Latest update (in Spanish) A22 in the south to be tolled by the end of 2011.
http://www.huelvainformacion.es/article/huelva/1056726/portugal/implantara/peaje/antes/final/ano/y/partir/altura.html

Spanish registered cars now being fined...again article in Spanish.
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/galicia/2011/09/07/0003_201109G7P4991.htm

From the 8th of December 2011 tolls will be charged on the A22, A23, A24 and A25. This is in addition to the roads in the north of Portugal already electronically tolled.

You might want to check out the official Via Verde website for more information on the new system. Very anti-tourist!

http://www.viaverde.pt/Website/

Thanks for the earlier postings. We did manage to avoid the new toll road on our trip from Porto to the Douro in early November.

Robert you managed to circumnavigate the toll around Oporto airport? well done.

We picked up the rental car at the train station on the way out of town. Much easier than the airport and a much smaller supplement.

Great idea.

Robert2533 - I'm planning a June trip to Portugal and picking up a rental car in Porto to 'zig zag' my way south to Lisbon (via Coimbra, Obida, Estremoz). You mentioned picking up your car at the train station when exiting the city. What company did you use? Just curious, did you have any toll road problems? I'm hoping to encounter manned-toll booths and not having to deal with the new system. Am I being unrealistic? Any advise you can offer would be appreciated! Janet

We always use Auto Europe (www.autoeurope.com) or the sister company, Kemwel (www.kemwel.com). They are located in Portland, Maine. It this case the agency at the Campanhã rail station was Avis.

You can check the Via Verde website (http://www.viaverde.pt/Website/) for the toll road locations and information, but you should be able to avoid the new electronic tolls. The website has an English option and now has information on purchasing and using the new electronic tolls, which, after reading, seem reasonable.

Sorry for the delay in responding ... December passed by too quickly!

Robert - thanks for your info! I checked the ViaVerde site and think the electronic tolls won't impact my travels from Porto until I approach Evora at the end of my six day car rental. Finger's crossed that I won't have a problem. With any luck, by June there might be an easier system for the electronic tolls when a Portugal plated car is rented for a short timeframe and no 48 hr period to find a post office before departing the country!

Ribeirasacra - thanks for your updates on the new sytem! I'm following your posts on ST ... very helpful!

Actually, we now have a similar system here in Seattle, crossing the 520 Bridge. Now I have to buy a transponder to pay the fee, or avoid the bridge to the east side.

You cannot leave the airport at Oporto without paying the tolls; or take a tricky route through various industrial parks. That is far too complicated for the average tourist. Unfortunately Jane you will be paying tolls bat the beginning of your trip. The good news is there is said to be a machine to pay the tolls at the airport. You have to ask at the pick up desk where that is.
Jane do you not post on ST? I hope you saw the one about the proposed agreement for hire cars this coming summer.
Robert bring your US transponder with you and see it works in Portugal!

Ribeirascara - I start my trip in Lisbon, then take a train to Porto. I will be in Porto for 3 days before renting a car to head south for Coimbra (then Obida, Estremoz, Evora and finally the Lisbon airport). I've booked the car through Kemwel, with pick up at the Europcar downtown office on rua Antonio Bessa Leite. I was hoping the direct route exiting the city south would have no electronic tolls. Not true?

ViaMichelin shows most routes have toll booths. Not sure when I head for Estremoz from Obidos (A-15 to Santarem; IC-10/N114 south, then A6 to Estremoz; finally, A6 and A12 to the Lisbon airport to return the car before flying home). Will I encounter electronic tolls in the south? Does the Lisbon airport have the machine to pay the tolls? That would be terrific!

I haven't posted on ST, just read the posts and learn much! I did check the site you provided for an Algarve car rental firm. I asked Kemwel about Europcar rentals in Porto, and they weren't aware of a similar toll payment system in place. My style of travel is to see as much as possible, as you can tell from my route in Portugal. Just doesn't fit with the ST style, so I haven't posted there!! Thanks again, for any help you can provide!

Robert - Living for a long time on the East Coast, I had a transponder for the many toll roads - very convenient! But all toll areas had a lane to pay cash, so there was that choice ... and dealing in English, no worries! It's the electronic tolls, with no choice for easy payment before departing Portugal that has me concerned. Don't want to receive a costly ticket in the mail months after my trip!

Any further info or help greatly appreciated! Janet

I think that Via Michelin shows the route has tolls, but does not confirm tollbooths.
This link (below) will show you where the toll roads are together with the location of Gantries and present costs of passing through the gantry.
Other highways could well be tolled with manned booths. http://www.estradas.pt/portagenstrocos
With regards to the car rentals Kemwel are an agent so they will never know the situation and Euopcar should know, but normally you only speak to a person in a call centre. This sort of information should be accessed via the local offices.As i said in my posting on ST the information is unconfirmed but I hope it is correct.

