I thought it might be interesting to give a short overview of tolls in Europe.
There are generally 3 types of tolls;
1) Closed ticket system
2) Toll plaza's without a ticket system
3) Vignettes, which you buy and you can drive the entire network unlimited for a certain amount of time (depending on vignette type).
here we go;
United Kingdom
Generally toll free, except for some bridges.
Germany
Toll free for passenger vehicles, trucks pay a distance-based toll
France
Like the entrepreneur of toll roads in Europe. Most long-distance Autoroutes are tolled, except in and around major cities. A cross country trip from Lille to Perpignan (600 miles) will cost you about € 63 or $ 90.
Spain
Used to have a limited network of freeways which are tolled. Most toll roads now have a decent toll free alternative. Tolls are expensive, a trip from the French border to Alicante will cost you about € 55 or $ 78 for 400 miles
Italy
Most freeways are tolled, but there are low-quality untolled freeways. Southern Italy has fewer toll roads. A trip from Milan to Rome will cost you about € 32 or $ 45 for 350 miles
Switzerland
Uses vignettes. You can only buy a yearly vignette for 40 CHF or € 25 or $ 35. Most people only use it twice to go from Germany to Italy.
Austria
Also uses vignettes, which can be bought for 10 days, a month or a year. Cheapest vignette is € 7,70 or $ 11. Additional tolls are levied at most transit routes for tunnels and the Brenner Pass. Toll free alternatives are slow, and often not allowed with a trailer.
Hungary
Uses vignettes, but is the only one you don't have to put on your windscreen. Your license plate is registered, and you'll only get the reciept. Cheapest vignette is about € 4,40 or $ 6 for a couple of days.
Slovakia
Uses vignettes, similar to other central European countries. These cost € 4,90 or $ 7 for the cheapest period possible.
Czech Republic
Uses vignettes, similar to Slovakia. These are about € 9 for the cheapest period. You can use the entire motorway network with one vignette.
Poland
Generally toll free, but levies tolls on newer freeways, and intend to toll all A-roads in the future. S-roads will be toll free, and have a similar design standard
Netherlands
Toll free, except for two tunnels.
Belgium
Toll free roads
Luxembourg
Toll free roads
Ireland
Generally toll free, except the Dublin Port tunnel.
Portugal
Has a network of toll roads, developed mostly from the 1990's onward. A cross country trip from the Algarve to the Spanish border will cost about € 46 or $ 65 for 420 miles.
Denmark-Sweden
Denmark has two toll bridges, each is 12 miles long. These require tolls, the Great Belt Bridge is € 26 or $ 36, and the Oresund bridge into Sweden is € 38 or $ 54 for a single trip. A cross country trip still accumulates for € 128 or $ 181 even with the general freeways being toll free. Sweden has no further toll roads, only a congestion charge in Stockholm, but does not apply to non-Swedish license plates.
Norway
Has many automated toll roads with license plate recognition. Small amounts are charged at several points, mostly around 10 - 20 NOK (€ 1 - 2) The North Cape tunnel charges € 17 each way + € 5,50 per adult. A single person will pay € 45 or $ 64 for a return trip.
Finland
There are no toll roads in Finland
Estonia, Lithuania & Latvia
There are no toll roads in the Baltic countries
Ukraine
There are no toll roads in Ukraine
Belarus
Tolls are charged on the M1 through freeway from Poland towards Russia. Unknown amounts
Russia
No tolls.
Romania
A vignette is required in Romania. € 3 for one week up to € 28 for a whole year. Romania's road network was in poor condition, but is improving quickly.
Bulgaria
charges a similar vignette like in Romania
Moldova
Toll free. Very poor road quality. Poorest country in Europe.
Serbia
Tolls are levied. Foreigners are said to be charged more due to the income inequality between Serbia and other countries
Croatia
Croatia has an outstanding freeway network and requires tolls for most freeways.
Slovenia
Switched to a vignette in 2008. one week vignettes cost € 15 or $ 21. A yearly vignette costs € 95 or $ 135.
Bosnia
No tolls as far as I know
Montenegro
Cars entering Montenegro must pay a € 10 environmental tax upon entry. Montenegro is Europe's newest elite holiday destination, but the difficult terrain requires very expensive road construction. The motorway to Belgrade is said to cost 2 years of Montenegro's GDP.
