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Telepeage doofer........


Alcazar
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After seeing this discussion grow and grow I decided to get one as well.

All I can say is fantastic. The feeling of superiority you get as you sail past the queues (especially at this time of year) is a million dollars (euros?).

Best of all was the look of panic on the attendant at the peage south of Tours last Sunday as I sailed into the only remaining telepeage lane (the other was blocked by a French car!), only to be replaced by a look of relief and a smile as the barrier lifted for me.

I should have done this years ago. I'm looking forward to my next trip in October when it'll be just me and the dog (he's useless at getting the ticket out of the machine)!
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Re Jc's post on Dart Tags. the problem with the DART lane is that although it SAYS priority for tags, it retains the ability to go through by dropping coins in. Regulars know that and use the Dart lane at all times. It takes much longer for the barrier to operate whilst the machine digests the coins, assuming the driver does not drop them on the ground, get out, fumble around under the car to find the £1, cannot find it, have no more change, call the attendant etc etc whilst my blood gradually reaches boiling point. I am not usually homicidal, honest.

They really need it to be tag only (as in France) to make it effective.

In fact the real issue is having to pay the toll at all. When the bridge was built the concession given to the operators was for 25 years (I think) after which the tolls would no longer apply as the builder would have been paid for the work. On expiry, our Labour benefactors reneged on that and decided to keep the tolls 'to reduce pollution' . Go figure. I cannot believe that tail backs of virtually stationery traffic on both sides most of the time does not create much more pollution (and definitely waste) than cars simply driving through.

Still, what do you expect from the shysters who call themselves politicians these days.

Andy

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A strange little quirk when using my Doofer happend when driving my Ford Mondeo.  The Mondeo has a heated windscreen with very fine wires running through it (like most rear windows) This seemed to block the signal and the barrier refused to lift untill I waived it out the window.

Perhaps my Doofer is defective ???  Ooooo-errrrr

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It would be even quicker if they used the Italian system which has the pick-up at the beginning of the lane and the barrier at the end-they don't even slow-up.Also the Italians issue their doofers to all types of vehicle-not just cars.
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[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

A strange little quirk when using my Doofer happend when driving my Ford Mondeo.  The Mondeo has a heated windscreen with very fine wires running through it (like most rear windows) This seemed to block the signal and the barrier refused to lift untill I waived it out the window.

Perhaps my Doofer is defective ???  Ooooo-errrrr

[/quote]

It's not your doofer - it's your heated screen.  Good news is it also protects you from aliens using ray beams to take over your mind.

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I've noticed that Sanef have started to remove some of the exclusivity from the Doofer cohort. At some ticket issuing stations they are removing the Telepeage only lane and are putting Telepeage sensors in all the lanes. This means that WE HAVE TO QUEUE  with hoi poloi. Admittedly the queues to pick up tickets usually aren't very long but is this the thin end of the wedge?

 

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[quote user="Alane"]

I've noticed that Sanef have started to remove some of the exclusivity from the Doofer cohort. At some ticket issuing stations they are removing the Telepeage only lane and are putting Telepeage sensors in all the lanes. This means that WE HAVE TO QUEUE  with hoi poloi. Admittedly the queues to pick up tickets usually aren't very long but is this the thin end of the wedge?

[/quote]

Surely, the end of civilisation, as we know it?

If this is true, they can stick their doofer up their ***.

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[quote user="Cassis"]In that case, what's the point of the doofer? [8-)]
[/quote]

Whilst I agree that would be a shame with a loss of that smug feeling, those of us driving r/h cars on our own occaisionally will always appreciate it.[8-|]

 

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ASF have been extending the number of lanes that allow Telepeage, but there is always at least one which is reserved.  On the other hand SAPRR did exactly as reported above a couple of weeks ago, but only at the ticket issuing station and not the payment station.  The next time through it was back to normal, so maybe this is a measure used on those days when things are really busy.
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[quote user="George"]

[quote user="Cassis"]In that case, what's the point of the doofer? [8-)]

[/quote]

Whilst I agree that would be a shame with a loss of that smug feeling, those of us driving r/h cars on our own occaisionally will always appreciate it.[8-|]

[/quote]

Maybe it still makes sense if you have a LHD car, but what about the other 99.99% of cars in France?  It sounds crazy to make all lanes accessible to all - it removes almost all the advantage in having a doofer. [8-)]

Unless it is introduced as Andy says, with one lane still reserved, rather than as was previously suggested.

