A22 motorway tolls, madness in the making
- Written by Paul Rees
Amid depression and anger road users are still trying to get to grips with the Government's planned introduction of road tolls on many of Portugal's formerly free motorways.The April introduction of the toll system was postponed due to the resignation of the Socrates Government
and the claimed worry that to introduce the legislation before the new government had been voted in would be unconstitutional; indeed the judges advised this would be the case thus muddying the legal waters further.'Some time in September' is the new start date for the Government to pass the cost of motorway maintenance from central funds on a 'per vehicle' basis, directly to motorway users.
The 'user pays' mantra adopted by Prime Minister Passos Coelho and his new team has merit where there is a suitable and safe alternative route. The EN125 in the Algarve is not a suitable alternative especially for Heavy Goods Vehicles which will have difficulty in negociating the many new, deliberately tight roundabouts installed by local authorities as a 'safety and traffic calming' initiative. Sceptics claim that the creation of these new roundabouts has been a deliberate attempt by local councils to ensure the EN125 could not be classified as an alternative rounte to the motorway. It clearly has not worked but the displays of artwork and new greenery has brightened up many dull areas despite the obvious trouble many HGVs have in getting around the often tight bends.
By being forced onto a toll road, HGVs and other trade vehicles will pass the additional costs incurred to the consumer one way or another. The Algarve toll rate is not excessive compatred to the rest of the toll system in Portugal but the tolls are almost universally opposed by anyone who currently drives along the motorway, a motorway that has brought measurable economic benefits to the region in widening the zone that tourists are prepared to travel to after the horrors of cheap air travel. The west coast, promoted by regional and tourist authorities as the Algarve's last remaining wilderness, is now accessible, as is the eastern region which has seen a steady increase in tourism and business growth due to better access and sound marketing. The fishing villages beyond Lagos and their neighbouring countryside hamlets are now linked to Europe as never before.
Users will need to buy an electronic box for €27 euros (€25 if you want to get e-mailed bills) which will be available in Via Verde stores nationwide, post offices and motorway service stations. There is a reduced fee and free journey credits if you live or have a business near the motorway, but these end at the end of 2012.
Via Verde's website shows that south of Lisbon there is but one outlet, in Faro (without technical assistance) and a technical assistance outlet at MSCAR in Portimao. To be fair there is one more technical assistance outlet at the toll station near Almodovar, perhaps impossible to get to unless you are travelling on the motorway anyway. The company had promised to open many more outlets in the Algarve but may be relying on CTT post offices to handle the queues. The Via Verde website is less than forthcoming about the whole process that presumably it hopes will bring thousands of new customers, is in Portuguese only and has nothing pertinent in its frequent asked questions section.
The real and unaddressed problem is the additional tax this represents to tourism. It's not so much the cost for infrequent tourist users, but the inconvenience and the fear that something will go horribly wrong as you sit in Frankfurt or Glasgow planning your next holiday on-line. Visitors using vehicles will have to pay a deposit for the electronic box at a cost of €27 which appears to be un-refundable if they are not able to return the box at the end of their stay to the exact same outlet where they obtained it. This above all needs changing as it is really very stupid, yet easy to fix. Credit card details are taken as is a hire charge of €6 for the first week, plus subsequent toll fees depending on mileage travelled. Not much good if you are travelling from Villa Real across to Cape St Vincent and then north via Lisbon and Oporto finally to exit the country en route to Santiago da Compolstela in Spain, a popular route travelled by thousands every year. Presumably if drivers have no way to return or cancel the device it will tick along deducting the €1.50 a week charge (after the first week's €6) from the tourist's credit card ad infinitum.
Foreign cars and motor homes can arrive from southern Spain at the rate of up to 200 vehicles an hour at peak summer times. Hapless drivers, assuming they know they need to pay toll charges from thereon in will have to a) find a post office, or b) a Via Verde outlet or c) the next motorway service station. My inspired guess is that option c. will be the sensible choice of many. The car parks at motorway services do not seem adeqate for an additional 50 cars let alone the expected additonal volume.
There is an A22 Users Commission headed by Joao Vasconcellos who will 'fight to the end' but has come up with no new initiatives in the face of a new Government which, like the previous one, refuses to enter into dialogue.
Faro's Mayor also heads the association of Algarve councils and has called for civil disobedience by exhorting road users to carry on driving, but simply not to pay the tolls. Calling the Government 'arrogant and disrespectful to the Algarve' may not endear him to Lisbon but he echoes the sentiment felt by many at this ill-planned project with huge, embarrassing gaps in logic destined to cause as much inconvenience and distress as is humanly possible.
The old adage of 'don't give away for free something which you intend to charge for later' holds true. Expect a choked EN125, a blissfully free Via do Infante for the better off and the trade vehicles that must deliver on time. Maybe there will be some temporary interruptions to service as those who already have set alight three control points at the side of the motorway step up their own campaign.
This is not the way forward for Passos Coelho who in his short term so far has impressed Europe, including the tough as nuts Angela Merkel, is working well with Portugal's key creditors through the Troika, is accelerating the repayment schedule, is making some obvious cost savings within the state mechanism. It is up to his government to fully consult stakeholders in the south and calmly work out if the toills will do more harm than good. If the government has already undertaken this research then publish it. If it has not then it is acting irresponsibly and will be punished in the polling booths at a later date. If the tolls are to be introduced, doing so in a way that directly disadvantages the tourist industry and damages the region's one remaining economic gem is folly.
Do it right or not at all.....
