Truck toll in Germany

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Information boards at the border crossings
Truck toll info DE-EN-FR.svg
French border
Truck toll info DE-EN-PL.svg
Polish border


Old signs before 2015
Sign 390 toll

The truck toll in Germany is a route-based road user charge for heavy commercial vehicles in road traffic .

history

On March 29, 1990, the Bundestag decided to introduce a truck toll. The aim was to burden mainly foreign truck companies; domestic companies should be relieved by a reduction in vehicle tax. It was to be collected from July 1, 1990 until 1993, and in the meantime an EU-wide regulation was to be found. On May 19, 1992 , the ECJ assessed the project as a violation of Article 76 of the EEC Treaty , after having ordered an injunction against the toll system on July 12, 1990.

The current toll system was originally supposed to start on August 31, 2003. Due to serious technical problems, Toll Collect was unable to meet this deadline and thus its corresponding contracts. The start was initially postponed to November 2, 2003, later this date was also canceled. In February 2004, the federal government and the shareholders of Toll Collect agreed to introduce the truck toll with limited functionality on January 1, 2005. A year later, the system was fully functional.

Finally, the toll was introduced on January 1, 2005 and initially applied on federal motorways and some heavily frequented federal highways , and since July 2018 it has been charged to the same amount on all federal highways. One of the declared goals of the introduction of the toll was to involve foreign trucks more in the financing of the German transport infrastructure. Another was the internalisation of external costs up to then (see causation justice : according to the polluter pays principle , all costs that arise as a result of an act or omission should be borne by the polluters). Before the introduction, it was hoped that the fully developed system could be sold in other countries, but this hope was gradually dashed, the system could not be exported to any other country.

The toll was introduced for motor vehicles or vehicle combinations with a permissible total weight of at least 12 tons, and since October 2015 the limit has been reduced to 7.5 tons. The toll does not apply to buses .

In the draft of the new Eurovignette Directive , from 2012 onwards, all vehicles in the goods traffic in all EU countries with a gross vehicle weight of 3.5 tonnes or more should pay a toll. In the negotiations on the EU directive, Germany enforced an exemption, as the operating costs in the German toll system are very high. Given the expected lower tolls for smaller vehicles, the resulting costs would make up a third of the toll income.

Legal bases

The legal basis for tolls on federal motorways and federal highways is the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act (BFStrMG), which replaced the Motorway Toll Act for heavy commercial vehicles with effect from July 19, 2011 . It is supplemented by the ordinance on collection, evidence of proper payment and reimbursement of the toll (Lkw-Maut-Ordinance, Federal Law Gazette I p. 1156 ), which mainly regulates technical matters, and by the ordinance setting the amount of the motorway toll for heavy commercial vehicles (toll level regulation). The Toll Height Ordinance was repealed on July 19, 2011, and its regulations have since been included as an annex to the new Federal Trunk Road Toll Act.

Roads subject to tolls in Germany

B 51 near Dahlem - beginning of the truck toll on a section to Stadtkyll

In the original version of the Motorway Toll Act, the toll was limited to federal motorways. Due to the so-called alternative toll traffic, it was extended to these route sections from 2007 by the MautStrAusdehnV (MautStrAusdehnV of December 8, 2006: § 2 in conjunction):

The further expansion was stopped by numerous protests and the transport ministers have agreed on the following regulation:

On federal highways or sections of federal highways that

the toll obligation in accordance with the ordinance ordering the start of toll collection on sections of federal roads (BStrMautErhebV) began on August 1, 2012.

Which road sections are subject to toll can be found in the toll table; the BAG has a map on its website.

Alternate traffic

Since the introduction of the toll leads to alternative toll traffic , i.e. H. There was a significant shift in traffic from motorways to secondary roads, in particular federal roads, the toll obligation was extended in July 2011 to four-lane federal roads with median strips that are directly connected to federal motorways, are longer than four kilometers and have no through-town traffic. This should bring in an additional 110 million euros per year.

There were also 84 sections with a total length of over 1,100 kilometers. On the other hand, certain sections of the autobahn, such as the Frankenschnellweg in Nuremberg, have been formally rededicated from the toll.

A study carried out on behalf of the German federal government came to the conclusion that this extension of the toll on federal highways hardly led to alternative traffic. Due to the loss of time when using toll-free, subordinate state and federal roads and the increased requirements for just-in-time deliveries , switching to toll-free roads is not an alternative for the transport industry (cost advantage less than 1 euro).

As of July 1, 2015, the route network was expanded to include a further 1,100 kilometers of four-lane federal highways similar to motorways.

Federal road toll

The Federal Council approved the extension decided by the Bundestag to all federal highways with a length of 38,303 kilometers. Together with the 12,993 kilometers of federal motorways, this results in a toll road network of around 50,000 kilometers in Germany. The federal road toll, which has existed since July 1, 2018, should generate annual additional income of up to 2 billion euros. For 2019, revenues of around 7.5 billion euros are estimated in the 2019 federal budget.

Toll rates

The toll rates are made up of various components which, when taken together, are multiplied by the distance covered. Currently, the costs of air pollution , noise pollution and infrastructure pollution are taken into account for the toll .

Since the introduction of the toll, the toll rates and their calculation have been adjusted again and again. At the beginning, the amount of the toll owed only depended on the emission class and the number of axles (truck with or without trailer, semi- trailer with or without semi-trailer or lift axles in the lowered or raised state).