Albania
Improving quickly from a nearly non-existent road network from the late 1990's. An environmental tax is charged upon entry, similar to Montenegro.
Greece
Greece has toll roads. A trip from Thessaloniki to Athens cost € 16 or $ 23 for 300 miles.
Turkey
Most freeways in Turkey are tolled, both in Europe and Asia. Nearly all freeways are 6-laned, regardless of traffic volumes.
Hungary has the best vignette system I've used. I bought mine online so didn't even have to queue at the border to purchase one but a warning for anyone traveling the few miles from Bratislava to Hungary. I didn't buy a vignette as it's only around 10 miles to the border and with border controls gone I didn't expect any trouble - wrong. There were police looking at the windshield of every passing car and stopping those without a vignette. The fine was €100, ouch :-/
Can I just correct you on Ireland. Most new freeways are built under a public private partnership where tolls are in place to cover the construction cost. Even a key section of the Dublin Ring M50 is tolled.
just to make sure, "vignette" is the term used in Europe for an electronic toll transponder? that's what we call them in the US :)
also, I was snowed out on the E69 as I approached Nordkapp in Norway, and had to turn around - now I'm glad I didn't make it all the way!
The UK does have a toll road...the M6(Toll) bypassing Birmingham
Quotejust to make sure, "vignette" is the term used in Europe for an electronic toll transponder? that's what we call them in the US
No, a vignette is a sticker which you put on your windshield.
Like this:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.genevaairport.net%2Fimages%2FSwiss-Vignette.jpg&hash=148e177cc29314a9c953c8ba53efe60c651e8929)
Some countries offer electronic transponders, like Liber-T in France. Unfortunatly, none are compatible with other systems.
Quote from: rawr apples on August 15, 2009, 02:28:05 PM
The UK does have a toll road...the M6(Toll) bypassing Birmingham
Ah yes, the one that some people call a Ghostway because of the low level of traffic using it due to the high charges.
I took some pictures shortly after it opened and because of the way traffic ends up on the toll road by default it causes congestion because the toll road has more lanes than the busier free road at the merge point. The first picture shows which lanes serve each road - the lack of traffic in the centre six lanes should be a clue and even those cars that are using it are Jaguars and BMWs :cool:
The second picture is looking the other way. These lanes merge into four ahead but last year the merge was altered to give the busier outside lanes an extra lane and this level of congestion no longer occurs.
As you can tell, I'm not in favour of toll roads in the UK. The government and operator of the M6 Toll must have thought it was a moneyspinner when building it but toll roads aren't popular. There are/were plans for a similar toll road around another British city but the lack of traffic using the M6 Toll may have put paid to it.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsabre-roads.org.uk%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Fuserpics%2F10163%2Fm42jam.jpg&hash=ce3454dfbc7201c87944216fcaa86ff3ae90575f)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsabre-roads.org.uk%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Fuserpics%2F10163%2Fm42.jpg&hash=4d305ce68ad8291046334cdb50273b13f117d61c)
Isn't there a proposed M4 Toll bypass in Newport?
Quote from: njroadhorse on August 16, 2009, 09:15:41 AM
Isn't there a proposed M4 Toll bypass in Newport?
Yes, that's the one I was refering to in my last post. I believe it has been put on indefinite hold or has been canceled. There's construction taking place on the existing M4 which will see cut price capacity improvements implemented instead.
Toll vignettes on my windscreen currently. (I'm in Slovenia right now)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg249.imageshack.us%2Fimg249%2F895%2Fimg176.jpg&hash=97a1b9efb602be1df440efc2061282322ecb9590)
sweet jesus! What happens to, say, truckers, that need vignettes for many different countries? Do they have a small section of windshield that they can see through, with the rest covered in stickers? :ded:
QuoteSome countries offer electronic transponders, like Liber-T in France. Unfortunatly, none are compatible with other systems.
I guess some things are the same on both side of the pond. :pan:
At, least the northeastern quadrant has EZ-Pass here, but outside of that :banghead:.
Most people from countries with large toll road systems (France, Spain, Italy) mostly stay within their own countries for vacation, so it's probably not feasible to have a compatible system because few people will use it. People from the Netherlands, Germany, Nordic countries etc. only visit France or Italy like once a year, and buying a transponder is probably too expensive for the occasional visit.
