Visitor shocked after a trip to Sydney cost $45 in tolls as locals weigh in with advice on how to avoid the charges
- A driver has shared the eye-watering amount he was charged in tolls in Sydney
- The Reddit user collected $45 in toll charges for a single trip to Darlinghurst
- Other users gave advice including using an app like Waze to calculate route cost
A visitor to Sydney was shocked to be hit with $45 in toll road charges after driving into the city for just one day.
The driver shared a screenshot of the cost on the weekend saying they went to Darlinghurst and back and ‘told their GPS to take the fastest route including tolls’.
‘I was not expecting nearly $50 in charges. Is this normal?’ the driver wrote online.
The driver took to Reddit to complain about getting charged more than $40 in tolls for a return trip to Darlinghurst in Sydney
Commenters on the post replied that unfortunately this wasn’t unusual ‘when you take every toll road possible in and out of the city’.
‘NorthConnex plus the M2 plus the Lane cove tunnel cost you $21 and I reckon saved you maybe 10 minutes,’ one wrote.
‘Those prices are with a tag, number plate recognition is another 60c for each of those,’ another added.
A third complained Sydney was the ‘most road tolled city in the world’.
But a few locals offered some advice on the best way to avoid the fees.
One pointed out the occasions when the tolls could be ‘worth it’ was usually during school drop-off and pickup hours because the roads are ‘swarming with schools’.
‘The time you save with the NorthConnex, Lane Cove and M2 is otherwise not worth $20.’
One user pointed out the person was driving in from north of Sydney.
‘The best way would have been to go down the Pacific Hwy to Gordon, then left onto the M2 at North Ryde,’ they suggested.
‘That would have saved you about $30 and is a significantly shorter to the northern end of NorthConnex.’
Some users pointed out the NorthConnex, Sydney’s newest toll road, is quite expensive (pictured)
Others offered some helpful advice including to avoid the NorthConnex or use an app such as Waze to calculate the routes
Another pointed out there are GPS apps such as Waze that can give you multiple route options with a fairly accurate estimate of cost and how long they will take.
Transport NSW also offers a toll calculator website that will show total charges for any selected route.
Many users said the NorthConnex and the M2 in particular were costly, each charging more than $8 for a trip.
The M2 Hills Motorway was opened in 1997 as part of the Sydney Orbital Network.
The $3 billion NorthConnex is a 9km twin tube tunnel and Sydney’s newest toll road, opened in 2020.
It completes the Sydney Orbital Network providing a fast flowing motorway that circles the city.
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