The toll rates were increased in 2007, 2009 and 2019, but were reduced and differentiated in 2015. For the best available pollutant class, the toll rate for 40-ton trucks rose from 10 to 18.7 cents from 2005 to 2019, for 25-ton trucks with EURO 4 it rose from 11 to 19.4 cents, which is an annual increase of 4.6 % and 4.1%, respectively.

2005-2007

Emission class 5 EURO,

EEV 1

EURO 4,

EURO 3

EURO 2,

EURO 1,

EURO 0

total up to 3 axes 9 11 13
from 4 axes 10 12 14th
in cents per kilometer, January 1, 2005 to August 31, 2007, source:

2007-2008

Emission class 5 EURO,

EEV 1

EURO 4,

EURO 3

EURO 2,

EURO 1,

EURO 0

total up to 3 axes 10 12 14.5
from 4 axes 11 13 15.5
in cents per kilometer, September 1, 2007 to December 1, 2008, source:

2009-2014

Emission class EURO 6,

EURO 5, EEV 1

EURO 4

EURO 3 with PMK 2,3,4

EURO 3 without PMK,

EURO 2 with PMK 1,2,3,4

EURO 2 without PMK,

EURO 1, EURO 0

Proportion of air pollution 0.0 2.8 4.9 13.3
Share of infrastructure

burden

up to 3 axes 14.1
from 4 axes 15.5
total up to 3 axes 14.1 16.9 19.0 27.4
from 4 axes 15.5 18.3 20.4 28.8
in cents per kilometer, January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2014, source:

2015

On January 1, 2015, the toll rates were reduced somewhat, as the financing costs had fallen due to the low interest rates and this cost advantage had to be passed on to the users in accordance with the contracts. The pure route cost share was now 0.125 euros for trucks with a maximum of 3 axles and 0.131 euros for trucks with 4 or more axles; In addition - depending on the emission class - the costs of air pollution caused by the trucks were included in the toll rates. The maximum rate was 0.214 euros per kilometer.

category A. B. C. D. E. F.
Emission class EURO 6 EURO 5,
EEV 1 		EURO 4,

EURO 3 with PMK ,

EURO 3,

EURO 2 with PMK

EURO 2 EURO 1,
EURO 0
Proportion of air pollution 0.0 2.1 3.2 6.3 7.3 8.3
Share of infrastructure

burden

up to 3 axes 12.5
from 4 axes 13.1
total up to 3 axes 12.5 14.6 15.7 18.8 19.8 20.8
from 4 axes 13.1 15.2 16.3 19.4 20.4 21.4
in cents per kilometer, January 1, 2015 to September 30, 2015, source:

2015 to 2018

Extension to all trucks over 7.5 tons GVW .

category A. B. C. D. E. F.
Emission class EURO 6 EURO 5,
EEV 1 		EURO 4,

EURO 3 with PMK 2

EURO 3,

EURO 2 with PMK 1

EURO 2 EURO 1,
EURO 0
Proportion of air pollution 0.0 2.1 3.2 6.3 7.3 8.3
proportion of

Infrastructure

burden

2 axes 8.1
3 axes 11.3
4 axes 11.7
5 axes 13.5
total 2 axes 8.1 10.2 11.3 14.4 15.4 16.4
3 axes 11.3 13.4 14.5 17.6 18.6 19.6
4 axes 11.7 13.8 14.9 18.0 19.0 20.0
5 axes 13.5 15.6 16.7 19.8 20.8 21.8
in cents per kilometer, October 1, 2015 to December 31, 2018, source: Toll-Collect

Since 2019

Trucks with alternative drives have been exempted from the toll, a new share for pricing noise pollution has been introduced and a classification based on weight has been introduced for the first time. In percentage terms, EURO 5 and 6 vehicles were particularly increased.

category A. B. C. D. E. F.
Emission class EURO 6 EURO 5,
EEV 1 		EURO 4,

EURO 3 with PMK 2

EURO 3,

EURO 2 with PMK 1

EURO 2 EURO 1,
EURO 0
Proportion of air pollution 1.1 2.2 3.2 6.4 7.4 8.5
Share of noise pollution costs 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
proportion of

Infrastructure

burden

7.5 to under 12 tons 8.0
12 to 18 tons 11.5
> 18 tons, up to 3 axles 16.0
> 18 tons, 4 or more axles 17.4
total 7.5 to under 12 tons 9.3 10.4 11.4 14.6 15.6 16.7
12 to 18 tons 12.8 13.9 14.9 18.1 19.1 20.2
> 18 tons, up to 3 axles 17.3 18.4 19.4 22.6 23.6 24.7
> 18 tons, 4 or more axles 18.7 19.8 20.8 24.0 25.0 26.1
in cents per kilometer, from January 1, 2019, source: Bundestag - Drucksache 19/3930

Exemptions from the toll

According to Section 1 (2) of the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act , the following vehicles are exempt from the toll:

  1. Buses
  2. Vehicles of the armed forces , the police authorities , civil and disaster control , the fire service and other emergency services as well as federal vehicles
  3. Vehicles that are used exclusively for road maintenance and road maintenance , including road cleaning and winter service
  4. Vehicles that are used exclusively for the purposes of the showman and circus industry
  5. Vehicles used by nonprofit or charitable organizations to transport humanitarian supplies used to alleviate an emergency
  6. Agricultural vehicles in commercial freight traffic with a design-related maximum speed of a maximum of 40 km / h
  7. Electric vehicles, i.e. electric trucks and overhead line trucks
  8. Natural gas vehicles (only partially from 2021)

The resolution of the Transport Committee of the Bundestag on September 22, 2004 regarding the exemption of other, non-commercial vehicles was not implemented in the new version of the Motorway Toll Act in 2004.

