toll roads in Norway

Road tolling to finance bridges, tunnels and roads has a long history in Norway. The cities Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim introduced toll rings between 1986 and 1991 as a means to discourage urban traffic and to finance infrastructure projects around those cities. Today toll rings circumscribe Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Askøy, Bodø, Harstad, Grenland, Førde and Trondheim. Besides toll rings, road tolls are installed to finance certain road projects, and often also on the existing road to discourage people from using it. Some tolls use congestion pricing and/or environmentally differentiated toll rates.

There is an ongoing reform of the road toll sector, proposed by Prime minister Solberg's Cabinet. The toll reform has four parts: a reduction of the number of toll road operators, separation of the toll service provision for tolls and ferry tickets from the toll road operators, an interest compensation scheme for toll road loans, and a simplification of the price and discount schemes.

AutoPASS

The Norwegian electronic toll collection system is called AutoPASS, and is administrated by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. There are no manual toll stations left. The system involves the installation of a DSRC based radio transponder operating at 5.8 GHz (MD5885), originally supplied by the Norwegian companies Q-Free and Fenrits, and since 2013 supplied by Kapsch and Norbit, on the windscreen of a vehicle, and to sign a contract with one of the toll service providers. With an AutoPASS contract it is also possible to use the tag in Denmark and Sweden on ferries and bridges through the EasyGo partnership.

In December 2021, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration withdrew from EasyGo starting a transition period until 31 March 2022. Providers need to be EETS-registered and approved by the operators in order for the OBE to be valid in those toll facilities after the transition period ends.

If a vehicle passes through a toll station without a valid transponder, a photograph is taken of the registration number. Norwegian-registered vehicles are invoiced directly by the toll road operators, and foreign vehicles are invoiced by Epass24. If a foreign vehicle is driven through a toll that uses environmentally differentiated toll rates, the highest rate will be charged unless the vehicle's Euro class and fuel type are registered. Registration is optional, but registering to the scheme, which is called "Visitors' Payment" will, in addition to the avoidance of paying the highest fee in tolls with environmentally differentiated rates, normally reduce the time from the journey until an invoice is received. The account also gives access to the invoices, the possibility to register for e-mail delivery and to make the payment.

If driving a rental car, the renter should register the car to receive the invoice directly. If it is not registered, the invoice will be sent to the rental company (the car owner). The company may add administration fees when collecting the amount from the renter.

Compulsory tag for heavy commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes

All vehicles that exceed and are primarily used for business, or are registered to a business, government, county municipality or municipality, must have a valid toll tag/agreement when driving on Norwegian public roads.

Rates and discounts

Through the process of Prop. 1 S Appendix 2 / Innst. 13 S (2015-2016), the Storting has endorsed the government's proposal to introduce a new tariff and discount system for tolling projects. In the new system, there will be a standardization of discounts. Vehicles in pricing group 1 with electronic tag and valid agreement will automatically receive 20 per cent discount. Vehicles in rate group 2 will not get a discount. Discount and other benefits is only given to vehicles with a valid tag/agreement, "Visitors' Payment" does not give the same benefits.

Toll fees for zero-emission vehicles in rate group 1 is introduced in a growing number of tolling projects. Zero-emission vehicle is a collective name for electric cars and hydrogen cars, and the toll fee is maximum 50% of ordinary toll fee after discount (i.e. if the toll fee is 10 NOK, it costs 8 NOK for those with a valid tag/agreement. The toll fee for zero-emission vehicles can hence be maximum 4 NOK). The introduction of payment for zero-emission vehicles is done according to the instructions from Prop. 87 S (2017-2018) and local government. Payment of tolls as a zero-emission vehicle requires tag and a valid agreement. Without a tag and a valid agreement, zero-emission vehicles will be charged ordinary fare like other vehicles. The exception is in tolls that has environmentally differentiated rates (currently the toll rings in Oslo and Akershus and in Bergen). In these, an agreement is only needed to get the general tag discount on top of the (lower) zero-emission price rate.

Toll road operators

A toll road operator, who has signed a toll charge agreement with Statens vegvesen is responsible for the financing of all toll roads in Norway. As a consequence of the toll reform, regional toll road operators, owned jointly by the counties, have been created:

* Bompengeselskap Nord AS ( Nordland and Troms og Finnmark)
* Vegamot AS ( Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag)
* Ferde AS (Agder, Rogaland and Vestland)
* Vegfinans AS (Innlandet, Vestfold og Telemark and Viken)
* Fjellinjen AS (Oslo and Viken)

Toll rings

Public roads

Ferries collecting road tolls

The following ferry crossings collect road tolls as a surcharge to the ferry ticket:

Many crossings without toll charges also uses AutoPass as payment through the "AutoPass for ferry" concept. AutoPass customers with a valid agreement and tag, but without a separate ferry account gets a 10% discount in ferry crossings taking payment with the AutoPass tag. By making a prepayment into an Autopass ferry account, you get a 50% (40% corporate) discount for vehicle, and 17% for passengers at manual payment crossings.

Former Toll roads, tunnels and bridges

* Tønsberg Toll Ring
* Namsos Toll Ring
* E6 Grillstad–Værnes
* E6 Trondheim – Stjørdal
* E10/Fv82 Vesterål Bridges
* E16 Hadelandsvegen
* E16 Fønhus-Bagn
* E18 Buskerud
* E18 Vestfold Nord
* E18 Agder
* E39 Handeland, Listerpakken
* E39 Rennesøy Fixed Link
* E39 Triangle Link
* E39 Nordhordland Bridge
* E39 Øysand–Thamshavn
* E69 FATIMA-project
* E134 Oslofjord Tunnel
* E134 Stordal Tunnel, Etne
* E136 Tresfjord Bridge
* Rv4 Oppland
* Rv5 Berg Tunnel and Frudal Tunnel
* Rv5 Naustdal tunnel
* Rv9 Setesdal
* Rv13 Fatla tunnel
* Rv15 Måløy Bridge
* Rv19 Skoppum, Horten, Vestfold
* Rv80 Tverlandsbrua
* Rv658 Ålesund - Giske
* Fv17 Godøystraumen
* Fv33 Skreifjella - totenvika
* Fv43 Kollevoll, Listerpakken
* Fv49 Jondal Tunnel
* Fv49 Folgefonna tunnel
* Fv64 Skålavegen
* Fv64 Atlantic Ocean Road
* Fv108 Hvaler Tunnel
* Fv465 Gjervollstad, Listerpakken
* Fv500 Halsnøy Tunnel, Halsnøysambandet
* Fv562 Askøy Bridge
* Fv566 Osterøy Bridge
* Fv661 Straumsbrua
* Fv714 Sandstad (Hitra Tunnel, Frøya Tunnel and Fjellværøyforbindelsen)
* Fv755 Skarnsund Bridge
* Fv2522 Skarsmoen, (E6 Øyer-Tretten)
* Fv5236 Bjorøy Tunnel
* Fv5914 Sykkylven Bridge
* Fv5981 Skorgen and Sjegstad (old E136 before Tresfjord Bridge)

See also

*AutoPass
* Dedicated Short Range Communications
* Toll road

External links

English version of Official site

More information about Autopass

References

{{Reflist

Road transport in Norway
Wireless locating
Car costs