Motorway toll fees frozen for 2015 TOLL fees on Spains motorways will be frozen in 2015 for the first time in five years. This welcome decision for drivers has been provoked by ever-declining profits as a result of motorists boycotting A-roads. With tolls having risen sharply every year since 2010, when they were last frozen, the volume of traffic on motorways where fees are charged has plummeted to levels seen in 1996, not long after they were first opened. In many cases, such as the Mediterranean corridor, the AP-7, tolls have doubled or even trebled in less than 10 years. Between 2002 and 2009 inclusive, toll companies agreed an inflation-based formula with the central government for progressively increasing fees – the average annual rise in inflation between October of one year and of the following divided or multiplied by the increase or decrease in traffic volume as applicable. For this coming year, with inflation now in negative figures, the price increase comes to 0.01% - which means companies will leave fees at 2014 rates for another 12 months. The average toll fee increased by 1.85% in January this year, the second-lowest increase since the formula was first applied in 2002. But by then, combined with the financial crisis meaning commuters are lower in number with fewer people using their cars every day, the cost of using the motorways had already become prohibitive for the average driver and most were tending to use back roads except when it was absolutely essential to use the toll network. This has meant that over the past seven years, toll firms debts have been rising as they are not making enough money from motorway users to cover their obligations in terms of road maintenance. In addition to the inflation formula leading to a zero rise for 2015, the ministry of public works and infrastructure, led by Ana Pastor, has instructed toll companies to cut fees for the hours when there is the least traffic on the motorways. A map of toll trunk roads showing parts of the 2,550-kilometre network of motorways where tolls were to be reduced during off-peak traffic hours and by how much is under construction by Sra Pastor and her team and is expected to be rolled out in 2015. The plan is to encourage more drivers to use the toll motorways and put money back in the firms pockets. Earlier, the central government was considering bailing out the ailing toll companies by buying them up and making them public-sector entities, but talks on the subject have gone quiet amid mass criticism that doing so would entail a multi-billion loss to the taxpayer. Source: Think Spain
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 16:07:07 +0000
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