I thought there might be a transition from older national road signage standards to current.
The following suggests it’s not quite so. NorthConnex is a relatively recent upgrade.
NorthConnex entry near Hornsby Sydney heading South or is it West?
Missing in most places these days is roadside signage spelling out the cost of the tolls. Either for the immediate motorway portion or combined cost to get to your chosen destination. EG Penrith on the way to the Blue Mountains and Great Western Hwy, the Hume Highway, Sydney Airport or Barangaroo. The last option assumes you may have some change remaining after putting some credit aside for the tolls.
BrisVegas looking at each end of the through route connecting the airport and M1 north with the west.
Not so flash, meeting a similar standard to NSW.
I’m sorry, I’m completely naive here, living in FNQ where there aren’t any toll roads, but do these roads/bridges/whatever EVER actually get paid for, or are they toll roads forever?? Seems a bit of a rip-off…
It’s horrendously inefficient to change (increase) the toll, since you have to visit all the signage and rip down the old one and put up a new one. That’s what online information is for.
It can’t really take into account the actual distance you intend to travel. At best it could tell you the current maximum that you would pay if you enter at the entrance you are currently approaching and leave at the last exit. But this then makes #1 even worse.
It depends who owns it i.e. state government or toll road company.
Particularly in the latter case, it depends on the contractual conditions.
It also depends on whether a far future government “changes its mind” about a statement made by a government in the distant past.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened 90 years ago and they still collect tolls. I understand the bridge itself was paid off years ago but afterwards there is maintenance and the elaboration of the approaches, changes of function, erection of flagpoles etc. Never let a good earner go to waste.
It may be worth pointing out the number of digitally enhanced signage about our roads, speed limits, minutes to exit points, fog or congestion ahead warnings, road safety messages.
Efficiency assured would the effort be justified?
There are some drivers who live in a non digital world. Fewer by the year the best route for a journey and related toll costs can be readily found in advance if one is connected.
Alternately do we have broad community acceptance of the way things are considering?
The cost of a journey by public transport, at least in our 3 largest cities by Myki, Opal, or Go cards is also not announced in advance. There are online apps to provide both the route, timetables and costs. The answer is also briefly displayed, eyesight depending when one taps off. Accepted procedure irrespective of views on the final cost.
In the pre-digital world in a country far away (USA) the ‘Pennsylvania Turnpike’ was one of the earliest toll roads. When one entered there was a time stamped card issued that showed the amount of the toll from that entry to every exit point. On exit that card had to be provided to the toll keeper; failure to have the card resulted in the maximum toll to be charged. The wikipedia entry includes how that changed to a system reminiscent of our own tolling.
Fair enough - although I have never seen a toll charge being displayed digitally (and the photos above are consistent with that). Even if it were, that doesn’t address my second point i.e. the amount being displayed may not apply to any given road user. Should the maximum be displayed? Should the minimum be displayed? Should both be displayed?
Should the obersurveillancestate scan your number plate (which it does anyway) and use AI to predict your likely journey and its best guess be displayed?
If we’re going into the digital future, why not display it on the tag / on the car’s display (via Bluetooth from the tag)? Those are other options each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
What would the best solution be for those drivers who are not digitally aware/connected and drive by old fashioned maps? How do they determine what the toll costs are for their journey or alternate routes.
Are the answers to be found on old fashioned paper maps (EG HEMA)?
13 33 31 open 24x7 for breakdown calls! For the customer care team only 7am-7pm Mon -Fri (Melb, Syd). Brisbane lists the same number, hrs?
Is the suggestion that being ‘connected’ or not is no longer an acceptable choice, what ever the reasoning? I had to look the contact details up online, although I recollect the same number is on some toll road signage including paying if one has no tag or pass.
Personally I rely mostly on being able to access the toll road information online. Personal responsibility is important. Perhaps it starts with giving all Australians equal access to digital services at the same speed and cost.
On behalf of those who cannot or will not. Are consumers being reprogrammed? Once critical mass is achieved has the market place won, with those consumers unwilling or unable to conform now outcast by the conforming majority?
I had the impression that you were talking about someone who is using paper maps to plan a route and they want to know in advance what including a toll road in the route will cost them.
Yes, it would require planning in advance.
Soon enough every car will be able to handle it automatically i.e. you set the starting and ending points, you say whether to consider toll roads, if so it will tell you what the toll would be and you accept or reject, and then it navigates.
Being connected will not be a choice. You will be connected (tracked) whether you like it or not. You won’t have to have a smartphone or know how to operate a computer or even have an internet connection at home.
I don’t. “Soon enough” means it is a prediction about the future, and hence carries an essential uncertainty.
As a prediction about car technology, it is not unreasonable. There is ample evidence from the past that features that are only found on expensive, high-end cars eventually find their way into much cheaper cars as standard features.
I also know what the current situation in the US is, where there is a greater prevalence of monetising the stream of data produced by your car.
I have no reason to argue that networking for cars will become common if it sells cars, the part of the speculation that I see no reason to accept is that it will be compulsory, that the driver will be unable to disable such links or that intrusive uses will be made of it that cannot be avoided. I need some evidence of that and see none so it remains an open question that is nowhere near solid enough to say “You will be connected (tracked) whether you like it or not.”
If it makes money for the manufacturer, why would they let you disable it? This is surveillance capitalism. Data has value.
(I know for a fact though that some people in the US have successfully disabled this kind of functionality - with no help from the manufacturer - but the way I see that arms race evolving is that eventually the car manufacturer won’t allow the car to start if you have disabled the relevant functionality. The average car owner probably won’t be up to the job of disabling this kind of functionality anyway.)
In theory. If people do care. If people even know.
If you have a half-modern car or later, I’m willing to bet that you don’t know what data your car is collecting. The difference today in Australia is that the data is typically only accessed when your car is serviced (OBD) or when there is an “incident”, rather than remotely in real-time or near-real-time.
