Road Tolls

[shanagarry]

With the Road Tolls due to commence on the A22 in April 2011 (not wishing to hasten their arrival) has there been any activity anywhere in connection with the erection of the toll booths?

Surely the restructuring of the road layout is not a 5 minute job and would have started by now - wouldn't it?

[maccasa]

well it is portugal! Remember the opening of autodromo? - there were no signs for the opening GP races in the Nov, until 3 days before the event.

[EMM]

Has any decision been taking yet to make it a cash payment possible as well as a camera/tag system that has been installed elsewhere in Portugal in recent months.

[sam]

I thought they were not going to install toll booths and that this was part of the problem, as how will visitors to the area get the tags? Fining tourists is probably unworkable, and if they do manage it then it will discourage tourism even more.

[maccasa]

see http://www.algarveresident.com/story.asp?SID=342 for last info - seems a pretty chaotic situation!

[laserblazer]

Do you think they can build 10 toll booths by April? It took 12 years to finish the road! 10 booths, that's one every 10 miles or so (or is it one toll with 10 booths?)

[sam]

Do you think they can build 10 toll booths by April? It took 12 years to finish the road! 10 booths, that's one every 10 miles or so (or is it one toll with 10 booths?)

My thoughts too - if they introduce them once booths are installed we could be in for a long wait. Certainly, if they do have toll booths it will make it more workable. When we travelled through Portugal, Spain and France this Autumn we found tolls varied considerably. I think Portugal's were the most expensive and France the cheapest, with some sections being under a Euro.

[logicbob]

Do you think they can build 10 toll booths by April? It took 12 years to finish the road! 10 booths, that's one every 10 miles or so (or is it one toll with 10 booths?)

No Chance

[EMM]

If it is the electronic sytem they will not need booths, there are cameras/sensors at each point of entry/exit which register the no plate and tag. No tag and a bill is sent to the registered address of the car owner.

How it will work with UK plates etc who knows ?? But of course it is a good way of identifying foreign cars in PT.

[shanagarry]

EMM

You are joking aren't you?

Can you imagine the 'chaos' that system will cause from April to October. They will need to employ an army of ticket processors to issue the tickets for the 1000's that won't know the system and will have gone by the time the paper-work tries to catch up with them.

Picture the chaos at the A22 junction after leaving the airport and heading west - when people are confronted with a sign/signs they don't understand and stop - with the resulting consequences. The rental companies will undoubtedly be tasked with issuing explanatory leaflets with hire cars - which most people will ignore - until they arrive at the junction and then recall the rental agent's 'para-phrased' and incoherent explanation. Alternatively they will be able to buy a 'dongle' type unit that fits in the car and is read by the camera/reader. Don't take this as gospel - I have no idea what's going to happen - but I sense a major disaster that will cause untold misery in high season.

Every other motorway in Portugal operates the conventional booth system - why is The Algarve (with its transient community) going to do something different.

[sunman]

EMM, look for a moment at the reality of all this

illegal cars, along with legal white vans, commercial vehicles, lorries and ordinary folk will ALL decamp to the good old N125 to avoid paying this punitive toll; it's a crass exercise to raise money, not a ruse to play big brother, and it's a mindless scheme which will backfire and take us back to the good old days of daily multiple road deaths on a poor and unworthy road along the good old Algrave

[Farol]

If they rely on electronic tags then it will be similar to the congestion charge in London in terms of visitors not knowing and unregistered/foreign vehicles not being easily traceable. If they charge any tolls for portuguese registered cars to the registered owner by default then they have generated their income and it will be up to the registered owner to find a way of recovering the fee from a different driver if there was one. It's a bit black and white - if the car was on the motorway it incurs a charge and the government can ignore many of the implications if they are determined to introduce tolls. All they need is a sign at the entrances to motorways saying it is a toll road - exactly like the congestion charge zone in London.

Car rental companies are likely to have tags fitted (unless rental cars are exempted) and they could then charge the client back via the deposit or just adding a standard charge onto the rental - a bit like buying out the excess.

[laserblazer]

I wonder if Steen has any information? Presumably, the hire car companies are keeping a close watch on this.