Thanks for the info! I'll continue to read any information posted on the electronic tolls on the various travel sites, and hope for the best. Janet

Pray tell, what is a Gantry? My computer says its a sort of crane, but that doesn't fit with toll roads unless its the structure that would ordinarily have a toll booth. Help!

I cannot embed photos on this forum so if you go to the forum, where I constantly update the information on the toll roads, you will see photos embedded that show what these gantries look like.
http://slowtalk.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/5031043523/m/789006232001

The good news is that PT is being taken to EU court about some of its tolled roads (esp. the A22) as against EU guidelines. This is excellent as the payment management system is untenable.

Other countries have a similar toll/tax which is paid at certain locations. The illegality of the tolls is not about method of payment it is about so-called discounts The Portuguese receive. But the EU will act very slow and it may take a long time before anything is changed.

Rib, I know why they are being taken to court and anything that makes it more uncomfortable for the PT is a good thing in my book. The system is unworkable as it stands today. Which other countries do it like this?

AutoEurope has informed me that when you rent either Europcar and Avis you can request the transponder at the office when you pick up the car. But they didn't know the fee. And now almost every highway in the country is an unmanned toll situation so you either need the transponder or go to a post office or other payment facility from the next day on to 5 days on. What a hassle!

SloJan2 London for the congestion charges.
For the rest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll_roads_in_Europe
Just that the others (as listed in wiki) do not have a different payment charge for foreigners to local citizens.

Just finished reading this thread and am completely confused and the websites given (except for wikipedia) are in Portugese. Help! We're renting a car in Madrid (airport) and will drive it into Portugal, then back to Madrid at the end of the trip. Can someone explain in simple English how we should plan to navigate the toll system in Portugal? If there are no cash toll booths, what do we need to do and how? Thanks for addiitional information.
k

No one can explain it..that is the problem. When you enter PT on the A22 (far South), there is a small ATM looking box on the side of the road, near a tiny police station. You can then get a temporary pass. Once that is gone, you should be going into the post office with your license plate number and paying ((within 5 days)...so, if you are flying out, you may be out of luck. I have been trying to pay 6 EUR for about 1 month and have had no luck. When I asked my car rental company about it (they had no transponders available)when bringing the car back, they shrugged their shoulders and couldn't answer any questions.

It is a total SNAFU.

Brisa is the company that runs the system (at least in the Algarve) and they have cashed in big time. The promise was to maintain roads etc but that isn't happening and the roads aren't the best. Meanwhile, they are raking in money with the transponders, and not having to hire anyone to man any booths. It is ridiculous. As far as paying with a foreign registered car, well, the word on the street is don't worry about it.

Some enterprising journalist really needs to follow the money trail on this. I would bet heavily on corruption.

crckwc1
I bet after the posts by SloJan2 you are even more confused.
Why they are ranting about their thoughts on the political situation and then going on about the A22 I do not have a clue. The most direct route you need to take is basically
In Spain M40; R5 (toll road) A5;
In Portugal the road number changes from the A5 to the A6 (toll road); A2 (toll road).
All the toll roads on this route have normal tollbooths so you do not have to worry about the electronic toll system.
But if you are straying from this route you may well find yourself on a toll road with “electronic tolls”.
If you do not want to bother with electronic tolls then please read the Slow Travel forum for instructions in English. They are far to long for me to write out again on this forum.

Whatever.

In light of your original post, it seemed relevant.

Too right the original posting is out of date.
But I have chosen to up date only in one location. that is on Slow Travel.
Good luck with your political rantings.

SloJan2 - I like the possibility of "don't worry about it" when driving a foreign registered car but even that could backfire (no pun intended).


ribeirascra, I'm not familiar with Slow Travel. When I browsed it in, I got lots of sites but not what I thought I was looking for. Please tell me how to access it for additional information on the PT toll roads. Thanks.
k

Here's all the information you need.
http://www.visitportugal.com/NR/exeres/D1F46576-727B-42CA-BA69-C33AFBA3D81C,frameless.htm

Thank you MyriamC. The information is clear enough but the whole thing still seems over-complicated. As far as you know, is this information up to date? I'm almost ready to just stay in Spain rather than venture into Portugal with the difficult toll system.

As far as I know the information is up to date. As long as you don't take the A22 (Algarve) there is no problem at all. On all the other tollroads you will be able to use cash or your credit card to pay the tolls. It's just the A22 that has no booths where you can pay and you will have to go to the post office after you used the tollroad (between 48 hrs and 5 days).

