Thousands of Laois car commuters face New Year toll hike blues

Thousands of Laois drivers are facing higher costs to get to work each day with commuters who work in Dublin likely to face the most regular cost increases.

Tolls on the M50, eight national roads and the Dublin Tunnel are set to increase in the new year, with the rate of charges changing on New Year's Day.

On the M50, toll prices are increasing by as much as 40c, depending on your type of vehicle and whether you use a tag, a video account or are unregistered.

On the national roads, the prices are increasing by as much as 50c, depending on your type of vehicle. The toll prices at Dublin Port Tunnel are jumping by as much as €2 during peak hours.

The toll increases were announced on November 5 by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). It said toll increases cannot exceed the rate of inflation.

In detail, for cars travelling on the M50, the toll is set to rise by 20c, to €3.70, for cars without tags or video accounts.

Motorists on the M50 with tags or video accounts will also see a 20c increase, to €2.50 and €3.10 respectively.

Tolls on the M1 (Dublin to Belfast), M7/M8 (Dublin to Cork/Limerick), M8 (Portlaoise), N6 (Kinnegad to Galway City), N25WF (Cork to Rosslare Europort via Waterford City) and N18-LT ( Limerick to Galway) will rise by 10c for motorcycles, 20c for cars and between 20c and 50c for larger vehicles.

Laois workers have the longest commute in Ireland as employment jumps

New Census results on work in Laois

The new charges were released on the same day as the Central Statistics Office published figures which showed that Laois faces the longest average commutes to work in Ireland. The Census figures also confirmed that thousands of people have to leave Laois for work mainly by car.