Is Bip&Go electronic toll payment Pay As You Go a good idea?

Did you read the General terms and conditions?

Subscription to the contract and the delivery of electronic badges are subject to bank identification details and direct debit payment from an individual account held by a banking establishment located in one of the countries of the "Single Euro Payments Area" (SEPA) zone

Not worth it for a few trips anyway

Well I am not surprised but I did look for this, I guess I didn't look hard enough!
Just curious, Is this a governmental (French or EU) requirement? Why?
-Bruce

Everything you want to know about SEPA bank transfers is here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

Just pay the tolls as you go. That's what most people do.

When I rented a car in Bordeaux in September I asked if I should get some type of transponder. The rental person said they didn't offer them because there was no sense. She said it was easy to tap and go. And it was.

OK,OK it seems like another good idea yet to materialize. My US toll transponder subscription is linked to a credit card, which everyone has. I think that would work fine in Europe too.
It looks like the bank Euro zone transfer area mentioned was just a few years after the rollout of the Euro, too bad this is as far as they got. I will have to use the conventional toll booth, I guess I should be glad they still exist in France! Here they just read your license plate and send you a bill if you don't have a transponder.
-Bruce

Bruce, It sounds like you must have to have a transponder where you are from. Have I misunderstood you? We don't have to have a transponder on our cars here in Calif. Bridges with tolls all have non-transponder lanes. Our freeways that have transponder lanes also have regular lanes, even where there are no toll booths (almost all gone). The non-transponder lanes are the ones that have the traffic jams, sure, but no one is forced to have a transponder on the roads, just more time needed for your drive.
Both in Calif, at bridge toll booths (automated or manned), and in Europe, we were always able to pay (tap and go) on any toll roads. Everything always went very quickly. I certainly wouldn't pay extra money to save 2-4 minutes at a toll stop.
(Also, it sounds like they are set up to debit a bank account from that country. I imagine the set-up from a foreign bank wouldn't be reasonable for the few euros charge of a toll.)

My US toll transponder subscription is linked to a credit card, which everyone has. I think that would work fine in Europe too.

The Bip & Go system is linked directly to the bank, just as are many other payment systems, such as the Navigo Liberté +. This avoids the unnecessary expense of credit card fees.

I use the Liber-t tag in France, and get it through the UK Sanef partner, Emovis.

I was going to link the application page but I don't think it is for you for such limited use.

To get it in the UK you need to have a UK bank which supports Direct Debits.

To start the process you need:

10€ Application Fee plus 20% VAT = 12€

plus

10€ plus 20% VAT - 12€ Annual Account Management Fee, renews annually

plus

20€ refundable Security Deposit

plus

7€ per month usage fee plus 20% VAT = 8.40€

so 52.40€ to start the process

plus list price on the tolls.

With the tag you can go through the T+ toll lane at up to 30kph as long as you wait for the beep.

Would that be worth it for such a short trip?

It is valuable to me because my wife is disabled and my car is English with the wheel on the wrong side.

There is a similar plan for Portugal and Spain.

Hi US expat French resident here.

I love the toll tags.

But they need a European bank account. You could use a Wise or Revolut account for this because they are multi currency debit accounts. So prepay in USD convert to Euros.

I use a WISE account myself. Wise has affiliate banks in US and Europe.

There is no cost savings with toll tags just ease of use

Non travel American credit cards are a pain in Europe because they require a paper signature. That makes them useless at automated unattended gas stations and toll booths. Sometimes the tap to pay feature works, sometimes not.

Chase Sapphire travel oriented credit cards seem reliable in France. In other countries like Italy maybe not.

So make sure you have Euro currency with you as backup. Except of course in Italy where the automated gas pumps are card only. Sigh …

Oddly enough American debit bank cards seem to work as they only require a Pin number and no signature. Be sure to tell your bank which countries you are visiting before hand.

But check with your bank about fees overseas

Non travel American credit cards are a pain in Europe because they
require a paper signature

The signature requirement is rarely a factor for charges about 50€ or less.

That makes them useless at automated unattended gas stations and toll
booths.

These two points of sale are very different. Unattended gas stations have no internet connectivity and their authentication sequences typically only accept credit cards with offline PINs . Few US issued credit cards are issued with offline PINs, most are online PINs. Toll booths typically have a broader authentication process which can accept most US cards, particularly MC and Visa. However, there are some dozen unique companies in France operating toll networks, and card procedures can vary.

I haven't had any problems with tap-to-pay anywhere in Europe over the past 5 years except the occasional gas station. US credit cards are accepted pretty much the same as European cards, which as I understand it are almost ubiquitously debit cards. I've run up against a payment limit (50 euros or whatever) only rarely. Obviously this is unlikely to be a problem at a toll booth.