EU draft on road pricing adopts ‘user pays’ principle

Draft rules have been adopted by European policy makers which would bring the idea of widescale ‘user pays’ road pricing one step closer. European Union member states which currently use time-based road user charges will need to switch to distance-based ones for trucks and buses (over 2.4 tonnes) from 2023, and vans and minibuses from 2027, if the rules are made into law. The idea is that vehicles would then be charged according to their actual road use and the pollution they generate. The ‘user
October 31, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Draft rules have been adopted by European policy makers which would bring the idea of widescale ‘user pays’ road pricing one step closer.  


1816 European Union member states which currently use time-based road user charges will need to switch to distance-based ones for trucks and buses (over 2.4 tonnes) from 2023, and vans and minibuses from 2027, if the rules are made into law.

The idea is that vehicles would then be charged according to their actual road use and the pollution they generate.

The ‘user pays’ principle is widely seen as fairer but it has been considered politically difficult to adopt in some cases. The aim of the new rules is also to help meet transport emission reduction targets.

EU countries would need to set different road charging rates based on CO2 emissions, as part of a move to encourage the wider use of environmentally-friendly vehicles.

The new, draft rules would also allow countries to introduce discounts – for example, for light vehicles which frequently use areas on the edges of urban areas.

French socialist MEP Christine Revault d’Allonnes Bonnefoy called it “an ambitious report to achieve the objective of the White Paper on European Transport to move towards the full application of ‘user pays’ and ‘polluter pays’ principles on the European road transport network”.

It was a “turning point for the European transport policy to better tackle CO2 emissions and air pollution from the road transport sector”, she added.

The European Parliament will now negotiate with the European Council on the final wording.

Charging, Tolling & RUC

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Smart Cities put people, prudence and businesses before technology
    December 4, 2014
    Caroline Haynes tells ITS International that transport planners and equipment suppliers need to adopt different thinking and the smartest cities don’t call themselves smart. The term Smart Cities has been around for some time and has become something of a catch-all term applied to novel or futuristic technology deployed in an urban setting.
    Read More
  • Should it be end of the road for right-turns on red?
    April 10, 2024
    Banning right-hand turns after stopping for a red light is gaining momentum in the US. But the debate continues about whether it will result in fewer incidents between vehicles and alternative mobility users. David Arminas reports
    Read More
  • NACTO releases ‘blueprint’ for AVs in cities
    September 13, 2019
    Autonomous vehicles (AVs) must be part of future transport policies which prioritise efficiency and fairness, according to senior transport executives in the US and Canada. The second edition of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)’s Blueprint for Autonomous Urbanism sets out what it calls “the concrete steps that will need to be taken to ensure an equitable, people-first city”. NACTO is a collection of 81 North American cities and transit agencies which exchange ideas and coo
    Read More
  • Hyperloop: from sci-fi to transport policy
    April 16, 2020
    The future is here. While it has long looked like something from a sci-fi movie, Graham Anderson investigates a technology whose time might have come.
    Read More

Highlighted Content