Portuguese motorway taxes

I realise this will only be relevant to those travelling from portugal into Spain. However having recently done so from faro airport to the costa de la Luz, where we have a house, I was informed that Portugal have announced a new motorway toll tax. But you can only pay for it by finding a open post office within 5 days of your trip. Why they don't have tolls is a good question. Does anyone know more about these tolls, how can they be paid, etc?

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 This was discussed a while back (can't find the thread though) and apparently you can buy the gadget pre-loaded at one of the service stations in Portugal or a post office.  Portuguese registered cars can buy in advance or pay at a post office within 2 days of using the toll.  There are no pay stations at the toll booths so the pre-loaded ones are the only way for foreign cars to legally use them.

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Thanks thats useful.

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I wouldn't bother stressing about the toll if you have a non-Portuguese registered car.  I used it there and back a couple of months ago and didn't bother paying and I didn't have any problems.  It just seemed like too much effort trying to pay.

The only cars you see on the Algarve toll road are Spanish cars, and I doubt any of them have paid, knowing what the Spanish are like.

The European Commission have recently ruled that the toll road is actually illegal, so another reason not to bother paying.  More info here:

www.algarveresident.com/0-45978/algarve/tolls-are-illegal-says-commission

 

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Thanks, link very interesting. Like many people I suspect, I hired a car at faro airport, car rental had signs up saying "new toll...on a22", I tried to find a way of paying, but my need to use Portuguese roads was simply to get to and from our house in Spain. Why the authorities expect road users to pull off the road, find a post office in a town to pay something like 3-5 euros worth of toll to get to Spain is beyond me! Not very bothered about paying, quite happy to if they actually find a vaguely convenient way of paying, just wondering whether anyone actually bothered. Good point about Spanish!

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