In October, the Czech state experienced a notable uptick in toll collections, recording a 6.3% increase compared to the same period last year. Carriers contributed 1.37 billion crowns in tolls, reflecting a 6% growth compared to the previous year. Over the first ten months of 2023, carriers disbursed 12.5 billion crowns in tolls, marking a marginal 0.45% increase from the corresponding period in the previous year. This information was disclosed by CzechToll, the toll system administrator.

Petr Chvátal, the General Director of CzechToll, emphasized that the toll collection dynamics for the current year were not significantly impacted by changes in toll rates or the extent of tolling. Instead, he attributed fluctuations to broader factors such as the macroeconomic landscape and the number of working days in a month, both influencing truck activity.

The toll collection for driving on toll sections of class I roads constituted 11.3% of the total, with the remainder allocated to highway usage fees. CzechToll noted that the deviation in toll collection for October was primarily due to the increased number of working days compared to the same month the previous year.

Despite the toll collection surge, adjustments for the same number of working days indicated a potential stagnation in year-on-year comparisons. Concurrently, the number of toll transactions processed by the CzechToll system rose by 5.5%, reaching almost 105 million in October.

As of the end of October, the electronic toll system registered 816,000 vehicles weighing over 3.5 tons, with 639,000 having foreign registration plates. CzechToll issued 638,000 on-board units to carriers of these registered vehicles.

Looking ahead, the government is planning a 10 to 15 percent increase in tolls from March 1, 2024. This adjustment will introduce a new fee reflecting the emissions of trucks, aiming to augment the annual state income from tolls, currently estimated at around 14 billion crowns. The proposed increase is anticipated to generate an additional two billion crowns in revenue.

Article by Prague Forum