[shanagarry]

If all the predictions come to pass there is one major ramification that will impact tourism by penalising all users of car hire - the lifeblood of tourist activity here in The Algarve.

The authorities will have little regard for the level of administration they inflict on the vehicle owners and any impact it has on their businesses.

As nobody can be sure as to the method they will adopt to impose this road tolling system - here is the likely fall-out that could ensue. Car rental companies are risk averse and as such structure their pricing models in the Ryanair fashion - start 'cheap' and end up where they need to be. If you look at a car rental tariff - the published price is not the price you end up with - there are many additions in the form of taxes etc. Should the tolls be imposed by way of a tag in every hire car (I can't see hire cars being exempt given the volume and resulting revenue opportunity) the onus for the collection of the toll will be with the rental company. Bear in mind that as the registered owner/keeper of the vehicle every charge will go to them.

What follows is not based on any insider knowledge - but on 30+ years working with the global car rental industry and knowing the way they think and their woeful administrative weaknesses. There is no doubt that they will all have started planning the contingency measures they will have to introduce to offset any exposure to charges they are unable to pass on and the cost to them for processing. Clearly their ability to do this will depend on the speed at which the authorities can accurately process their charges. As you can imagine - discrepancies will only come to light when a hirer is trying to return their car or much later when their credit card is debited for a charge several months later. So what are the options:

Scenario 1

Toll booths are installed and hirers pay as they go. An expensive and time consuming exercise. If they start now - it will inevitably run into the Summer season and the chaos that will result in.

Scenario 2

Every car hired will be required to have a tag 'purchased' and some form of pre-payment/deposit taken. The account is reconciled when the car is returned. Rental companies will have to go to the expense of publishing detailed explanations/instructions setting out the ways to pay and to avoid toll roads. Expense = price increase

Scenario 3

Hirers are given the option to buy a pre-paid tag - which will have a buffer built in to cover excessive use or have to pay an additional amount when they return the car. Picture the arguments at the return desk - with queues waiting to get to their flights.

In the main the major rental companies will quickly adapt and introduce a process that is not optional and will cost you more.

I fear another scenario emerging here - car rental brokers - those who trade on the internet and operate from the 'bus-shelter' adjacent to the exit road from the airport. For the most part rental brokers buy (and in some case pre-pay all or some of the charges - depending on their credit status) large numbers of rental days from the major rental companies. In return they are offered very attractive rental rates for them to sell on. They have to accept liability for the cars they rent and by selling the car owner's insurances and marking that up - they can make a very good living during the busy season.

Should all that I have set out here come to pass - the rental companies will demand a non-negotiable (credit status depending) from the broker a form of cash security to cover the toll fees. That will do one of two things:

1. Force the broker to pass on the cost of providing for or losing that cash (albeit for a short period of time) to the hirer.
2. Reduce the number of brokers in the market as they will not be in a position to pre-pay the security deposit and will force us back to the majors and will undoubtedly increase prices.

Going back to the administration required to make this run efficiently (not a Portuguese attribute) the many column inches of media exposure given to the past practice of car rental companies 'hitting' hirer's credit cards many months after the end of a hire for spurious damage claims could get even greater coverage. Just imagine the fall-out at a time when they are wanting to attract tourists Algarve Toll charges scupper their efforts.

Car rental/hire charges are on the increase as the inventories of many companies are a fraction of where they used to be 3-4 years ago. The deals they could rely on have long gone and the events of the past two years here in The Algarve (hires being cancelled in the high season) will continue. Rental rates are calculated on the back of a number of components - all of of which are inter-dependent on external factors - few of which are under the rental companies control.

Hopefully the powers-that-be will consider the many downsides to this poorly thought out revenue generative scheme and look elsewhere to grab our money

[Steen Jakobsen]

As far as I am aware nothing is final yet.

The model I've heard most likely to pass is that cars without the token (e.g. foreign cars, rental cars or Portuguese going very seldom) will have 5 days to declare and pay their motorway journey(s) in the post office or possibly on the Internet.

Failure to do so will make the authorities look up the owner of the registration plate and send the bill + a fine. The car rental companies need only provide details of the renter; a logistic nightmare as it will require a written reply, most likely for every client.

This being Portugal, plans can and will change several times....