Due to the amendment to the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act on January 1, 2019, electric trucks, trucks powered by natural gas and agricultural vehicles are exempt from the truck toll. The toll exemption for electric trucks is to be checked every two to three years.

Since the expansion to include federal highways, there have been demands to exempt municipal waste disposal vehicles from the toll.

business

Conclusion of the contract with Toll Collect

The contract details between the Ministry of Transport and Toll Collect were originally secret and not even accessible to members of the German Bundestag . The question of Toll Collect's liability was therefore the subject of numerous speculations in politics and the media.

After Federal Transport Minister Manfred Stolpe had already suggested disclosure of the contracts several weeks earlier, Toll Collect shareholder DaimlerChrysler finally gave up his resistance. Since October 22, 2003, the contract has been available to at least the members of the Bundestag Transport Committee. It has 17,000 pages with all annexes and side agreements. The core contract, which regulates questions of liability, contractual penalties and notice periods , comprises 190 pages. The application by Jörg Tauss (Member of the Bundestag, at that time SPD) to inspect the contract with reference to the Freedom of Information Act was rejected. The Ministry of Transport refused to create a version that had been cleared of Toll Collect's business secrets, "due to a lack of in-house expertise". It was not until November 25, 2009 that larger parts of the contract were made available to the public via WikiLeaks .

According to press reports, the contractual penalty agreed in the contract and due since December 2003 is significantly lower than the amount originally provided for in the (secret) tender. The reason for the subsequent reduction in the amount in favor of Toll Collect is unknown.

The following points were undisputed between the Ministry of Transport and Toll Collect:

  • Toll Collect has to pay a daily contractual penalty of 250,000 euros, or around 7½ million euros per month, from the fourth month on which the system is not running normally, ie from December 1, 2003. This sum doubles from the seventh month, i.e. from March 1, 2004, to 500,000 euros per day, i.e. to 15 million euros per month.
  • In addition, if the breach of contract persists, the Federal Ministry of Transport has an option to terminate the contract, which will apply for the first time on December 15, 2003 and then again on May 31, 2004.

The following points were controversial:

  • Can Toll Collect be made liable to pay compensation for monthly toll failures under certain conditions? The federal government might then have to prove deliberate delays and deception to Toll Collect. Statements by Stolpe that his ministry had been misinformed by the consortium about the functionality of the toll system pointed in this direction. However, Toll Collect rejected these allegations.

According to the agreement of February 29, 2004, the still open question of the compensation demanded by the federal government for the loss of income up to the end of the year is to be clarified by an arbitration tribunal consisting of three participants. One was determined by the Ministry of Transport, a second Toll Collect. The third was determined by mutual agreement. No agreement was reached by April 2016; the procedural costs up to then amounted to 168 million euros.

On February 8, 2006, the budget committee of the Bundestag approved a fee increase of 14 million euros for the system operator for an “unexpectedly high collection rate of toll-based mileage” and for “new features”. Toll Collect now received a total of 556 million euros annually from toll revenues.

Operation by Toll Collect

The German toll collection system is operated by the private company Toll Collect GmbH on behalf of the Federal Office for Goods Transport . The shareholders of Toll Collect are Deutsche Telekom AG and Daimler Financial Services AG , each with 45% of the shares , and the French Cofiroute SA with a share of 10%. Toll Collect developed and installed the system.

On December 15, 2004, the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG) presented its judgment on the status of the overall system. After the positive evaluation, the provisional operating license was issued on January 1, 2005.

The first day of operation of the system under full load on January 3, 2005 was considered successful by the operator consortium. The German media had only reported isolated minor problems and occasional extended waiting times. In the first few weeks of 2005, drivers at many toll station terminals were supported by a total of 5,200 helpers with manual booking.

The Finance Minister expected in 2005, with gross annual revenues of three billion euros and for 2006 at 3.3 billion euros. Toll Collect was to receive around 650 million euros annually from toll revenues for the operation of the billing system until 2015.

In a press release on the toll revenues for September 2005, the BMVBW indicated that the annual toll revenues could also remain just below the expected amount of three billion euros. As a result, the transport association BGL offered the federal government in October 2005 to drive a toll test with 1,500 vehicles in order to be able to identify gaps in the toll control system which, in its opinion, lead to distortions of competition in the freight forwarding sector and to millions in revenue losses from truck tolls.

The total annual income in 2005 amounted to a total of 2.85 billion euros. The Federal Association of Goods Transport and Logistics (BGL) saw its opinion strengthened that in addition to the toll refugees there was also an increased number of fare dodgers over the course of the year.

The software update on OBU-2 at the beginning of 2006 was successful. The possible tolls on federal roads are said to cause problems. Investigations by the toll operator Toll Collect have shown that “full tolling of long-distance trains on federal highways is only possible under very specific conditions” (with a motorway-like expansion). If, for example, there were junctions too closely spaced or if there were parallel streets nearby, tolling on such sections would “only be possible with disproportionately high effort”. In these cases, the system costs exceed the additional toll revenue. Therefore, from January 2007, the route-related truck toll was only extended to three federal road sections.

Another publicized advantage of the German toll system also causes problems in the real implementation: The time grading of the toll level for traffic control is currently failing due to the manual log-in options such as toll terminals or the Internet. With these, the toll payer is given a time window of several hours to use a toll motorway, depending on the distance. The manual payment system cannot determine when he will drive a section of the route at the high price. For this reason, consideration was given in 2007 to equipping all trucks with an automatic recording system ( on-board unit ) in order to be able to stagger the toll according to time and location.

