Toll collection in March exceeded CZK 1.49 billion, the new CO2 emission charge brought in almost CZK 184 million

Prague, 19 April 2024 – In March carriers paid the total amount of CZK 1.49 billion for using roll roads and motorways. Thus, year-on-year the toll collection increased by 9.5%. The number of toll transactions fell by 4% year-on-year to almost 98 million. The overall increase in toll collection has been attributed too a new toll rate structure, which takes into account CO₂ emissions produced by lorries.

Toll collection in March was influenced by two key factors. The first was this year’s Easter date, which made the third month of this year have only 20 working days – three less than March 2023. The second, which in turn contributed to the overall increase in collection, was the introduction of a fourth component of toll charges, which takes into account the CO₂ emissions of toll-liable lorries.

“We decided to increase tolls following the European Directive, which has just recently introduced a charge for carbon dioxide emissions. This is an increase in price that will not endanger carriers and the collected funds will also help us with investments in transport infrastructure. This year alone we will open 118 kilometres of motorways and start the construction of additional 115 kilometres of new motorways,” said the Minister of Transport Martin Kupka.

The newly introduced CO₂ charges accounted for approximately 12 percent of the total toll collection. Taking into account the Easter holidays in March, without any adjustments in toll rates, the total toll collection would have decreased year-on-year in the third month of the year. “The introduction of the CO₂ charge has resulted in a 14.07% increase in the amount of toll collection, compared to what would have been generated without this new charge component,” the Minister added.

In Q1 CzechToll collected CZK 4.013 billion for the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure by means the satellite toll system. Compared to Q1 of 2023, the collection grew by 8.6 %.

“Vehicles first registered before 1 July 2019 and all M2 and M3 vehicles (buses) have been automatically assigned to the basic CO₂ emission class 1 as of 1 March 2024 and are not entitled to be assigned to a higher CO₂ emission class with lower charges (except for vehicles powered purely by electricity and hydrogen, which belong to CO₂ emission class 5),” said Petr Chvátal, CzechToll CEO.

Other vehicle owners can check the eligibility for a higher CO₂ emission class in the emission class finder at www.mytocz.eu/co2. “On the basis of eligible applications 12,665 vehicles were classified in a higher CO₂ emission class with lower charges at the end of March,” added Petr Chvátal.

At the end of February 843 thousand vehicles weighing over 3.5 tons were registered in the electronic toll system, of which 665 thousand vehicles had foreign license plate numbers. For these registered vehicles, CzechToll issued 650 thousand on-board units to carriers.