All You Need To Know About Darb Toll Gate In Abu Dhabi: Location, Charges & More

Darb is the automated tolling system implemented in Abu Dhabi, UAE, to manage traffic congestion and encourage the use of public transportation. It utilises a network of overhead gantries equipped with sensors to electronically collect tolls from vehicles passing through them.

As Abu Dhabi’s business boomed, the number of vehicles on the roads also increased, leading to traffic jams and congestion. Darb aims to discourage unnecessary travel during peak hours by introducing a toll fee, thus encouraging a smoother traffic flow.

By making private vehicle travel during peak hours a bit more expensive, Darb nudges people towards using public transportation options like buses and trains. This can help reduce overall traffic volume and make public transport a more attractive choice.

Unlike some toll systems that use tags on vehicles, Darb relies on overhead gantries equipped with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology. Here are the detailed steps:

The registration process for company cars is similar to individual accounts, but with a few variations:

Unregistered vehicles passing through Darb are fined. Details of fines are covered later in the article.

Registering for a Darb toll gate account in Abu Dhabi incurs a one-time fee of AED 100 per vehicle. AED 50 is credited to your Darb account as a starting balance, so you have some credit right away for toll usage.

The standard toll fee per passage through a Darb toll gate is AED 4, which is applicable only during peak hours.

Darb charges are capped at AED 16 per day. This means even if you pass through the toll gate multiple times during peak hours in a day, you won’t pay more than AED 16.

If you have multiple vehicles registered under one account, there are monthly caps on toll charges to prevent excessive spending. These caps are:

Monthly caps apply for multiple vehicles registered under one account.

The Darb toll gate system in Abu Dhabi operates with specific peak hours during weekdays (Monday to Saturday)

No toll fees are applicable on Sundays and all official public holidays in Abu Dhabi. You can travel freely without toll charges during all hours other than the weekday peak timings mentioned above. This includes:

There are four locations for Darb Toll Gates in Abu Dhabi. They are situated on all the major bridges leading into the city. Here’s a list:

The Darb mobile application is a convenient tool for managing your Darb toll gate account in Abu Dhabi. Here’s what you can do with the Darb app:

Darb and Salik are both automated toll gate systems used to manage traffic congestion in the United Arab Emirates, but they operate in different emirates:

Darb uses license plate recognition, while Salik uses windshield tags. However, both required a registered account to use in the respective Emirates.

There are a few ways you can get fined by the Darb toll gate system in Abu Dhabi:

If you drive through a Darb toll gate with a vehicle that’s not registered in the system, you’ll be fined. The fine amount increases for repeated offences:

First time: AED 100

Second time: AED 200

Third time onwards: AED 400

If your registered vehicle has insufficient balance in its account when passing through a toll gate, you’ll be fined after a grace period. For vehicles from outside Abu Dhabi, the grace period is 5 working days. The fine is AED 50 per toll passage after the grace period.

Tampering with license plates to avoid tolls or damaging toll gate equipment will result in a hefty fine of AED 10,000.

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