Abu Dhabi road toll gates open in October: All you need to know

Abu Dhabi: Motorists in Abu Dhabi will have to pay road tolls from October 15, senior officials at the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport (DoT) announced in the capital on July 25. 

Fees

Four toll gates have been installed, and motorists will have to pay Dh4 to drive through them during the peak hours between Saturday and Thursday. During non-peak hours, and on Fridays and public holidays, the toll will be reduced to Dh2 for every pass.

Daily maximum fee is capped at Dh16 per vehicle.

Details of the upcoming road tolls, which are part of a system known as Abu Dhabi Road Users Charging System, were revealed at a long-awaited press conference in the capital.

Registration for Abu Dhabi vehicles

The online system to register vehicles was  fully operational since August 30, 2019.

How to register

All road users should open a special toll account and through this account they will be able to manage their own vehicles and process payments due through a simple, user-friendly online system.

The online system has been fully operational from August 30, 2019.

Account holders will automatically receive an SMS message stating their user-name and password for that account, and can then add any additional vehicles to the registered account as required.

Vehicles from outside Abu Dhabi

For vehicles registered outside Abu Dhabi, the owner must be registered in the system before crossing the toll gates.

In case a vehicle which is not registered in the toll gate system crosses under the toll gates, the user will be given a grace period of ten business days, starting from the crossing time, to register in the system, otherwise a fine applies.

Locations

The four gates are located at Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Sheikh Khalifa Bridge, Mussafah Bridge and Al Maqta'a Bridge.

Exemptions

The law exempts ambulances, armed forces and civil defence vehicles, public buses, motorcycles, licensed taxis, authorised schoolbuses, passenger buses carrying at least 26 passengers, police and Ministry of Interior vehicles, electric vehicles and trailers from the tolls.

Fines

- Non-registered vehicles passing through the toll gate will be fined after the grace period - first ten working days after passing through the gate. Fines will be Dh100 for the first day (after grace period), Dh200 for the second day, Dh400 for the third day and so on up to a maximum of Dh10,000.

- Vehicles registered outside Abu Dhabi without sufficient acount balance will be fined Dh50 per day after the grace period of ten business days.

- Tampering with vehicle license plates to avoid paying the toll will result in a fine of Dh10,000.

- Causing damage to any e-payment machines or the toll gates will result in a fine of Dh10,000.

Announced in 2017

In February 2018, the Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi began to prepare regulations to implement Law No.17 of 2017 on traffic tariffs as issued by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Department of Transport had previously confirmed to the state news agency WAM that it will develop an advanced and integrated electronic system, through the Integrated Transport System, to monitor the movement of vehicles crossing areas installed with a road tariff.

According to Articles 2 and 3 of Law No.17, the Department of Transport is responsible for determining the areas where the road toll will be implemented, the amount to be paid and the operation times. The decision will then have to be approved by the General Secretariat of the Executive Council.

Dubai Salik

The electronic road toll system in Dubai, known as Salik, was introduced by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in 2007.

While these are the first toll gates in Abu Dhabi, Dubai has had road tolls in place since 2007. There are now seven Salik gates across Dubai, including Al Garhoud, Al Barsha, Al Maktoum Bridge, Al Safa, Airport Tunnel, Al Mamzar South and Jebel Ali.

These were however introduced in phases, with – Jebel Ali – the newest gate, introduced only last October (2018). Every vehicle passing through a Salik tolling point is charged Dh4; the system also initially included a daily cap of Dh24 for motorists, but this was lifted in 2013.