In July 2008 cashless electronic tolling was introduced on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and replaces all booths with the E-Tag system. Motorists wishing to travel across the Bridge now need to have an E-Tag electronic identity unit affixed to their vehicle in order to pay the toll. All automated coin collecting booths were removed from service on the Bridge, ending the two-decade long era of this method of toll collecting. This coin toll collecting apparatus is an Australian innovation, and has been exported across the world. The coin verifying system is unique and interesting: the method for verifying coins is sophisticated, yet precise. Each denomination has its own wave signature when charged with an electric current. This wave can be read, and thus verified as a legal tender coin. This negates any foreign currency, or non-currency objects being supplied to the toll collection apparatus.

Many Sydney-siders would remember the automated toll collection machines that were the bane of journeys across the bridge. There was often the car, two vehicles ahead of you, that has pulled up too wide of the collecting basket and the red-faced driver who has spilled their coins across the tollway with an inept throw. There were also drivers who caused traffic jams because they had hastened into the automatic lane without sufficient coins. Then there was the boom gate that refused to open, despite the barrage of gold coins that had been pelted into the basket. Despite the lack of humanness, most of the time, motorists could actually get through the toll plaza quite quickly. It was much faster than the days when people collected the toll, and the carpet of quickly discarded bridge tickets were strewn across the lanes.

The Museum has in its collection many important artifacts from the Harbour Bridge, from its construction and opening in the 1920s and 30s through to present day, and this material complements the significant story of the Coathanger, as it is colloquially known.

Damian McDonald
Assistant Curator
November 2008

Coin toll collecting apparatus used on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, including cabinet containing the coin mechanism and controllers, coin vault, local lane controller to operate exit lights, coin basket (3), Digital Equipment Corporation computer used to calibrate the coin validator device, patron fare indicator, exit light set, spare parts to maintain operation including pick-up wheels, actuators, escrow wheels, validators, solenoids, metal / plastic / electronic components, TST International, Brisbane, Australia/ Digital Equipment Corporation, United States of America, 1989

The coin collecting mechanism consists of a metal plate (platen) on which the coins are dropped by a feeder that leads from the collection basket. The platen spins and coins drop into slots specifically cut for each denomination. The coins are then given an electrical charge, which is read by a sensor. Because each denomination has its own signature, the coins are then verified and drop down into the vault. The vault sits beneath the coin collector, and consists of two coin drawers in a heavy case. The drawers have a one-way locking mechanism, closed when the drawer is removed from the vault case. The local lane controller is a switching device that is connected to the coin collection mechanism and the exit light that notifies the motorist when they may move from the toll plaza into traffic. The coin basket is a hard plastic funnel that sits on the outside of the apparatus and channels the coins into the coin mechanism. The fare indicator and exit light are electronically-lit sign boxes. The Digital Equipment Corporation computer coin validator device is of a ubiquitous PC appearance, though is a specialised computer.

The coin collection apparatus was designed and manufactured by TST International in Brisbane Australia. The Roads and Traffic Authority NSW had designed and manufactured their own automated toll collecting machines, but were faced with many problems. Purely mechanical verification was prone to patrons inserting non-currency objects, and maintenance on these machines was resource hungry. The TST machines were more efficient, and were manufactured for the specific needs of the RTA on the Harbour Bridge. TST International have gone on to export the machines to North America and Europe.

When the Bridge opened in 1932 it cost a car or motorcycle six pence to cross, and a horse and rider were charged three pence. Pedestrian access was, and is still, free. The toll was originally placed on travel across the bridge in both directions to recoup the cost of its construction. This cost was recovered in the 1980s but the toll has been kept, and actually increased dramatically, by the New South Wales State Government to recoup the costs of building the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. After the decision to build the Sydney Harbour Tunnel was made in the early 1980s the toll was increased from 20 cents to $1, then to $1.50, and finally to $2 by the time the Tunnel opened to cover the cost of construction. The Tunnel also had an initial toll of $2 southbound. The Sydney Harbour Bridge toll for all southbound vehicles was increased to $3 in March 2004. There is no toll for northbound traffic. The TST International coin collecting machines were introduced in 1989, and were in constant operation until July 2008.

Gift of the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Auth

2009/37/1

1989

810 mm

710 mm