On-board unit for truck tolls

There is an automatic and a manual billing process. To participate in the automatic billing process, an on-board unit (OBU) must be installed in the truck. Among other things, this device uses GPS to determine the toll to be paid for a driven route. For trucks without an OBU, manual toll payment is planned in advance, either via the Internet or at toll terminals that are set up in petrol stations , for example .

With the mandatory installation of the toll device (on-board unit) in all domestic and foreign trucks, vehicles that are only occasionally in Germany or German vehicles that rarely use the autobahn are also equipped with an OBU. As before, the vehicle owner will be provided with the device (OBU) free of charge (value 500 euros). However, the costs for the installation (approx. 250 euros) will have to be reimbursed to the vehicle owner in the future, since after the elimination of manual payment options at the terminal under EU law, access to the toll system must be possible without discrimination.

Equipping all European trucks with an OBU free of charge for vehicle owners and neighboring countries could significantly increase the export chances of the German toll system in other countries, as the high costs for hardware and installation were then paid for via the German toll system. The lowering of the weight limit for toll payments from 12 t to 3.5 t, decided by the EU - with an opening clause enforced by Germany - would then no longer be feasible across the EU for cost reasons.

Reallocation of operations from 2018

The previous contract with Toll-Collect ended in September 2018 , so the federal government started a new award procedure in mid-2016. The previous contract contained a purchase option for the current operator by the federal government. After the award, the new operator would take over the shares from the federal government. However, the previous operator Toll-Collect had also announced that it would take part in the new tender. In January 2019, the Federal Ministry of Transport decided that the federal government should take over truck toll operations on a permanent basis.

Technical implementation

Unlike in France , for example , where tolls are paid at toll booths at motorway exits, a high-tech GPS , i.e. satellite-based system has been set up in Germany. The declared aim was to use the new technology to open up new markets for the companies involved.

There are two different options for participating in the German truck toll system: automatic and manual route booking . When booking a route manually, a distinction must be made between logging in at a toll station terminal and logging in via an Internet portal from Toll Collect.

Automatic login via a voluntarily installed on-board unit

Automatic login while driving

This option makes the difference between the German toll solution and other toll systems that exist worldwide. It is subject to a GNSS / CN toll, i.e. H. a Global Navigation Satellite System with the return channel Cellular Network . That is, the toll amount is per satellite navigation determined and for settlement by mobile transmitted to the central computer of the operator. To do this, the forwarding company first has its toll vehicles registered with Toll Collect. The on-board unit (OBU) is then installed in the truck and put into operation by an authorized workshop.

Manual route booking

This option is primarily intended for foreign trucks for which the installation of an on-board unit would not be worthwhile. At the same time, however, it also serves as a fallback solution if automatic log-in (e.g. due to failure of the American GPS satellites) should not be possible. There are two options for manual posting:

Toll Collect: autonomous toll station terminal in Germany

At a stationary toll station terminal

Truck drivers whose vehicles do not have an OBU can log into the system at so-called toll station terminals and pay the due toll there. There are around 3500 terminals available throughout Germany and neighboring countries for this manual log- in. They are mainly on truck stops at rest areas and service stations set up. The manufacturers of the machines are NCR and Höft & Wessel AG . The order volume was 31 million euros.

You do not need to register with Toll Collect to log in manually at the toll station terminal. The booking always relates to a specific vehicle, a specific route section and a specific validity period of the booking. Frequent drivers who frequently book routes at the toll station terminal can register their vehicle with Toll Collect in order to receive a so-called vehicle card on which all relevant vehicle data (license plate number, emission class, number of axles) is electronically stored. This makes booking a route easier and faster for the driver, as this data does not have to be entered manually every time. You can pay with cash, EC card , credit cards or the credit on the vehicle and fuel cards . The vehicle cards can be equipped with prepaid credit for this purpose . It is also possible to set up a credit account on the cards, which is regularly settled by direct debit. Manual bookings can also be canceled at the toll terminal.

Via the Internet via the Toll Collect portal

You can also book directly via the Internet . A normal internet browser is sufficient. Internet login is only available to registered users. The user's vehicles are already stored in the system during registration. When booking the trip, the person making the booking selects the vehicle and determines the start date of the trip. He can then choose between previously saved routes and a new route. The specific motorway entrances and exits must be entered here. If the exact names of the entrances and exits are not known, they can be searched for in a zoomable motorway map and taken over. The system then determines the specific route. If the driver does not want to drive the specified route, for example because of current traffic jam reports, the person making the booking must inform the system of so-called “Via” points, which then change the route. Finally, the entries are confirmed and the system provides the booking voucher with the booking number . If the person making the booking is not the driver at the same time, he must provide the driver with the booking number and the time window ( validity period ) in which the journey must be carried out.

Third-party companies offer intermediary commercial services via this platform, which enable short-term manual route booking via SMS or call center. All providers expand the booking options offered by Toll Collect with more convenient solutions.

Automatic log-in via alternative providers

With the introduction of the EETS , other providers will also have access to the market. In future, it should be possible to obtain an OBU from an approved EETS provider, who pays the tolls collected to the toll operator. The advantage of this system is that the user can log into various toll systems with an on-board device.

Control of toll payment

Detail view of a control bridge

Automatic control

According to data protection regulations, only random checks of the toll payment may be carried out. The total number of checks is set at ten million trucks per year. The operator Toll Collect has undertaken to check seven million vehicles a year for toll payments. To this end, Vitronic GmbH (Wiesbaden) was commissioned to build 300 stationary systems ( toll bridges ) as control bridges over the lane on the motorways for around 100 million euros . They are supposed to be used to discover trucks for which no fee has been paid. Truck drivers pass such a control point every 80 kilometers on the motorway network, which covers around 12,000 kilometers of construction (direction + opposite direction = 24,000 kilometers), as the stationary control systems are only installed on one side, i.e. only over one directional lane. The control bridges are operated alternately according to the above specifications and only for a few hours a day in the actual control mode.

