Since October 1st 2015, Heavy Good Vehicles (HGVs) with a gross weight exceeding 7.5t are obligated to pay toll for round about 12,800km of federal motorways (Bundesautobahnen) and 2,300km federal trunk roads (Bundesstraßen).
In May 2016 the German parliament (Bundestag) agreed to implement the draft law, submitted by the federal minister for transport and digital infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt (CSU).
This draft looks to extend the existing toll network by round about 40,000km of federal trunk roads as of July 1st 2018. The declared target of this extension is “a better financing of federal trunk roads as well as a modern, secure and high-performing transport infrastructure in Germany”, an article published by the federal government in February 2017 claims. Further, it states that additional earnings of circa two billion Euros per year are expected.
Why does the extension have wider consequences for the market?
New about the expansion is that in the future all drivers have to pay tolls, when active on German federal trunk roads with vehicles over 7.5t. For customers with vehicles already equipped with an On-board Unit (OBU), these changes only have a very small impact.
Companies, which currently use federal trunk roads primarily, will have to rethink. So far the manual booking via toll terminals was practicable for irregularly users of federal motorways and toll obligated federal trunk roads. Since as of July 2018 all federal trunk roads will be obligated to tolling, especially these companies should look for a suitable solution at an early stage.
How do customers prepare themselves optimally?
One example for a suitable solution is the OBU of the German toll provider TollCollect. The OBU will be provided without a charge, but therefore it has to be installed by a certified workshop. The expenses for the installation have to be borne by the companies themselves.
Owners of a service card – e.g. the BP + Aral fuel card – profit additionally by smart services, a comprehensive support, receiving all toll transactions combined into one monthly invoice as well as many other services.
Interested parties can find out about the offer of the BP + Aral fuel card here.