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The role of the Commission in advancing the road pricing agenda cannot be understimated

"The role of the Commission in advancing the road pricing agenda cannot be underestimated", T&E Director Jos Dings stated at the Conference on fair and efficient road pricing organised by the European Commission on 5 Dec:

Road pricing is progressing because the list of its advantages is impressive. No wonder ever more countries in Europe are choosing for road user charging, and we are having a conference about its future.

Lorries set to become more aerodynamic

The EU has agreed to allow aerodynamic devices to be fitted to lorries that could cut fuel consumption and emissions of long-distance lorry journeys by 5-8%.

Hungary lorry charge

Environmental groups in Hungary fear a surge of lorries on country roads after the Hungarian government agreed a toll for trucks that is limited to motorways and a few main roads. The toll will be a distance- and pollution-based charge coming into effect in July 2013.

All motorways tolled

Portugal has included the last 600 kilometres of motorways in its toll system, which means that all the country’s motorways are now tolled for all vehicles.

Eurovignette revision approved as states step up activity on road charging

The long-running saga of the EU’s rules on road use charges for heavy goods vehicles has come to an end – at least for now – with final agreement on the third version of the Eurovignette directive. The directive comes into effect as several states, both inside and outside the EU, are introducing or considering road user charges.

Distance-based lorry taxes spreading

Sketch of some documents (default image for news

The French government has confirmed it will introduce a distance-based tax on lorries at the beginning of 2013. The confirmation follows a legal challenge to the government’s decision to award the contract for collecting the tolls to an Italian company. The tax will apply to all lorries using national roads and some local roads.

A step forward but still a ban on tackling climate change and accidents

EU countries have finally been given clearance to charge road hauliers for the air pollution and noise costs caused by lorries. But they will not be allowed to charge for the costs of congestion, accidents and climate changing gases. In a further weakening of the proposed directive, governments can exempt lorries under 12 tonnes from charges.

A positive lesson, a negative one, and one on European politics

Opinion

By Jos Dings
T&E Director

We always felt the economic crisis, with its associated scarcity of public money, could bring about more than just misery. We thought it could be the trigger for positive reforms towards more sustainable transport. And there are now signs that things are slowly starting to move in this direction.

EU floats idea of obligatory lorry charges by 2020

The Commission has proposed ending the right of member states to exempt lorries from paying for infrastructure costs. The suggestion, which came as part of the white paper on transport planning for 2050, could impact on negotiations on the Eurovignette, as it would effectively make the Eurovignette directive obligatory.

Sowing the seeds of smarter transport policy

Opinion by Jos Dings - T&E Director
Did we miss something? Last year, the European Commission didn’t propose a single new legislative measure to clean up transport. To be fair, it has been spending most of its time worrying about the future of the Eurozone. As a result, for T&E this was the sort of year where seeds for smarter transport policy were sown. We’re optimistic that next year could bring a decent crop of positive changes.

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