Following its enlargement last year to more than 17,750km, Slovakia’s electronic toll collection system covers more than 40% of its roads.
All vehicles over 3.5tonnes are required to pay the tolls which not only apply to motorways and express-ways but also first, second and third class roads. Toll pricing uses a distance-based model using the satellite technology for positioning the on-board units.
The system was implemented in only 11 months as there is no need to install tolling gantries -estimated 4,000 gantries to cover the same network with a toll collection system of equal efficiency.
As there are no gantries to build, satellite-based tolling systems offer both financial and practical advantages and in Slovakia’s case the authorities opted for a Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM) model, shifting all responsibility to the contractor -SkyToll.
Both stationary and mobile enforcement are used to detect violators, with 47 enforcement gantries throughout the country and an additional 30 mobile units. These detect where there is no on-board unit or if it is incorrectly set with, for instance, the wrong number of axles.