Tolls by the mile a non-starter

Could precise mileage charging be the answer to big toll hikes? Two years after the troubled e-toll tender was cancelled, the question has been abandoned. The only concessionaire implementing a hybrid mileage charging system remains Olympia Odos, while the rest have turned to discount plans through their transceivers.

In end-2021, the then leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure announced that it would proceed with the cancellation of the tender (which had been announced a few years earlier) for the implementation of a uniform mileage charging system on the country’s entire network of highways. It was preceded by a Council of State decision to freeze the huge tender (with a budget of 400 million euros) following an appeal by one of the interested parties.

The ministry then announced that the project would be redesigned and tendered through the Ministry of Digital Governance. The project in a new form was included in the Recovery Fund, but it was eventually excluded and since then its fate has been unknown. It will most likely not be implemented, given that the leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure has repeatedly referred to a shortage of resources for new projects.

With the exception of Attiki Odos, Moreas and the Rio-Antirio Bridge, the remaining concessionaires were asked in the mid-2010s to prepare a study on the application of a mileage charge. The main problem on major highways was the large number of interchanges, which made it uneconomical to install transmitters (to record a vehicle’s exit point and credit the difference to the distance traveled).

Furthermore, the mileage charge was not required by the concession contracts, so there was no real incentive.

The only concessionaire that started implementing a mileage charging system on its own initiative was Olympia Odos, in January 2021.

The consortium has implemented a hybrid system for transponder users only (Olympia Pass), whereby drivers normally pay for passing through the frontal tolls (charged for the part they travel to the next frontal toll), but if they exit at an intermediate junction, then the system recognizes the transceiver and credits owners back the amount corresponding to the distance not covered.