Toll road kiosk changeover to coin-only

The NZ Transport Agency reminds drivers that the Northern Gateway Toll Road manual kiosks at the Dairy Flats service centre will be converted to accept payment by coin-only next Wednesday (4 September).

The Transport Agency will have staff on duty at the service centre for the first few days to help make the switch to coin-only at the two kiosks as smooth as possible.

The Transport Agency’s Regional Director for Auckland and Northland, Stephen Town, says the move will help reduce the risk of kiosk breakdowns and shorten queuing times at busy periods.

“The majority of faults involve the bank note and card payment options on the kiosks, and after four years of service that technology has become dated and more costly to maintain.”

Mr Town says the number of people paying for trips at the kiosks has declined from around 30% when the toll road opened in January 2009 to less than 10% of all trips between July-December 2012. (Cash purchases accounted for approximately 8% of kiosk transactions during that 6 month period).

People will still be able to buy single or multiple trips when the Dairy Flat kiosks become coin-only next month. The machines give change. However, buying trips at www.tollroad.govt.nz remains the best option for casual and regular travellers because they do not need to stop before using the highway and no administration charge applies.

The move at Dairy Flat standardises payment options at both ends of the toll road on State Highway 1 north of Auckland, after the change to coin-only in mid-2011 for the manual kiosks at Puhoi.

ENDS

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