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Perhaps some French nationals can help us here?

In English, there are multiple linguistic alternatives for doofer, such as 'dooins', 'thingummybob', 'whatsit', etc.

In French, I am only aware of "truc".  Is this closest to doofer or one of the other 3 and what other fascinating lingual possibilities are there? 

 

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Coming back this evening I was faced, at Abbeville with three lanes open to all, and all having a Telepeage sensor. In the lane I first thought to choose a British Hire Van driver was allowing his child to hang out of the passenger window and try to operate the ticket dispenser so I chose the adjacent lane - bad choice - another Brit car with a lone driver who had to get out to walk around the car to get his ticket.  Aaaaagggghhhhh.

At least I missed the queues at Boulogne toll booths where there is of course a dedicated lane.

Regarding the post regarding names - I'm surprised the "official" term for a Doofer is a Badge. This sounds very anglicised or is Badge really a French word?

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How close does the transponder (I cant call it a doofer!) have to be to the transmit/receive station before the barrier opens?

My reason for asking is that when I was younger and hard up I took the Dartford river crossing each day, I found that if I could see a car with a transponder (Dart-tag) in my rear view mirror and then cut in front of him (aggressively!) then faff around putting one pence at a time in the coin basket the driver would get angry and inch closer to my bumper resulting in me getting a virtually free crossing and he paying twice!

Other tricks were to drive in convoy through the barrier but virtually touching so the loop detecters recieved an unbroken signal as a long car or car and trailer.

Installing loop detectors was one part of my trade before moving here so I know that they still work like that, and am confused as to why you cannot use the Liber-T lane with a trailer, I am sure that I have always paid the same toll with or without a trailer, indeed some of the booths around here are unmanned.

Does this also mean that you shouldnt use the Carte - Bleu lanes when towing a trailer or caravan?

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Used mine about a dozen times over past couple of weeks always with ease and without problems.    At Tolls at Lyon and also Montpellier must have saved 30 mins on each occassion.    Only once was it frustrating to find no "reserve" lane.   That at Carcassonne where about 3 or 4 lanes but all were marked T although none reserved

 

If this the future then what the point.    If I have to queue in the future at more and more tolls I would not use it out of principle

 

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[quote user="Laphroaig57"]

    Only once was it frustrating to find no "reserve" lane.   That at Carcassonne where about 3 or 4 lanes but all were marked T although none reserved

 

If this the future then what the point.    If I have to queue in the future at more and more tolls I would not use it out of principle

 

[/quote]

I'll still use mine, especially when alone, at night, in the rain and a rhd car[;-)]

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Just reurned from France and there are definitely changes at the "peages": most of them now have only one(or sometimes two) "t" lanes but the biggest change is that most peages only have one lane(sometimes two) for paying cash.But the great advantage is that most have numerous lanes where you can pay with automatic "card" or with "t".
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Ordered one on the "One Year Free" offer on Tuesday this week and it arrived in the post Friday.  Took Outlaws to CdG and returned today - brilliant!  Love the T only lanes on the approach to Paris from Rouen, no stopping, barriers open as you approach, feel like royalty (thanks to Steve for the route).  Hope they do not get rid of the tele only lanes.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Just ordered mine - terribly excited and can't wait for my next trip!

It'll be such a joy not to have to lean over the cat basket to pay, or to have to run round the car in the dark and rain to collect the ticket.

Thanks to everyone who helped with 'hand-holding' through the Sanef website, and for all the other useful advice.

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Two euros a month.  Goes down to one euro a month if you pay by direct debit with online billing.  Goes down to nothing if you additionally use it more than once in a month.  30€ deposit.  I got mine within 4 days of ordering it online - impressive!

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