I hope Germany will stay toll free. Otherwise it will be pretty expensive to drive through there. I mean, I don't pay road taxes in Germany, but I do fill up my tank of diesel twice in Germany, at 2/3rd of the price being taxes, I still pay like € 40 or $ 55 to drive through the country in fuel taxes, so it's not like I don't pay anything at all.
^^^
Interesting cultural difference. I suppose some of it's from the fact that the different countries of Europe (the physical size of our states in the US) often have different languages and culture.
My brother has been in Ohio and Pennsylvania several times this year even though it's 400-600 miles to points in Ohio and 600-900 miles to points in PA. So despite being hundreds of miles from a toll facility, having an EZPass would not be out of the question here.
I did a 4 day, 3200 km roadtrip this week to Slovenia. Let's see what I payed in tolls and taxes...
3200 km / 19 = 168 liters of diesel. 2/3rds of the € 1.10 diesel price is tax. (168*1.1*0.67%) = € 124.
Toll vignette for Austria = € 7.70
4 toll tunnels in Austria; (Bosrück, Gleinalm, Karawanken & Tauern) = 4.5 + 7.50 + 6.50 + 9.50 = € 28
Toll vignette for Slovenia = € 15
Toll roads in Croatia = € 2
total toll+tax = € 176.70 or $ 253.30 :wow:
You gotta make sacrifices to be a roadgeek in Europe :pan:
P.S. I'm lucky to drive on diesel. Petrol would've cost me € 250 in tax, almost double that of diesel due to higher gasoline prices + higher fuel consumption
and don't forget the vignettes for Germany and the Netherlands which you already had bought previously!
No, they don't have vignettes. (= toll sticker).
Austria's a bit of a rip-off though. First, you need a sticker for the Autobahn and Schnellstraße, and then you also need to pay tolls for the tunnels seperatly. Driving to Slovenia requires at least 2 tunnel passages which are tolled. And they always make those toll stickers (vignettes) unattractive four tourists, because they are 7 or 10-day vignettes, so if you go on vacation, you always need two of them.
Switzerland also has a vignette, more expensive than the Austrian one, but you can use it all year, and tunnels do not have additional tolls.
Well, the bill for driving to my holiday-destination and back home has arrived.
€ 185,30 = $ 265 for driving the French and Spanish toll roads.
Of the 2200 miles I drove (vice versa) only 1100 miles were tolled.
So the costs were nearly $0,25 per mile.
Is that much, or just a bargain compared to US-tollroads ?
that is incredibly high. In the US, if it gets over 7 cents per mile, people start getting ornery.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 27, 2009, 05:37:03 PM
that is incredibly high. In the US, if it gets over 7 cents per mile, people start getting ornery.
Some spots it is over 7 cents/mile....definitely not as high as 25 cents though. The roads better be in good condition for that much charge.
El Dorado West to South Topeka on the Kansas Turnpike (a distance of about 106 miles) is about $5, so 5c/mile is typical for the traditional public-authority turnpike which has not had to finance significant capacity expansion. I think there are however some urban commuter tollroads in Texas which are up to 30c/mile.
The Chicago Skyway has traditionally been one of the most expensive toll roads in the U.S.A. on a per-mile basis. (though it is "officially" a toll bridge)
The Skyway is 7.8 miles long and has a $3.00 toll for 38.46 cents per mile.
The bridges in New York charge like $ 8... if you recalculate that to a per mile basis... X-(
Quote from: Chris on August 28, 2009, 04:30:37 AM
The bridges in New York charge like $ 8... if you recalculate that to a per mile basis... X-(
well, the Verrazano is nearly a mile long between its spans! :-D
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 27, 2009, 05:37:03 PM
that is incredibly high. In the US, if it gets over 7 cents per mile, people start getting ornery.
Somehow, Europeans tend to accept everything the government does... The incredible gas tax, automobile tax, road tax, sales taxes etc. would all have been vetoed away by American voters, but somehow, we all have 'em.... :ded:
The "solidarity principle" as understood in Europe does not exist in the US. (You forgot to mention the wealth tax in France, Chris--that would have Americans spitting nails; I myself don't like it even though I am more used to the European approach to tax and spending.)
