German road toll to cost foreign drivers up to €130 a year

The German government has introduced a controversial road toll which will force foreign car drivers to pay up to €130 (US$162) a year for using Germany's autobahn motorways.
November 3, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

 The German government has introduced a controversial road toll which will force foreign car drivers to pay up to €130 (US$162) a year for using Germany's autobahn motorways.

The plan, intended to help the country fund the upkeep of its transport infrastructure which is used by millions of foreign vehicles, may yet face a legal challenge in Brussels for discriminating against foreign motorists.

After months of heated debate between Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt dropped an original idea to raise the fee on all roads.

However, he stuck to the plan that the toll will not lead to extra costs for German drivers by allowing them to offset the levy against an already existing motor vehicle tax. Dobrindt, a leading member of the CSU, said he was convinced that his draft law does not discriminate against foreign motorists and therefore would stand if challenged in court.

“The infrastructure fee is sensible, fair and just,” the minister said, adding that the revenues of the toll would only be used to modernise Germany’s motorways and main roads.

The toll is expected to be introduced in 2016. Motorists have to register their vehicle details via the internet. Foreign drivers can also pay the levy at petrol stations. The fee will take into account the vehicle’s cylinder capacity and environmental compatibility with a maximum toll of €130 a year. Foreign drivers can pay a ten-day levy for €10 (US$13) or two month for €22 (US$27).

Dobrindt’s CSU wants foreign motorists to pay tolls on motorways because they think it is unfair that foreigners travel for free in Germany while German drivers have to pay tolls in neighbouring countries like Austria, Switzerland and France.

The CSU pressed the motorway toll issue in coalition talks after last year’s German federal elections. But Merkel’s CDU and its other coalition ally, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), said they would only back the toll if it did not lead to extra costs for German motorists and if it complied with 1816 European Union rules that prohibit discrimination against foreign motorists.

Germany has already introduced a satellite-based toll system for lorries that obliges truck drivers to pay on motorways. This toll depends on the number of kilometres actually driven.

Charging, Tolling & RUC

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • London needs just one road user charge, says report
    July 8, 2019
    London’s patchwork of road charging schemes should be replaced by a single, distance-based user charge, according to new research. Apart from anything else, it would be much fairer… The UK capital’s multiple road charging schemes require a radical overhaul, according to a new report by the Centre for London thinktank. The suggested solution is to replace existing levies on drivers with a single, distance-based user charge which would more fairly reflect how much, and at what time, people are using London
    Read More
  • Carrots are proving cost-effective in Netherlands
    October 3, 2018
    There are lessons to be learned from congestion avoidance schemes in the Netherlands. David Crawford welcomes some new thinking in road pricing. Highway operators worldwide are being urged to learn from Dutch experience in using financial carrots rather than sticks to encourage drivers to avoid contributing to congestion. A Netherlands/UK group makes a convincing cost/benefit case in a new global survey of road pricing technologies, economics and acceptability. Representing the Rijkswaterstaat section of
    Read More
  • Tolling is the 21st century’s road funding solution
    June 5, 2015
    HNTB’s Rick Herrington and Brad Guilmino put the case for tolling. Tolling is becoming the 21st century solution of choice for generating additional user-based transportation revenue. The proven funding source is being seriously considered for expanded use by cities, states and even the federal government with support from elected officials across the political spectrum. In fact, with each federal transportation reauthorisation, tolling restrictions have been relaxed.
    Read More
  • EU-wide Railway at low level status of deployment
    October 6, 2017
    Deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), an EU-wide railway signalling system is proceeding at a very low-level, according to a new report from European Court of Auditors. In assessing if the ERTMS had been proper planned, deployed and managed, the auditors visited Denmark, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands and detected a reluctance from infrastructure managers to invest in the necessary equipment due the expense and a lack individual business cases.
    Read More

Highlighted Content