The same system that has been operating in Portugal for more than 10 years ended up reaching a Spanish motorway, specifically the A-636 -depending on the Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa-. It is an electronic toll, there are no barriers, but driving is not free unless we go by motorcycle.
While the Government of Spain continues playing the game of confusion and delaying the presentation of the preliminary draft Law on Sustainable Mobility before sending it to the Congress of Deputies, it continues with its claims to do away with free-to-use highways and expressways. The agreement with Brussels to receive the European “money” to lift the Spanish economy as a result of the COVID pandemic is delayed by electoral calculations.
We have a precedent of what awaits us in the Beasáin-Vergara regional highway (A-636), which has been connecting the NI and AP-1 highways since 2019, when the works were completed. On this toll road we will not find barriers or payment booths, it is a “Portuguese-style” toll system.
As in our Iberian neighbour, to drive along a dual carriageway or motorway electronic toll -modality “free-flow”– The vehicle must be registered to associate the license plate with a means of payment, or otherwise use an electronic toll system that different gates detect and record the consumption made. If not, the vehicle is sanctioned, although not immediately, only if we do not pay on time.
Table of rates for the A-636 for vehicles that do not use electronic tolls or discounts for frequent use (25 to 75%)
This toll system has been in force since mid-January 2022. It affects passenger cars, vans, trucks and buses, only motorcycles are spared for two possible reasons: the complexity of reading their license plates or considering that the damage they do to the asphalt of the road is negligible.
The equivalent of the electronic toll system is called Abiatu, intended for those registered in the province of Guipúzcoa. The advantage of using the electronic toll device is that it accumulates discounts for regular users, those who make more than six trips a month. Heavy vehicles do not have discounts.
As an alternative to the Abiatu, any TAG device can be used -such as Vía-T- or, failing that, the license plate must be registered in the Bidegi portal (Agencia Guipuzcoana de Infraestructuras) and use a bank card so that it remains associated. If we have used neither one thing nor the other, and we have ignored the signaling, we will have a relative problem.
The journey is 22.9 kilometers, for which cars pay 3.01 euros without discounts, and with very frequent use it would be 74 cents per journey
The license plates of the vehicles captured by the cameras -except motorcycles- that have not been associated with a means of payment activate a system of notification to the owner of the vehicle. A letter from the Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa will arrive at the postal address of the same with a payment letter. It’s not a fine.
we will have a voluntary pay period to pay the corresponding amount. After that period there will be a fine, because an administrative sanction will be issued. Since it will already be an extraordinary payment period, there will be a surchargeand the longer it takes to pay, the problem will be greater.
Except for the drivers who are not usual in the area, let’s say that this was seen coming a long time ago. The Provincial Council already warned in 2020 that it was going to charge tolls not only for heavy vehicles, but for all vehicles in general except for two-wheelers. Previously, the NI and A-15 tolls had been invalidated by the courts for being discriminatory, they only affected the heavy ones. Those affected can claim from the Diputación everything they paid.
The gantries divide the route into four segments and are priced independently. There is no barrier along the way
The Fenadismer carriers’ association has been fighting tolls for trucks and buses for some time, since these do not cover maintenance costs, but the taxes on hydrocarbons managed by Basque autonomy should. The difference this time is that it also affects passenger cars.
It is more likely that this system will be implemented in Spain than the vignette system, because the European regulations are moving in the direction of suppressing them and using the principles pay per use -the more you use, the more you pay- and he who pollutes, pays -depends on the type of vehicle-. The vignettes do not take into account the former.
At the moment the Government of Spain has nothing to do with what the Diputación does, but without a doubt we already have a dangerous precedent of a public administration that, without making a finalist use of taxes on motorists, needs to implement a repayment system for the accounts to come out. This is so.