Motorway toll fees frozen for 2015
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 @ 11:03 AM
TOLL fees on Spain's motorways will be frozen in 2015 for the first time in five years.
This welcome decision for drivers has been provoked by ever-declining profits as a result of motorists boycotting A-roads.
With tolls having risen sharply every year since 2010, when they were last frozen, the volume of traffic on motorways where fees are charged has plummeted to levels seen in 1996, not long after they were first opened.
In many cases, such as the Mediterranean 'corridor', the AP-7, tolls have doubled or even trebled in less than 10 years.
Between 2002 and 2009 inclusive, toll companies agreed an inflation-based formula with the central government for progressively increasing fees – the average annual rise in inflation between October of one year and of the following divided or multiplied by the increase or decrease in traffic volume as applicable.
For this coming year, with inflation now in negative figures, the price 'increase' comes to 0.01% - which means companies will leave fees at 2014 rates for another 12 months.
The average toll fee increased by 1.85% in January this year, the second-lowest increase since the formula was first applied in 2002.
But by then, combined with the financial crisis meaning commuters are lower in number with fewer people using their cars every day, the cost of using the motorways had already become prohibitive for the average driver and most were tending to use back roads except when it was absolutely essential to use the toll network.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com