The other side of the coin is that the US does not have publicly funded health care in the European sense. If the amount Americans and their employers pay for health insurance were counted as part of their tax burden rather than as a general living expense, I think the burden of compulsory payments Americans face would be about the same, or even a little higher. (This is not an argument for or against Obamacare, BTW. I think something has to be done in order to make health care accessible to all Americans and to remove the lack of liquidity in the labor market that results when people feel they have to cling to jobs in order to maintain access to health care, but I do not necessarily think that any of the packages on offer will actually be more efficient than what exists now. The fact that something has to be done does not mean that it is not possible to make a big mistake.)
O.T.
Quote from: J N Winkler on August 28, 2009, 10:18:34 AM
This is not an argument for or against Obamacare, BTW. I think something has to be done in order to make health care accessible to all Americans and to remove the lack of liquidity in the labor market that results when people feel they have to cling to jobs in order to maintain access to health care, but I do not necessarily think that any of the packages on offer will actually be more efficient than what exists now. The fact that something has to be done does not mean that it is not possible to make a big mistake.)
Well, said!
Since I don't want to get this thread to far O.T. on health care, I simply say this. I too think there are major flaws in the current system and that all alternatives I've seen are either worse or are neutral but simply shift the "bad" parts into different groups of people. :no:
-----------------------------------------------------------
We now resume our regular thread. :poke:
I visited Croatia too in my recent roadtrip. Drove some toll roads. (nearly all freeways in Croatia are tolled - and have ,this has to be said, an incredible high quality).
Even a country like Croatia isn't really cheap anymore in tolls. The Croatian GDP per capita is only $ 15,600 (U.S. : $ 46,800) but the tolls for a 60km toll road was € 5.70, ($ 8 for 40 miles or $ 0.20 per mile). When you factor in the income difference, Croatian toll roads are easily 6 - 8 times more expensive than in the U.S.
Speaking of Croatia, we were shown a film in my Geography 100 class that showed a motorway built between two cities in what was then Yugoslavia. The film however was shot after Croatia and Serbia split apart from one another, so the road beyond a certain exit was a war zone. I remember a scene with the military holed up in a service plaza, using it as a fort.
That is probably the Croatian A3 which runs from Zagreb to Belgrade. The last 20 or so kilometers was in the Vukovar region, with military running the border controls. As far as I know, things have normalized. The biggest "problems" with borders in that region right now are just the waiting times to enter a country.
Millions of Turkish people live in Germany and the Netherlands, which return each year to Turkey, which is like a 2500 kilometer drive. The best route goes through Serbia, since that route is build to freeway standards. There is an alternative, by staying within the European Union by going through Romania, but the main problem is Romania lacks good roads. There are no freeways on that route through Romania and you have to travel across busy national roads loaded with trucks and another problem is that some of these roads are in a bad condition, though things are improving quickly.
Croatia, these days, has turned into a mass tourism destination, especially along the coast. Istria is particularly touristy, but so is thet stunning coast of Dalmatia down to Montenegro.
Hmm, really? Does the Kosovo situation affect things much? I don't imagine Pristina to be a big tourism destination yet, of course...
Kosovo is mostly a political issue, it's not like they're fighting a war over there. Croatia is now far from the war of the 90's, and can present itself as a new mass tourism destination. Bosnia, on the other hand, isn't that far yet. There are also a lot of political tensions within Bosnia, and who knows how long it takes before that country eventually breaks up...
Slovenia is a modern country just like most other western European countries. Their income is similar to that of Italy. The country is neat, well maintained and rich. Not as much as Denmark or Switzerland yet, but they're getting close.
what did Slovenia do so right that put them ahead of the other former Warsaw Pact countries in terms of economic development? Slovenia was the first of those countries to join NATO and the European Union, no?
Slovenia wasn't part of the Warsaw pact, nor the Eastern Bloc. It was only part of Yugoslavia. They always have been the more prosperous republic of Yugoslavia, benefited from tourism and the fact it's a small country. Slovenia was also the first "new" EU country to join the eurozone. Slovakia (don't mix those two up) followed in 2009. As of 2009, Poland was the only economy that still grew during the recession.
