Deimos, You;re right - there are a number of unattended booths, eg the A28 turnoff for Gace/Argentan in the Orne. It's not a problem however as there are handy pull-off areas where you can pull off to the side and pay with notes, coins, credit cards, or M-way top-up cards. All the displays are available in multiple languages including English. If you have a problem you can contact a live person via intercom from the pay booth, as my sister discovered to her shock one night c.2am, when she heard someone speaking to her and couldn't locate the voice. She realised afterward it had come from an intercom and there was a monitor from a control station somewhere else on the network. It works very well in my experience. And yes, you're right. Of course it's to do with cost. Much of the French motorway network is now privatised, and to make a return for their shareholders (many of them English and US financial institutions) they are automating wherever possible (like they are in the UK and US). Auto tollbooths are much cheaper in the long run - they don't need holidays, sick leave or pensions. When I'm in the UK I'm an investment banker and I worked on the privatisation of a number of French motorway concessions - having seen the numbers I can tell you for sure that the concessions companies need to cut costs to make a return on the debt mountains they inherited along with ownership of the concessions. As a regular traveller of the motorways I think 'customers' - ie drivers - get great value for money. Wait until the UK motorways are privatised - believe me, it's coming - and then compare !
