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Toll report: cars pass a toll station heading towards Oslo on the E6 in Alnabru. A selection has examined the future income base in toll networks. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix
Toll revenues in Trondheim, Bergen, Nord-Jæren and Oslo will fall by 23 percent by 2030, according to a committee, which proposes to eliminate the benefits of electric cars in the toll ring.
Because unchanged, future toll revenues will drop significantly as more and more people drive electric and the goal is for all cars on Norwegian roads to be zero-emission vehicles by 2025.
On Monday, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Knut Arild Hareide, received a report on future revenues in the toll networks from a committee of experts appointed by the government last year.
– That at some point we are need do something, the report is very clear there. But i won’t say when the right time is. I think it will be just the big political test in this, what time is the right time to do something, says the Minister of Transport to VG.
– No immediate change
He believes that the report is a good basis for debate and political decisions.
– There will be no immediate change here and now, but I think this report will make a long-term change.
Hareide notes that the more we achieve zero growth goals, the less money goes to infrastructure and public transportation. And if you do nothing, your traffic will increase and your income will go down.
The report estimates that annual revenue from tolls in Trondheim, Bergen, Nord-Jæren and Oslo will fall by an average of 23%, corresponding to NOK 1.4 billion, by 2030. At the same time, tolls will increase by 25 %.
The main reason for the fall in toll revenue is exemptions and discounts on electric car tolls, and that there are more and more electric cars.
If toll revenues are maintained at the current level, while the benefits of the electric car are maintained, the rates for gasoline and diesel vehicles should almost double by 2030, the report notes.
WILL RIP THE PROFITS OF THE ELECTRIC CAR: A Tesla passes a toll booth towards Oslo on the E6 in Alnabru Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix
– We still have many tasks to solve and we must ensure an urban development that respects the environment. So we need a sustainable toll system and we should look for alternative solutions like road charging, Hareide says in a press release.
He thinks it is a good idea to see how the collection can be organized to ensure stable income and cities to develop in an environmentally friendly direction.
Out for consultation
The committee recommends, among other things, the abolition of the current schemes with exemptions and reduced rates for electric cars in toll projects, and notes that toll rates should generally reflect the costs that car use imposes on society. .
– Also in the future will be necessary a stable income for housing derived from car use. Additionally, tolls in urban areas serve many other purposes, including as part of ecological change and ecological urban development, says Hareide.
The committee recommends taking advantage of the current toll system until a road pricing system becomes relevant.
– Now we send this for your consultation, Hareide tells the press and points out that the current system is not sustainable if all cars are zero-emission cars by 2025.
– At some point we will have to grasp this, says Hareide.
Positive for road prices
– I am sure of the idea of a road pricing system, but it will be in a few years. I still think that it is advisable to investigate the prices of the roads in more detail, and then we can address the debate on how such a system should be designed to work well and protect important elements such as privacy, says Hareide in the press release .
It was last year that the government established the expert committee that has analyzed the future revenue outlook from toll networks.
Negative NAF
– We would warn against some of the recommendations here. A bad solution like tolls in the city today is not improved by the fact that more people are affected by it. The report points to the contradictions in tolls that we have been concerned about at NAF for a long time when using tolls. both of them to reduce traffic while wanting to earn increasing revenue for major transportation projects, Camilla Ryste, NAF communications manager, tells VG.
She believes that politicians should go rather well and seek greater government contributions to the development of roads and important public transportation in cities.
– We are against tolls, which is why we think that introducing more and more tolls on both fossil and electrical conductors is a bad idea. We believe that highway and public transportation projects should be financed in other ways. It must be funded by the community, as we pay for the development of other necessary infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals.
When should benefits be eliminated?
– How are you going to pay for the purchase of an electric car in Norway?
– If you see this report, there is a menu. It is not just a proposal that they present, there are many different proposals. We will reward those who choose to prioritize the climate and the environment. So it is also the case that it has some costs in the cities: the tail is there even with zero-emission cars and we need to take care of that, Hareide concludes.
FRP’s transport policy spokesperson Bård Hoksrud is not impressed with the report. He has also toyed with the report. Photo: Frp
FRP’s transport policy spokesman Bård Hoksrud believes that motorists may have to pay even more than today.
– It only took two minutes to get the good news that tolls will go down in the next ten years until Knut Arild Hareide came up with a plan to tax motorists more through road prices. That says everything. The government is proposing a policy that will impose even more taxes on people, Hoksrud says in an email sent through Frp’s communications department at the Storting.
– In the report, you can also read that it is estimated that the estimated revenues from electronic road pricing will approximately triple in 2030 if it is introduced, compared to an alternative where there are only barriers. It just shows that the price of roads is a golden instrument for tax-hungry politicians to steal money from motorists, says Hoksrud, who believes cities should eliminate costly and poor solutions rather than “annoy motorists with more tolls or road prices. “
– It’s also worth noting that Hareide points out that starting in 2025 only zero-emission cars will be sold. You want to remove the option and when you do, you can also activate the rates as you wish.