Basically speaking, all new EU countries, except for Romania and Bulgaria can now be considered developed and modern countries. They're not quite the US or western EU yet, but they're getting there quickly. Many of these economies saw growths between 5 and 10% for several years in a row.
Poland is seeing a construction boom with new freeways, up to 1,000 kilometers of freeway will be under construction next year. The Czech Republic had a decent freeway network for several decades, but is slowly expanding it. Slovakia is also building a freeway network, but has terrain difficulties (Tatra Mountains), which require a lot of tunnels and bridges. Hungary's freeway network now reaches almost every corner of the country.
yes, Yugoslavia kind of always did their own thing (see: Tito) - but why Slovenia as opposed to Serbia, Croatia, etc? Croatia is also one Hell of a tourist destination, with the beaches on the Adriatic Sea and whatnot, the largest surviving Roman coliseum at Pula, etc... but somehow they didn't get it as right as Slovenia, which basically has been Austria South since 1991.
I remember traveling in Slovenia and Croatia in 1996 and Slovenia's freeway system was almost indistinguishable from that of Austria, while Croatia had significantly more two-lane roads.
IMG WIDTH=800 - Yr friendly mod.
Slovenia has never gotten into a real war (except for some six day stuff, but that's barely worth mentioning). Croatia suffered more from the war, and has now almost completed rebuilding their infrastructure. It can be said that Croatia has one of the most modern freeway networks in Europe. Their tunnels count as the safest too, in various motorists club tests. Croatia has constructed hundred of kilometers of freeways in the past 15 years. All larger cities are now connected by freeway (Autoceste) and they're now focusing on rebuilding the national highway network.
The most interesting Croatian freeway is the A1 along the Dalmatian coast. It runs through a very desolate, yet scenic landscape close to the sea.
network map:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi3.tinypic.com%2F2mwcjsx.jpg&hash=8cf39b89b6a4457c5a6b13077b57961db51571cc)
This is the pavement quality on much of Croatia's freeways:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com%2F2645%2F3841438681_295924ce1b_o.jpg&hash=0442d5a80030b8d72870ad9f07fc31fc9c54ae27)
picture taken by me in August.
The island of Krk:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg134.imageshack.us%2Fimg134%2F3797%2Fd102povratno008.jpg&hash=3cdc33a8b0e21ead48671ad82f9b5f1be500ee91)
Croatian signage, a bit like Germany (shapes)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg79.imageshack.us%2Fimg79%2F8392%2Fimgp1264s.jpg&hash=6d34929b895a46d1a759562e766ae3e287a43242)
Try to build freeways in this kind of terrain:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg294.imageshack.us%2Fimg294%2F7702%2Fomis8ph7.jpg&hash=63d8c1362a37d0c1de51a8c5ad50475bad3b00dd)
Oh man this kind of asphalt just asks to be driven!
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi13.tinypic.com%2F2irw2ua.jpg&hash=82ff1c9ee345262442f89a4d7a0992fde24f867c)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg229.imageshack.us%2Fimg229%2F2460%2F13820sv20rok20zadar20ii0407220.jpg&hash=63b4a7e93361849bf4b240c2a8e41c1798b494c5)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi13.tinypic.com%2F4le53pu.jpg&hash=11cd217026092fbe96155dbe9a203b69b538b751)
rest area:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg260.imageshack.us%2Fimg260%2F6061%2Fdsc00564xk6.jpg&hash=3cc9627defd22466e8184dca3b0927bcce3786bf)
wow! excellent photos.
(Edit: the rest of this message was OT.)
Trying to make tolling less taxing in Europe:
EETS - Eurointeroperability starting 2013 (http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4478)
Quote from: Chris on August 15, 2009, 09:02:12 AM
Denmark-Sweden
Denmark has two toll bridges, each is 12 miles long. These require tolls, the Great Belt Bridge is € 26 or $ 36, and the Oresund bridge into Sweden is € 38 or $ 54 for a single trip. A cross country trip still accumulates for € 128 or $ 181 even with the general freeways being toll free. Sweden has no further toll roads, only a congestion charge in Stockholm, but does not apply to non-Swedish license plates.
Sweden has a second international tolled crossing, on Motorway E6 at the border with Norway. That's the Svinesund Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svinesund_Bridge).