If a vehicle - of any type - approaches the bridge, a frontal photo of the vehicle is first taken. When driving through the bridge, a 3D vehicle profile is created, on the basis of which the recognition computer decides whether it is a toll vehicle (truck) or a non-toll vehicle (usually a car). Data records from vehicles that are not subject to toll are deleted immediately. Data records from vehicles subject to toll are processed accordingly.

Control bridge on the A 81

If the vehicle has an on-board unit (OBU) installed, an infrared signal is used to exchange data with the bridge as it passes through. Among other things, the stored license plate number, the number of axles and the vehicle's emission class are transmitted. The license plate is then read from the photo of the toll vehicle by the recognition computer using automatic license plate recognition . Once all of the vehicle's data has been recorded, it is determined whether a current toll payment is available for the vehicle in the central booking computer. Data records from toll payers recognized in the system are deleted again. If no booking could be found in the central booking computer or if the handwriting recognition software could not clearly identify the license plate, all data collected by the vehicle are saved in a data record and sent to Toll Collect for manual follow-up checks. The stored photos are then manually evaluated later by employees of the operator.

Photos of trucks with an OBU whose number plate is not identical to the number stored in the OBU are also evaluated in the follow-up inspection. This is to prevent an OBU from a truck with lower pollutant emissions, which is programmed for lower toll payments, from being removed and used in a truck without exhaust gas cleaning. The license plate reading capabilities of the automatic control system are stated by Toll Collect to be over 90%. The identical control system in Switzerland , which determines the performance-based heavy vehicle tax ( LSVA) , provides a detection rate of 93% for vehicles with an OBU, i.e. with an electronic license plate transmitted during control, and a detection rate of 77% for vehicles without an OBU. Punishing violations of the toll obligation is not part of Toll Collect's job. It is the responsibility of the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG). Forwarders complain that the control bridges are low to to provide them with heavy goods vehicles have been detected correctly between 93% and 96% of the indicator to a sample unterqueren.In 2019 gave BAG an information Liberty -request the group Freiheitsfoo known. The proportion of non-identifications ( false negative ) and false identifications (false positive) is unknown.

Non-intended use of the data

In principle, the cameras photograph every vehicle that passes the control point. Other uses of the recorded data that are questionable from the citizen's point of view would also be possible:

  • systematic creation of movement profiles of all recorded vehicles
  • automatic issuing of penalty mandates if the permitted average speed between two control points is exceeded or distance violations
  • Face recognition of the (co) driver; These could also be used to generate movement profiles for any motorway user or to search for people
  • Comparison of the registered license plates with the vehicles reported as stolen

Mobile control

Official vehicle of the BAG (old generation) for carrying out toll controls

In the event of anomalies, 535 specially hired toll controllers from the Federal Office are to stop the drivers. These new BAG employees, hired from the surplus staff of the Post and Railways, are to be on the road with 278 control vehicles distributed over three shifts in order to compare the license plates of the trucks with the data of the booking system. This comparison takes place in flowing traffic, i.e. H. the control vehicles communicate with any OBU in the truck or with the license plate number of the truck. This is followed by an online check to determine whether a booking has been made. The Federal Office for Goods Transport is supposed to check three million trucks for toll payments as part of this control activity. In addition, around 40 auditors from the BAG are to carry out random checks at German transport companies.

Stationary control

There is also the option of inpatient control . For this purpose, employees of the BAG stand in a parking lot behind the control bridge and connect to the bridge by radio. Images of suspicious “toll sinners” are then sent from the bridge to the inspectors' computers, which can “wave” the trucks into the parking lot.

Since the introduction of the toll on federal roads on August 1, 2012, the BAG control authority has also been able to use mobile toll collection devices that can be set up on bridges, for example.

Operational control

The BAG carries out operational controls in order to check suspicious companies for toll violations. These only apply to companies based in Germany. There is the possibility of mutually agreeing a lump-sum settlement for toll violations.

Tolls and their use

Toll income 2005–2016
year Target in million euros Is in million euros System costs
2005 2,870 560
2006 3,080
2011 4,637 4,477 663
2012 4,610 4,362
2013 4,523 4,391
2014 4,400 4,464
2015 4,340 4,370
2016 4,629 4,600
2017 4,661 4,654
2018 5.122 ?
2019 7,559
Use of toll funds and investments in federal highways 2003–2013

The annual toll volume has risen significantly from 2.59 billion euros (2005) to 4.87 billion euros (2010) as a result of the increase in the number of kilometers driven by toll trucks as well as toll increases since the introduction of the toll in 2005. For 2012, toll revenues of 4.6 billion euros were expected. The average revenue per vehicle kilometer was 16.41 cents. In 2012, of the 26.6 billion vehicle kilometers subject to tolls, 16.7 billion km were accounted for by German vehicle owners, 2.8 billion km by Polish, 1.1 billion km each by Czech and Dutch owners, and 0.6 billion euros by Hungarian and 4.3 billion km in other countries.

The system costs must first be deducted from the toll, i.e. H. the costs that the federal government pays the system operator "toll-collect". They grew from 2005 to 2010 from 0.56 billion euros to 0.7 billion euros. Of the remaining revenue, the federal government used around 600 million euros to finance measures to reduce the cost burden imposed by the state on the German road haulage industry in relation to its foreign competitors (so-called "harmonization measures"). This amount was lower in previous years due to lower toll rates. It has been around 600 million euros since 2010.

