Forgot to Pay a Toll in Sydney? You Have 72 Hours to Open an Account or Buy a Pass, and What Happens After (Sydney, NSW)

If you drive on a Sydney toll road without a toll account or pass, Service NSW says you can still open an account or buy a pass up to 72 hours after the trip. After that, the registered operator of the vehicle may receive an unpaid toll reminder, and the clock gets much shorter. This guide sets out the steps in order, using only Service NSW, NSW Motorways and E-Toll pages checked on Saturday 7 November 2026.

Can I pay a Sydney toll in cash?

No. The Service NSW toll guide says: “You cannot pay with cash.” The cost of a toll can be fixed or can vary with the time of day, how far you travel and the class of vehicle you are driving, and you need to pay for the trip at the time of travel. In practice that means a toll account or a pass.

Service NSW names three options:

If you are…	Use
Using Sydney toll roads regularly	An E-Toll account
Visiting NSW, or using NSW toll roads for up to 30 days	An eMU Casual Pass
A motorcycle rider travelling often on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel	An eRider account

To work out the cost of a journey before you go, Service NSW points to the Sydney Motorways calculator, and to a page of toll costs by road.

What if I already drove through without an account?

You have 72 hours. The guide says you can open an account or purchase a pass up to 72 hours after you travel on a toll road. The Harbour Bridge page gives the same advice: open an E-Toll account or an eMU Pass within 72 hours of the unpaid toll trip, which also helps you avoid an unpaid toll reminder or a Toll Payment Demand in future.

What happens after the 72 hours?

The steps run in a fixed order:

Step	What Service NSW says
Within 72 hours of the trip	Open an account or buy a pass
After 72 hours	The registered operator of the vehicle may receive an unpaid toll reminder email or SMS
48 hours after the reminder is sent	The time you have to pay the unpaid toll
Still unpaid	A Toll Payment Demand is issued. It includes the toll and may include a video matching fee

The video matching fee is for camera images used to match your vehicle to a toll trip. The official pages do not give its amount, so we have not guessed one. The Harbour Bridge page adds that if your toll account does not have enough funds, or you give incorrect details, the toll will not be paid from the account and additional fees or penalties may apply.

Where do I pay an unpaid toll?

It depends on the road. Service NSW splits it in two:

• For the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour Tunnel, use E-Toll.
• For all other toll roads, use Linkt.

For the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel, the official page lists the online steps. Select “Pay online”, enter your number plate and the state or territory where the vehicle is registered, or your toll payment demand number if you have one, select “Continue”, then enter your payment details. You can pay with a credit card or a toll account. If the Toll Payment Demand you received was not issued by NSW Motorways, the page says to follow the payment options on the demand from the other toll provider.

How much is the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel toll?

The toll is charged southbound only, on both the bridge and the tunnel, and it depends on the time you travel. E-Toll’s toll-cost page shows two columns, “Current” and “From 1 July 2026”. As we write on 7 November 2026, the “From 1 July 2026” column is the one that applies, because that date has passed:

Time of travel (southbound)	Toll from 1 July 2026
Weekdays 6:30am to 9:30am and 4:00pm to 7:00pm	$4.55
Weekdays 9:30am to 4:00pm, and weekends 8:00am to 8:00pm	$3.41
Weekdays 7:00pm to 6:30am, and weekends 8:00pm to 8:00am	$2.85

The page’s heading for the older column has not been updated, so it still reads “Current”. Those older figures were $4.41, $3.30 and $2.76 for the same three periods. Other toll roads use flat rates or distance-based tolls, as set out on the same E-Toll page.

Is a hire car different?

The Service NSW guide has a separate page on what to do on toll roads if you are driving a rental vehicle. We have not repeated its rules here, because we have not read that page in full. The guide also says that visitors can learn more about travelling on NSW toll roads from a page on its site.

One rule is worth knowing whoever you are. The guide says that from July 2026 you cannot nominate another driver to pay a toll. If your vehicle travels on a NSW toll road you must pay the toll, even if someone else was driving. If the driver owes you money for the toll, you can ask them to pay you back, and that applies to toll trips taken from July 2026.

What if I think the Toll Payment Demand is wrong?

The Service NSW guide says that if you believe a Toll Payment Demand was issued incorrectly you can lodge an objection. It links to a page for doing this online. It also lists a page on toll relief, which we do not cover here because the rules for it can change.

Who do I contact?

The E-Toll site lists 13 18 65 as its phone number. For Harbour Bridge and Tunnel payments, the Service NSW page has a “Pay online” button. For other toll roads, use Linkt.

For fares and card payments on trains, buses and ferries, see our guide to Opal fares and how to pay, and for a different kind of fine, see our guide to how to pay a parking fine in NSW.

Sources

• Service NSW — Guide to toll roads and tolls (last published 30 October 2026; checked 7 November 2026)
• Service NSW — Pay a toll for the Sydney Harbour Bridge or Tunnel (last published 30 July 2026; checked 7 November 2026)
• E-Toll — Calculating tolls (checked 7 November 2026)

Featured image: the Sydney Harbour Bridge, photographed from a Sydney ferry in 2014 (photo: John Robert McPherson / CC BY-SA 4.0) (text added)

OZ Local Updates is an independent local guide and is not affiliated with Service NSW, NSW Motorways, E-Toll, Linkt or any toll road operator. Toll amounts and rules can change; check the official pages before you pay.