such that they can tell between class 1 ( car only) and class2 )( car + caravan). Whether ithey can detect twin axle vans which may be class 3 is not stated.

 

[vectisrambler]

Empty post (likely not intentional - probably an Internet Explorer issue!)