The funds from these harmonization measures flow back to the logistics sector. With them u. a. the vehicle tax has been reduced to the minimum level permitted in the EU, supports training and further education in the industry and grants aid to promote safety and the environment ( de minimis program ).

The remaining toll volume flowed into the road, rail and inland waterway infrastructure up to and including 2010. With the adoption of its 2011 budget on November 26, 2010, the Bundestag decided that, starting with the 2011 budget year, this remaining revenue should only be used to finance federal highways (creation of a road financing cycle). It also stipulated this in the law to amend the toll regulations, which was passed on April 15, 2011. In fact, however, this has no effect on the financing of the three modes of transport, because the federal government has simultaneously reduced the tax volumes previously planned for the road by exactly the amount of the toll funds now also provided for the road and the tax funds that have been “released” for the others Can use modes of transport. This also showed, however, that the truck toll is not being used to increase investments in the construction of federal trunk roads, with which the federal government originally justified the introduction of the toll. In the first year of the truck toll, the tax funds for the road were merely replaced by the new toll funds.

Toll assessment

The truck toll is set on the basis of a so-called route cost report. The BMVI advertises the creation of this report across Europe .

Road cost report 2002

The route cost calculation for the federal trunk road network , taking into account a route-related freeway usage fee, was created by Prognos and IWW.

Road cost report 2007

The update of the route cost accounting for the federal highways in Germany was created by ProgTrans and IWW.

Road cost report 2013–2017

A team led by Hans-Wilhelm Alfen prepared the report for the years 2013–2017. He teaches business administration in construction at the University of Weimar and runs a consulting company.

In order to determine the costs of the road infrastructure, replacement values, imputed depreciation and percentage maintenance costs are used, which lead to the preservation of the substance.

Exceptions are expressly the property costs, which are not stated at the replacement value, but at the updated acquisition value. Also not covered are possible costs caused by maintenance measures carried out too late, which lead to a shortening of the service life of the transport infrastructure. The report does not provide any information about the costs of bridges that are undersized from today's perspective. The service life of prestressed concrete bridges is estimated at 70 years. In the minutes of an organized within the framework of the report workshops to hedge the calculation methods is to read that "the experts but sure to point that the applications average lifetimes must represent the real state developments." Even an expected further development of the road surface layers to optimize the service life does not seem to be considered.

The funds actually spent on road maintenance do not play a role in this calculation. The current maintenance backlog on federal highways does not reduce the truck toll.

The allocation of the costs of all vehicles to trucks is based on axle load equivalence figures. The costs are assigned to the individual vehicle types according to their destructive effect. (See the fourth power law .)

By changing an EU directive, costs for traffic-related air pollution could be included in the report for the years 2013–2017 for the first time.

The inclusion of the costs due to the traffic-related noise pollution is also possible under EU law, but could not yet be taken into account, as corresponding noise reports are missing.

Criticism of the toll setting

The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) calculated costs for traffic-related air pollutants that are above the limit set by the EU Eurovignette Directive. The road cost report for the years 2013-2017, which had to strictly adhere to this EU directive, came to a value of 1.5 cents for the average of all toll trucks on motorways in 2015, the UBA calculated for trucks from 3, 5 t is worth 7.5 cents for 2010.

Overall, the Federal Environment Agency comes to environmental costs for trucks from 3.5 t of 25 cents. According to this calculation, another 23.5 cents would have to be added to the truck toll so that all costs caused by truck traffic would be covered by the toll. The truck toll should therefore be almost tripled.

As part of an expert hearing organized by the Bundestag, u. a. criticizes that due to the relatively small number of axle load measuring points, a fine differentiation between the different truck types is currently not possible.

The truck toll is set depending on the classification of the trucks in pollutant classes and independently of the actual pollutant emissions. Accordingly, the lower toll rates for low-emission vehicles are also used if the urea injection has been unlawfully deactivated in a vehicle in order to save the consumption and costs of the standardized urea solution AUS 32 . According to press reports, the deactivation of the urea injection is mainly carried out by Eastern European freight forwarders.

Road cost report 2018–2022

In March 2018, this was completed by Alfen Consult GmbH.

Monitoring of motorway traffic

In 2005, the Federal Minister of the Interior, Wolfgang Schäubles (CDU), called for the data to be used as part of the toll system. Schäuble took the view that the “toll data lying around” should be used.

In autumn 2013, the then Federal Minister of the Interior, Hans-Peter Friedrich , demanded further powers for German security authorities as part of the coalition negotiations. The use of several million data records from the toll system should support the fight against crime. At this point in time, driving and control data for millions of vehicles were automatically recorded at toll control points on 12,800 kilometers of federal motorways and 5400 sections. At this point in time, this data was only allowed to be used to pay truck tolls. This strict purpose limitation has been criticized by the Union, in particular the fact that it is strictly forbidden to pass it on to other offices. A 30-page negotiating paper presented to the news magazine Der Spiegel stated in this context: "This means that security authorities also have no access to investigate capital crimes or to avert danger to life and limb." The aim is now to "lift the strict earmarking." The Friedrichs met with sharp rejection from the opposition. Peter Schaar , the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information , explicitly opposed the use of toll data to combat crime. He explained: “I reject the conversion of the truck toll system into a monitoring system ... When the motorway toll was introduced ten years ago, it was promised that the system would not be used for monitoring and that the data collected would therefore only be used for toll accounting . “The SPD also rejected the proposal. Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said that the toll systems were only introduced for billing purposes. "An extension of the powers for the security authorities would be completely disproportionate." Friedrich finally moved away from his demands.

