This highway, which is heavily used by motorists, will become 100% free-flowing during the month of December.
Free-flow motorways – meaning without toll barriers – have attracted a lot of attention since they were tested on the A13, the A14 and the A79. And not often for the better. Many motorists have expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of communication about them, and in particular about the means to pay for their passage on these motorways. After a few months of operation, only on short sections, the unpaid bills piled up and several tens of thousands of users received fines.
This does not mean that the motorway concession companies, notably ALIAE (A79) and SANEF (A13 and A14), have decided to backtrack. On the contrary, their objective is to develop this new highway system, equipped with gantries with cameras that read the license plates of all vehicles, to make traffic flow as smoothly as possible. As proof, one of the most used motorways in France, the A13, which connects Paris and Caen over more than 200 kilometers, will switch to full free flow during the month of December.
What does this mean for everyone who will soon be taking the A13 motorway? Already, they should normally spend less time in their car, and in particular waiting in line at toll gates. Experts estimate that it will be possible to save half an hour to travel the 225 kilometers that separate the capital from the Calvados prefecture. But to draw only positive things from this development which is expected to be deployed almost everywhere in France, it is essential to have a good understanding of how these free-flow motorways operate.
And above all understand that the disappearance of toll barriers does not mean the end of toll highways. That would be so good, in fact, expect prices to increase from 1er February 2025… In the meantime, here is a reminder for those who have never taken a free-flow expressway before. For the A13, managed by SANEF, each driver can pay with their bank card on the site www.sanef.com within 72 hours of its journey. To do this, simply enter your license plate number and your bank card number. It is also possible to associate your card with your license plate number so that subsequent payments are made automatically.
For those who prefer a physical means of payment, it is possible to pay for their passage on the A13 at the tobacconist provided that it is approved by the Française des Jeux network, which is the case in the majority of cases. . Finally, the third means of payment is made with electronic toll badges. For motorists who have one, there is no need to do anything since the various gantries installed above the Normandy motorway “flash” the badges and the amount of the journey is automatically deducted from the bank account of the subscriber.
Why is it important not to delay paying? Because the fine for non-payment within the deadline (72 hours) amounts to 90 euros (in addition to the amount of tolls to be paid). This fine is, however, reduced to 10 euros if you pay within 15 days of receipt of the notice of violation. On the other hand, it rises to 375 euros if nothing has still been done two months later.