Skip to main content

Drastic action needed to boost EU-wide user-friendly road toll services, says Transport Committee

To improve interoperability of road charging systems, the European Commission must focus on better implementation of existing legislation and assess the need for new measures to encourage the development of a EU-wide electronic toll system, according to an own-initiative report adopted in the Transport and Tourism Committee. MEPs say incentives for road operators and toll service providers have not been sufficient and criticise lack of action by Member States to develop EU-wide standards, as set out in a Di
April 24, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
To improve interoperability of road charging systems, the 1690 European Commission must focus on better implementation of existing legislation and assess the need for new measures to encourage the development of a EU-wide electronic toll system, according to an own-initiative report adopted in the Transport and Tourism Committee.

MEPs say incentives for road operators and toll service providers have not been sufficient and criticise lack of action by Member States to develop EU-wide standards, as set out in a Directive on interoperability of electronic toll systems in 2004.

The resolution calls the Commission to provide an overview of existing studies by the end of 2013 for policy options in the medium and long term including the deployment of technologies, such as GPS/GNSS to prevent and reduce congestion caused by physical barriers.

The report urges the take-up of mobile payments, facilitation of pre-payments online, and clear indications of prices in order to enhance user-friendliness and informed customer choices. Transport MEPs reiterated that distance-based tolling systems should be favoured, as they are a fairer, non-discriminatory type compared to the vignette-type system.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • EU project to make urban freight management more sustainable
    February 1, 2012
    Urban freight policies are becoming more common in European cities and regions. However, it is still difficult to evaluate and transfer the knowledge gained from the different city logistics measures implemented by local authorities. The SUGAR project aims to tackle this by establishing a systematic approach towards best practices identification and assessment, and by developing urban freight plans and actions.
  • FIA welcomes eCall type approval legislation
    March 3, 2015
    The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile ( FIA) Region I has welcomed the European Competitiveness Council vote to adopt the eCall type-approval legislation, while also regretting that users will have to wait another three years to benefit from this technology. The legislation mandates emergency call technology as a standard feature in all new vehicles from 2018, which the FIA says will undoubtedly accelerate the deployment of connected car technologies. Within eCall, the European Commission is mandate
  • eCall mandatory in cars from 2015
    June 14, 2013
    The European Commission has adopted two proposals to ensure that, from October 2015, all new models of passenger cars and light duty vehicles will have to be fitted with 112 eCall, enabling them to automatically call emergency services in case of a serious crash. eCall is activated automatically as soon as in-vehicle sensors detect a serious crash. Once set off, the system dials the European emergency number 112, establishes a telephone link to the appropriate emergency call centre and sends details of the
  • Worldwide electronic toll collection market to double between 2016 and 2025
    June 15, 2015
    Ptolemus Consulting Group has released the 2015 edition of its electronic toll collection (ETC) Global Study 2015, which indicates that the average penetration of electronic tolling by revenue in Europe is set to increase from 71 per cent in 2015 to 86 per cent in 2025. The growth is lead by the increase use of road user charging schemes dedicated to trucks following the first steps made by Germany.