No interest in the German toll solution in other countries

It was hoped to be able to sell the finished system in other countries. The then BDI President Jürgen Thumann even described it as an “export hit”, and the press joined in with the euphoria. But the system could not be exported once.

For example, the Czech Republic was planning a toll in 2005, in which Toll Collect participated in the tender. However, the Kapsch Group with the Austrian system was awarded the contract . The year before, Sweden was considering introducing a toll and had expressed interest in the German solution, but that did not happen. The interest of other countries, such as the USA, Hungary and Slovakia, was gradually shattered.

In response to German efforts, at the turn of the millennium there was a demand for a pan-European satellite toll, for which Toll Collect would have had a considerable lead over other competitors. However, after the enormous difficulties at Toll Collect, the project was put on hold. In addition, there are now GPS-based toll invoices in other countries, e.g. B. in Slovakia .

Comparison with other states

There is a truck toll in several European countries. In Switzerland, for example, the performance-based heavy vehicle charge (HVF) has been due for trucks since the beginning of 2001, and an Austrian truck toll was introduced in Austria on January 1, 2004 . These systems are less complex than the German one and therefore cheaper.

literature

  • Michael Rodi (ed.): Fair price for mobility. Road tolls as a tool to control traffic flows. Lexxion, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-939804-15-4 .
  • Kai Simon: Value-added services in traffic telematics and access to information and data collections. An investigation of European and German antitrust, constitutional and copyright law with special attention to road toll collection systems . Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-8300-4480-2 .
  • Olaf Hartenstein, Fabian Reuschle (ed.): Handbook of the specialist lawyer for transport and forwarding law. 3. Edition. Verlag Carl Heymanns, Cologne 2014, Chapter 21: Freight traffic law, social regulations and tolls in road traffic, D: HGV toll / road usage fee

