toots sweet

I think that this would be a single journey/trip. If you want a pemanent one you would need to sign up for a Via Verde device(small box/transponder on front window).We have one on our UK reg car. It is only applicable to that number plate though. We find it useful. Money taken out by DD from our PT account whenever used.probably monthly.(possibly quarterly ?) Also sometimes includes small offers on accommodation and occasional newsletters.

Rambling archer

You need a credit card - debit card will not work.
As you draw into the layby soon after the International Bridge over the river, there is what looks a bit like a set of toll booths under a canopy, and it is here you draw up your vehicle, put your credit card into the slot in the machine, your registration plate is viewed by camara there, you get a slip of paper from the machine to confirm the linkage, with your registration number on it, date, etc, and off you go - that works for Electronic Tolls only - on other motorways you will stop at the usual toll booths to pay, either machine or person. The electronic tolls are done with overhead gantries you go under and are NOT manned.
If you have problems with the machine near the border for getting your credit card into the system, there is an intercom you can use to call for help, or usually someone will come over and tell you what you are doing wrong!

All of this has nothing at all to do with passports, covid-19 certificates, possible quarantine for covid, nor anything else. Just a machine to set up electronic motorway payments.
Not sure how the money is taken from your card account, but I think it is grouped together, possibly by date - so all your little tolls for one day will be put together as one payment.

If you need your passport stamping, then you will need to park up and go into the office and ask ...

chislenko

Not wishing to encourage "law breaking" but I think one thing to come out of the B word is that vehicle information is no longer shared between the EU and the UK so they couldn't find you to fine you retrospectively (if you didn't pay) and vice versa for EU registered cars in the UK.

riv

You say ' soon after the international bridge over the river '.

Do you mean before or after the Border controls ?

And how is the set up signed or labelled ?

So there is no end date incorporated into the machine logging on business ? So once set up it would carry on indefinitely ?

Can one use it with a Portuguese bank card ( not sure if debit or credit ) from NovoBanco ? Or does it have to be a foreign bank card ?

But then there are still motorways which have tolls but no electronic system for payment ? I didn't notice any of those in 2019. ( But then I didn't venture off the track between Guarda and Almancil, via VRSA, and I had the Transponder thing so maybe that took care of all motorways ?? ).

guesswork

I have a Spanish car and have paid online for years. You use the link attached and buy credit. It links your car reg and and your account

​​​​​​Toll Card - Buy online

It is important to note that this road is operated by different people to the the one going up to Lisbon therefore the payment system is different

RichardHenshall

https://www.portugaltolls.com/en/web...portagens/home

guesswork

Its along while since I set mine up but you have to set up payment through CTT (Portuguese Post). If I remember correctly once thats done its easy. I generally pay 30 euros credit on the account. I am in Spain but play a golf along the Algarve Each time I travel the appropriate Toll fee is deducted off my credit. You do need to print a copy of the details each time you put money on the account and carry it in the car

Red Eric

Why would anybody need their passport stamped when crossing the Spain / Portugal frontier?

Which border controls are those?

Rambling archer

Uk folk who are going in an out of Portugal and/or the shengen area may need proof of being in and out of borders to calculate their 90 in 180 days stay/s. The "border" controls indeed do not really exist if you are just driving through as within the shengen area there are no controls, but the border post PT-Spain at the Guardiana river is usually manned - cannot say for other border crossings. Elsewhere there has also been the question as to how you tell SEF/SNS that you are driving into the country as a fully vaccinated foreigner.... but I am not sure we ever resolved that one??!!

Rambling archer

I feel that is rather more complicated to set up (and if you want to claim back any of your unused euros, even more so) but in person in a CTT post office you can use cash or debit card, not sure about online. If crossing at one of the few (I think it is 4) motorway crossings where you can do your CREDIT card in the machine it is much easier to control.

Rambling archer

Riv - as you drive over the bridge, you will see a layby to your right - big area with a building at the back of the layby and facing that, nearer the road is the set of booths with the machines. All this area used to be the border area which as RedE has pointed out is no longer set out in lanes etc for passport/customs control. Special circumstances will be dealt with in the building at the back.

There are instructions on the machines and a button to press for help. There is no end to the registering of your Credit Card but money is only taken out of your account as it is used and the details will appear on your credit card statement. There may be a way of cancelling the access to the credit card via the website that Richard H linked to but I have not done it. There is a system of cameras at the machine which recognises your number plate (french, uk, spanish, whatever) and links it to the Credit Card you are asking to use. It will only work with that registration.
You can use the cards listed on the machine, which certainly include Visa cards and Mastercards - it is set up for foreigners since most PT residents will have the PT means of payment but you can use PT credit cards also. If you are not sure of yours, check with the bank - perhaps you have your contract to check that?

The transponder thingy does work for both types of PT motorways - the ViaVerde lane on the toll-booth type of motorways, and the electronic types which only have the overhead gantry-reader. Your credit card would only do for the electronics. On the tollbooth types you would have to go through the normal lane and pay inidivually there, eg Albufueira to Lisbon is a Tollbooth motorway. A22 across the Algarve is electronic.

del.Almendro

We stopped at the credit card machine just over the bridge in our UK plated car and registered for a return trip to Faro Airport. We took the receipt from the machine but never got charged.

Some weeks later I checked the receipt and realised the ANPR had recorded the numeric part of our number plate as 70O instead of 700. Bargain!

Rambling archer

That's a good one!