Negative impact: broad transport alliance against car tolls

Berlin. Ever since the federal parliamentary elections, the issue of a flat-rate motorway toll on cars has been on the political agenda. Although transport minister Peter Ramsauer has denied suggestions, he is considered to be open to the idea of a toll vignette, or sticker. In a resolution supported by its 17 member organisations, the Pro-Rail Alliance cautioned the federal government against making “snap decisions on transport policy”. The transport alliance, with members including environmental groups, trade unions and several automobile clubs, is opposed to concept of toll stickers, which have to be paid equally by all car drivers regardless of how far they drive. The managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, Dirk Flege, pointed out that states in the south of Germany have been working on the introduction of a flat-rate motorway toll on cars for several years. “An initiative in the Federal Council proposed by Baden-Württemberg is imminent,” said Flege. “Regardless of what the chancellor’s office wants, this issue is going to resurface.”

Michael Gehrmann, federal chairman of the transport club VCD, criticised the motorway toll because it would be a “flat-rate for frequent drivers”. The toll sticker may be tempting for hard-up politicians because its implementation would not only be easy and quick, it would also swiftly yield billions of euros for the exchequer. “However, apart from a flood of euros, the toll would have a negative impact on environmental policies,” said Gehrmann, who went on to list the arguments against the toll concept set out in the alliance’s resolution: it is unfair because it is advantageous to high-mileage drivers. Instead, a “more intelligent, general concept for toll charges” is needed, said Gehrmann. “We envisage a tiered approach in which, initially, the current mileage related motorway toll on heavy goods vehicles is further developed,” he said. Firstly, the charges have to be extended to include all HGVs on all roads. After that, long-distance coaches should also become liable for road tolls. “Only when the existing instruments are being used fully should mileage-related road tolls on cars be considered.”

Pro-Rail Alliance managing director Flege reckons that motorway tolls on cars should be seen in the light of another of the new conservative-liberal coalition’s favourite ideas: that the roads should fund the roads. The federal transport ministry is currently examining the idea of ring-fenced funding. This would see the income from the motorway charges on HGVs being spent exclusively on highway construction and not, as is currently the case, on transport infrastructure in general. “Such a model would miss its aim and politicians would be tying their own hands. All income would then have to be spent on road construction, even if investments in other modes of transport made considerably more sense,” said Flege. Only when the flat-rate toll charge and the concept of ring-fenced funding are added together can it be seen where the coalition’s transport policies ideas are heading: “This is all just simply about more and more asphalt.” The absurdity of this new “ring-fenced funding dogma” will reach new heights in the future when each mode of transport has to pay for the cost of its environmental impact. “Put simply: the worse the environmental record of road transport becomes, the more money there will be to spend on road construction.” It would be just as logical if the state had to spend its income from taxes and duties on tobacco for providing ever increasing numbers of cigarette vending machines.