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b March 29, 1990. Tagesschau (ARD) , March 29, 1990, accessed on July 14, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Walther Michl: The crux with the toll. Verassungsblog.de , January 15, 2014, accessed on July 14, 2019 .
  3. ↑ PR material with numerous graphics, 20 pages (PDF file; 1 MB)
    dcl.hpi.uni-potsdam.de (PDF, URL as of October 22, 2003)
  4. ↑ The former Toll Act : Act on the collection of route-related fees for the use of federal motorways with heavy commercial vehicles of April 12, 2002 (Federal Law Gazette I 2002, p. 1234; revised by a notice of December 2, 2004 I 3122)
  5. ↑ 120 toll evaders recorded in two hours. In: Der Spiegel. January 1, 2005, accessed July 20, 2011 .
  6. ↑ Information from the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG). ( Memento from March 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: bag.bund.de , accessed on August 26, 2015
  7. ↑ Law on the collection of route-related fees for the use of federal motorways and federal highways (Bundesfernstraßentollgesetz - BFStrMG) (legal text at buzer.de)
  8. ↑ MautHV ( BGBl. 2003 I p. 1001 )
  9. ↑ Annex to Sections 1 and 2 ( Memento from October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Federal government brakes truck tolls for federal highways. In: handelsblatt.de. March 23, 2011, accessed July 20, 2011 .
  11. ↑ BASt website with the toll tables , accessed on August 6, 2012
  12. ↑ Downloadable map of the toll motorways and federal road sections , accessed on August 6, 2012
  13. ↑ New toll brings 800,000 euros within two days. In: Spiegel Online . August 5, 2012, accessed August 6, 2012 .
  14. ↑ The truck toll now also applies to major federal highways. In: Spiegel Online . August 1, 2012, accessed August 6, 2012 .
  15. ^ Report on the shift of traffic to the subordinate road network as a result of the introduction of the truck toll. Bundestag printed paper 18/689 of February 27, 2014, accessed on May 3, 2014 (PDF; 33.5 MB)
  16. ↑ Information from the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG). ( Memento from March 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: bag.bund.de , accessed on August 26, 2015
  17. ↑ In the future, truck tolls will apply on all federal highways. In: beck.de , February 10, 2017
  18. ↑ Daniel Delhaes: Ramsauer's source of money is still gushing . In: Handelsblatt . No. 48 , March 8, 2013, p. 7 .
  19. ↑ Federal Government | Article | Additional income flows into modernization. Retrieved July 2, 2018 .
  20. ^ The Autobahn GmbH of the Federal Government | Article | Toll income and use of the toll. Retrieved July 2, 2018 .
  21. ↑ a b The development of toll rates in Germany. SVG Dresden, September 18, 2015, accessed on November 7, 2018 .
  22. ^ Toll tariffs 2013 ( Memento from April 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ↑ a b Maut tariffs 2015 ( Memento from February 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: toll-collect.de
  24. ^ Agreed on January 1, 2005 as the start date for the start of the truck toll collection. German Bundestag, September 22, 2004, archived from the original ; Retrieved July 20, 2011 .
  25. ↑ Directive 99/62 / EC (Eurovignette Directive)
  26. ↑ Goods: taxation of heavy goods vehicles. Retrieved December 13, 2013 .
  27. ↑ Bundestag decides to change the truck toll rates. Retrieved October 19, 2018 .
  28. ↑ FDP Leipziger Land-Muldentalkreis: Avoid additional burdens - exempt municipal garbage trucks from truck tolls on federal highways. September 27, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018 .
  29. ↑ Contracts for the truck toll remain secret. In: heise Online. May 22, 2006, accessed July 20, 2011 .
  30. ↑ Toll Collect Contracts, 2002. Wikileaks , November 26, 2009, accessed on July 20, 2011 .
  31. ↑ Sven Becker: Costs for ongoing dispute over truck toll explode. In: Spiegel online , April 19, 2016, accessed on November 1, 2016
  32. ↑ An economic and ecological criticism of the truck toll. In: mitwelt.org
  33. ↑ Tiefensee wants to increase the truck toll. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. February 10, 2007, accessed July 20, 2011 .
  34. ↑ Invitation to the tendering process of the BMVi ( Memento of March 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  35. ↑ Höft & Wessel receives another order for truck toll system. my logistics, December 3, 2002, archived from the original on October 12, 2007 ; Retrieved July 20, 2011 .
  36. ^ Toll Collect GmbH: Internet portal
  37. ↑ Bill for the Mautsystemgesetz (MautSysG) In: Umwelt-online.de (PDF)
  38. ↑ Axel Kannenberg: Toll Collect: Up to seven percent error rate when scanning the license plate. Heise online , August 29, 2019, accessed on August 29, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Bundesrechnungshof: Annual Report 2015 / Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) (Section 12), truck toll income from 2011 to 2016. In: bundesrechnungshof.de , accessed on February 27, 2016 (PDF)
  40. ↑ How the revenue for the truck toll is distributed - Data Blog . In: Data Blog . March 26, 2013 ( zeit.de [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  41. ↑ a b Road cost report 2018–2022. March 5, 2018, p. 23 , accessed January 16, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Federal Budget 2011, Section 12, 1202 (General Approvals) ( Memento from November 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), p. 15
  43. ^ Daniel Delhaes: Completely procedural procedure . In: Handelsblatt . No. 48 , March 8, 2013, p. 6 .
  44. ↑ 2011 Federal Budget, Section 12, 1202 (General Approvals) ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), p. 30
  45. ↑ Federal Budget 2011, Section 12, 1202 (General Approvals) ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), p. 43.
  46. ↑ The truck toll. ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Ministry of the Environment for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, April 1, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmub.bund.de
  47. ↑ Toll income and use of the toll. ( Memento from March 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Verkehrsinfrastructurefinanzierungsgesellschaft (VIFG), undated
  48. ↑ a b Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network and the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25 2014
  49. ↑ Call for tenders for the road cost report 2018–2022. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: BUND.de , o. J.
  50. ↑ BMVI - WKG 2002: Introduction, road costs and road charges at a glance. Retrieved January 16, 2019 .
  51. ↑ Update of the route cost calculation. Federal trunk roads in Germany. July 6, 2007, accessed January 16, 2019 .
  52. ↑ Oliver Stock: Red light for the toll. In: handelsblatt.com , March 27, 2013
  53. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 15
  54. ↑ a b Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network and the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25 2014, p. 24
  55. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 18
  56. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 26
  57. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 16
  58. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 97
  59. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 71
  60. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 204
  61. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 207, point 8
  62. ↑ Ulf J. Froitzheim: Can't you build motorways in such a way that they can withstand trucks? In: Brand eins , edition 12/2014
  63. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 19
  64. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 27
  65. ↑ a b Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network and the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25 2014, p. 25
  66. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 172
  67. ↑ Calculation of the road costs for the federal trunk road network as well as the external costs in accordance with Directive 1999/62 / EC for the years 2013 to 2017. ( Memento from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, March 25, 2014, P. 162
  68. ^ A b Kilian Frey, Martin Lambrecht, Katrin Dziekan, Lea Köd: Toll for Germany: Every kilometer counts. , The contribution of a truck, bus and car toll to environmentally-oriented transport infrastructure financing, Ed .: Umweltbundesamt (UBA), November 2015, p. 8
  69. ↑ Public hearing of the Committee on Transport and Digital Infrastructure of the German Bundestag on March 16, 2015. Statement by Stefan Gerwens Managing Director, Pro Mobility - Initiative for Transport Infrastructure eV Berlin, March 12, 2015
  70. ↑ Camion Pro reveals large-scale manipulation of exhaust gas regulations on trucks. Press release from Camion Pro eV, Unterschleißheim, March 8, 2016, accessed on January 19, 2017
  71. ↑ New emissions scandal: Manipulated trucks cause massive environmental damage. In: Der Spiegel , January 17, 2017, accessed on January 19, 2017
  72. ↑ Data protection: The smoke candles of Hans-Peter Friedrich. In: fr.online.de , November 7, 2013, accessed on November 7, 2013
  73. ↑ a b Jörg Diehl, Frank Dohmen, Veit Medick , Fidelius Schmid: Monitoring: Interior Minister Friedrich reaches for toll data. In: Spiegel Online , November 6, 2013, accessed on November 6, 2013
  74. ↑ Plans of the Federal Interior Minister SPD refuses access to toll data. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung Online , November 6, 2013, accessed on November 6, 2013
  75. ↑ Interior Minister Friedrich: Release toll data for monitoring. In: gulli.com , November 6, 2013, accessed November 6, 2013
  76. ↑ Interior Minister Friedrich rows back, there is still a dispute. In: Tagesspiegel , November 6, 2013, accessed on November 6, 2013
  77. ↑ Road tolls: 120 toll evaders recorded in two hours . In: Spiegel Online . January 1, 2005 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  78. ↑ The toll system becomes an export hit. In: Spiegel Online , October 6, 2007
  79. ^ Spiegel Online, January 10, 2005
  80. ↑ European toll models from an economic and business perspective