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Tolls in Europe

Started by Chris, August 15, 2009, 09:02:12 AM

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Chris

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.


Truvelo

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.
Speed limits limit life

agentsteel53

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 :)
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

agentsteel53

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!
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

rawr apples

The UK does have a toll road...the M6(Toll) bypassing Birmingham
Now shut up and drivee

Chris

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:


Some countries offer electronic transponders, like Liber-T in France. Unfortunatly, none are compatible with other systems.

Truvelo

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.


Speed limits limit life

njroadhorse

Isn't there a proposed M4 Toll bypass in Newport?
NJ Roads FTW!
Quote from: agentsteel53 on September 30, 2009, 04:04:11 PM
I-99... the Glen Quagmire of interstate routes??

Truvelo

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.
Speed limits limit life

Chris

Toll vignettes on my windscreen currently. (I'm in Slovenia right now)

agentsteel53

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:
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

mightyace

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:.
My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyace

I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!

Chris

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.

mightyace

^^^
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.
My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyace

I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!

Chris

#14
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

agentsteel53

and don't forget the vignettes for Germany and the Netherlands which you already had bought previously!
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

Chris

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.

aswnl

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 ?

agentsteel53

that is incredibly high.  In the US, if it gets over 7 cents per mile, people start getting ornery.
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

florida

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.
So many roads...so little time.

J N Winkler

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.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

mightyace

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.
My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyace

I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!

Chris

The bridges in New York charge like $ 8... if you recalculate that to a per mile basis...  X-(

agentsteel53

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
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

Chris

#24
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:



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