Way back on 5 February this year, I posted my bitching about the increase in M2/M7 tolls. I wrote to the local State member and also the NSW minister for Roads, complaining about the increase for large caravans. I didn't expect to get a reply, and if I did, it was never going to get any action. Well, today (15 April), I received a reply from the local member. Interestingly, his letter is dated 18 April 2020... I reproduce the content of that letter for the benefit of anyone interested....
"Dear Mr xxxxxx
I am writing to inform you that I have received a response from the Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, the Hon Paul Toote MP, in relation to your concerns regarding the reclassification of caravans on Sydney toll roads.
I have been advised that the operators of Sydney toll roads are entitled to charge a greater toll for vehicles which exceed 2.8 metres in height. The higher toll is designed to offset the additional wear and tear caused by heavy vehicles.
However, you may be interested to know that Transurban has announced a grace period between 26 August 2019 and 27 April 2020 for trips charged at the higher Class B toll for toll roads it operates.
In addition, free alternative routes remain available fro motorists who do not wish to use toll roads. An online calculator is available at roads-maritime transport.nsw.gov.au to assist customers in managing tolls or planning trips on untolled roads.
I have attached a response from the minister, providing further details around your request.
If I can be of any further assistance to you, on this or any other issue, please feel free to contact me at any stage on (02)xxxx xxxx."
A few points to this letter.
1 The date is 18 April and today's date is 15 April.
2 There is no reference to vehicle length exceeding 12.5 m
3 I cannot see how a caravan which is over 2.8 m high can do anything like as much damage to a road as even the tug pulling it.
4 The grace period for Class B exemptions for caravans is extended to 27 April. Wow! That is next week. OOH Ah!
5 The letter mentioned attaching a response from the minister. There was no attachment to the letter.
6 The letter referred to an on-line calculator to assist customers in managing tolls or planning trips on untolled roads. Well, I looked fairly thoroughly at the site reference and found NO reference as to how to bypass the toll roads.
As you can probably guess, I am not thrilled about the increase, even though my car + caravan is shorter than 12.5 m and less than 2.8 m high, but I am concerned about virtually any other full height caravan owner who wishes to bypass Sydney traffic (who wouldn't)?
Basically this is a 'shut up and leave me alone' letter from the local member who mandated the merger of 3 local councils in our area, saying that there would be no increase in rates for 3 years, but immediately the water rates nearly trebled, but that is another story. Transurban is screwing caravan owners and the Government is not brave enough to stand up to them (they probably get too much sponsorship from them and others). Grrrrr!
Slightly digressing, but Minister Toole did not deign to answer a question that was referred to him by the Premier for around 4 weeks. I wrote again to the Premier's secretary and reminded her of my voting next election. Wow, had a response in 48 hours. Might pay you to have another go via Gladys ( who seems to generally a good job to me)
I have received no reply to my emails to my State member, the Premiers Office or the Minister for Transport. However, I have received credits on my e-Toll account, as requested, for the times I used the M2 with my caravan.
My guess is that most caravans will have lower load per cm2 than most cars. You need to keep going at them on the weight issue they purposely avoided. They are hoping you give up.
I would also address their letter "your letter dated 18 & rec 15...." to twist the knife a bit!
Good luck!
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About 5 years ago was my first time visiting Sydney with the van, we were staying in Camden. Prior to leaving I checked the best route to go north, it showed M7/M2, because I didn't have an Etag, I went to the transurbarn web site using their toll route planner from Camden to Pennant Hills it showed the various section tolls plus a total, in that planner it clearly showed my vehicle would have charged at the same rate as a truck based on 4 axles and length, I suspect inthe past if you had an etag because you were chaged as a car only, I may also suspect that transurban has updated their cameras to capture the shonkey users who were using their car etag in the semi trailers, as a consequence of this cars towing caravans were caught as well or they have added front and rear capturing cameras and tag readers.
I have read a lot of posts on various forums carrying on about being ripped off by toll collecters, in the most cases its the etag owner who has not bothered add his trailers to their account.
If I register for a account without etag, I must list all the vehicle and caravan rego numbers, on one occasion when travelling through Brisbane I forgot to add the Caravan, in due course I got a bill for the caravan, i contacted transurban about the bill they waved bill as the ute was not captured by the camera as the camera was aimed at the rear of vehicles.