We will be in the Algarve in June and I've been worried about this issue but there's nothing we can do. So we'll wait and see and we will NOT let this toll problem spoil our holiday.

MyriamC sorry but your information is not factual there are a number of roads which have this electronic (SCUT) tolling system. In the North of Portugal has been in operation since Oct 2010. Iin the link you provided gives a list of them all

You are partly right ribeirasacra. Yes, there are a number of roads that have the electronic tolling system but they all have also toll booths where you can pay either with cash or with credit card. We have travelled all over Portugal last year and we have always been able to pay with our credit card or cash. At the time there was no toll yet on the A22, which is the only tollroad that has nothing but the electronic system.

MiriamC
I do not know how to say this more directly: You are not correct there are other road in Portugal with this SCUT system. Read the link you posted.

ribeirasacra, I have read/studied the information in the link that MiriamC provided and it still sounds complicated. If we do decide to travel in Portugal, we will enter on A25/IP5, which has the electronic toll, driving a rental auto picked up in Spain. If we want to get a "temporary electronic device" can you tell me where exactly this can be done? Is there a highway service area, post office or Via Verde Portugal shop at or near the border? Or do we continue to our first stopover, which will be at Coimbra, and go to the post office there? And if we are stopped by the police before we get there -- what? Further, if we pre-load 10 euro but use more than 10 euro, how is this handled? At the time we return the device? At a nearby post office? Or do we somehow calculate beforehand how much we will need and try to load an appropriate amount?
Our plan is to drive through Algarve on the A22, exiting to Spain. Where, exactly, would we return the electronic device?
Our situation is further complicated in that we speak only English so communication in leasing this device could be difficult. What advice can you offer? We will appreciate any information you can give.
k

Miriam and crckwc1, please don´t stress over the A-22 (at least). It really isn´t worth it. The A2 down to the Algarve (at least as of Jan 12) is a regular toll road. The A22 can be bypassed by usin the N125, which goes through the small towns and cities. I doubt you will be able to pick up a transponder as there simply isn´t enough to go around. Again as of today. You can prepay, as mentioned earlier, and then, pay as you go in any post office. When you depart, you can take the N125.

My husband heads back this weekend and I will see if there is any improvement (and will report back). I am also planning to send him to the posta as I still have outstanding tolls in the amount of €6.

This summer will be interesting, but please do not stress about it. Everyone is in the same boat.

SloJan2, Thanks for the info about bypassing the A22. I'll be looking for your update. I do tend to stress about it when even Rick Steves, who usually travels with a native of the country, writes about having to pay a huge fine for failing to negotiate the tolls properly.

I have also read in the Spanish newspapers that the Portuguese are sending out extra patrols to catch the "baddies".
You cannot purchase any temporary electronic device. They are linked to a Portuguese bank account As a visitor you have to purchase tickets at either a Post Office or at a service station.

ribeirasacra, It's my understanding from www.visitportugal.com that a visitor can lease a temporary electronic device. It states that it can be obtained "at the highway service areas or other locations like the post office and the Via Verde Portugal-shops." That's why I asked previously if any of these places are located near the Spain border on the A25. Is this information up to date?

To purchase tickets at a post office or service station as you recommend, are the tickets purchased before you get on the highway or when you exit, or when?

I contacted my car rental agency (Guerin). Their cars are not equipped with the electronic device. They suggested to buy one at any post office in Portugal.

@ SloJan2
I really don't feel like going to the post office every few days to pay my dues. First of all you have to wait 48 hours until your passing is registered, and you have to pay within 5 days. This system s*cks big time.
Furthermore, the stretch A2 to Tavira is very long and slow if you have to take the N125.

@ ribeirasacra
I re-read the link I submitted and I really wonder how we have managed to escape these 'electronic toll only' roads. May well be that we have outstanding amounts still to pay ...

I give up. Will either wing it with little information and hope I don't get a huge fine, or I'll just bail out of visiting Portugal altogether.
k

MyriamC, I understand completely. I just bagged it and took the A22 only when headed to the airport. The report is that from central Algarve (e.g. Portimao area) it is 55 minutes to the airport on the N125. I think it will easily be double that in the summer months. I def have outstanding tolls as the PO at the airport wasn't open. Guerin just shrugged their shoulders in defeat.
crckw, I would just wing it if I were you.

I am very interested in this topic as I will be in Portugal in August.
I wrote to the car rental company that I prefer and they outlined how to pay the tolls etc. as all of you have.
What they suggested, if at all possible, is to avoid the A22 the last two days.
Maybe that is not practical for some of us but something to think about.