On 15 October Abu Dhabi begins its road toll gate system in a bid to ease congestion and traffic on and off the island. Currently it is reported that 44,000 vehicles per hour enter or leave Abu Dhabi and the new toll system is expected to reduce that by around 6% during peak periods.
There are 4 toll gates that are located on all the bridges that take cars to Abu Dhabi, located on Maqta Bridge, Mussafah Bridge, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bridge and Sheikh Zayed Bridge. There are 2 charges for Salik, Dhs 4 during peak periods which are 7.00am to 9.00am and 5.00pm to 7.00pm Saturday through to Thursday, and Dhs 2 at all other times on those days, as well as all day on Friday and on all public holidays. There is a maximum limit of Dhs 16 per day.
The system is different to Dubai’s Salik where no tag is necessary however it may be that vehicles have to register. Abu Dhabi registered vehicles, registered before 15 October are automatically registered and a message would be sent to the registered owner with the account details. Vehicles registered in Abu Dhabi after 15 October would need to be registered for Salik by the owner at a charge of Dhs 100, of which Dhs 50 is credit towards toll charges. Vehicles registered in Dubai and all the other Emirates have to register at a charge of Dhs 100 through the website https://itps.itc.gov.ae, however this charge does not include any credit. Abu Dhabi registered vehicles do not need to have credit on their account and the charges can be paid annually when the vehicle registration is renewed. Vehicles registered in the other 6 Emirates need to have credit on their account. If a vehicle passes through a toll gate in Abu Dhabi without any credit there is period of 5 working days to pay the charge before fines come into place.
Full information is available on the Department of Transport website www.dot.gov.abudhabi or by calling 8008888.