The European Directive on the charging of heavy goods vehicles required Member States to introduce fairer charging systems for the use of road infrastructure. Fairer in this context meaning that the charging system should follow certain principles, namely 'user pays' and 'polluter pays'. The objectives were to achieve a reduction in the negative impacts of road use whilst avoiding double taxation and without imposing additional burdens on vehicle operators. The Directive does not require the introduction of electronic methods of road charging; nevertheless, several Member States have decided that the best way to achieve the requirements of the Directive is through the use of an ETC system. So in summary, ETC has been introduced in Europe to meet two broad needs. The first, to improve the efficiency of toll plazas on privately operated toll roads, and the second, a public policy objective to link road taxes to road use and in particular distance travelled and vehicle emissions.

Chapter Contents:

• 7.1 Introduction
• 7.1.1 Why collect road tolls?
• 7.2 Motorways, tunnels and bridge tolls
• 7.2.1 France
• 7.2.2 Italy
• 7.2.3 Spain
• 7.3 Free-flow charging and city congestion charges
• 7.3.1 Norway
• 7.3.2 Ireland
• 7.3.3 Portugal
• 7.3.4 England
• 7.4 National schemes for electronic tolls for heavy vehicles
• 7.4.1 Switzerland
• 7.4.2 Austria
• 7.4.3 Germany
• 7.4.4 Czech Republic
• 7.4.5 Slovakia
• 7.4.6 Poland
• 7.4.7 Hungary
• 7.5 Interoperability
• 7.6 The future
• 7.6.1 Business drivers
• 7.6.2 Payment trends
• 7.6.3 Technology trends
• Notes
• Bibliography

Inspec keywords: road pricing (tolls); road vehicles; air pollution; government policies; radiocommunication; international collaboration; intelligent transportation systems; traffic engineering computing

Other keywords: electronic methods; vehicle operators; ETC system; road use; European directive; heavy goods vehicles; toll plazas; toll roads; road infrastructure; user pays; charging systems; public policy; road taxes; vehicle emissions; electronic toll collection systems; polluter pays

Subjects: Traffic engineering computing; Environmental factors; Other radio links and systems; Economic, social and political aspects of computing