olivia

Are you going to get one of these devices. Will they accept uk or Spanish bank accounts for payment.

Casa Santo Estevo

No they don't....unless you have a bank account at the one Caja. Read post 25 in which I have given a lot of links and details on how to make payments.

Casa Santo Estevo

This link says they have collected a lot of money just from the North of Portugal. The prediction is going to be 330millon Euros in the first year when in operation all over Portugal.

Two hours? Nice.

What are the normal opening times of P.O. in Portugal?
Is the payment every month or do you just top it up manually with a visit to the bank or is payment automatically deducted from your bank account from now on.

Thanks for posting this. It illustrates that for the Portuguese residents it is relatively easy. It is the hire cars and us who live in Spain that are having problems in making payments.

Big Ant

Without a Portuguese professional with me, we would have failed. CTT (Post Office) had so many reasons to reject applications, it was like a game for them. My 'support' guy was on his mobile to ViaVerde direct, countering every argument the Post Office had to reject the applications. At one moment they requested 30 minutes stay-of-execution, whilst Post Office ladies sought guidance from their head office, attempting to block again. Bloody odd, not only did we want to buy 2 devices for EUR 50, but then to pay the damn tolls - on top of the EUR 550 road tax we pay for just one of the cars !

Anyway, done and dusted.

Casa Santo Estevo

Ant, many thanks for posting this...karma sent.

On a vacation forum someone posted this link (in English) It is from Last October.
Some of the information is not quite correct, perhaps it is lost in translation. For instance I have not heard about the different rates before.

English article.

Joao

This will certainly catch the unaware tourists who come with money in their pocket to spend in the Portuguese economy, not on excessive road toll charges which appear almost impossible to pay unless you take a Portuguese speaking person with you. (Even then it sounds difficult!!)
This will kill the campervans coming and possibly result in the tourists staying in Spain or otherwise clogging up the normal roads.
A complete boycott of the motorways in Portugal sounds a good idea which will make the government sit up and think.
Joao

The_Hog

Ah, every cloud has a silver lining.

scott909

I was thinking the exact same thing!

Fredbargate

No they will use the 125, bringing it to a standstill

bigglesafloat

I think Joao is over estimating the incoming traffic of motor caravans and Spanish - the former only arrive in Winter in comparatively small numbers and the Spanish usually arrive in numbers during Easter.

olivia

Why do you say that? The main industry of the Algarve is tourism. Are you saying these people don't contribute? I think we do when we come. Shopping, Green fees, Eating out, Car hire, fuel now tolls, [if we can find a way to pay].

Joao

If the number of campervans in the Tavira area is anything to go by during the winter period then I would estimate around a couple of thousand come into the whole of Portugal during that period. I would then say that is a fairly significant number.
Joao

The_Hog

I like motorhomes, I even considered buying one.
What put me off was the number of Motorhomers that think it is perfectly OK to simply stop and park up where they like without any regard for the law or the local people.
I believe it is known as 'wild camping'. It is illegal in Spain and should be in Portugal too.
They blatantly breach 'no overnight camping' signs and goodness knows what they do with their chemical waste.
Fortunately here in Tavira it is not the problem it once was but go to the beach at Manta Rota and you will see at least 300 of them. It looks like a gypsy encampment - complete with barking dogs.
Before motorhomes people had caravans. You never saw people 'wild camping' with caravans, they went to authorised campsites. Motorhomers should do the same. There are plenty of them and they are not expensive or full.
When the tolls arrive it will just be another thing that they don't pay.

olivia

I understand. I didn't know it was such a large scale problem.

EsuriJohn

You should see Castro Marim from October to May there are dozens of motor homes parked up in the area where the monthly market is held. They move off for the Saturday of the market but are back soon after and are spreading around more sites adjcent to the main market site. The Market site has electric points, water and I am told sewage disposal so there is an obvious attraction but I have no idea if they are charged for a pitch. Rumour has it that they do not spend much in local bars and cafes but you do see lots in Lidl and the other supermarkets in VRSto so they do bring some income to the majors just not to the locals.