Prague, 9 July 2020 - In June 2020 carriers paid the total amount of CZK 977.99 million for driving on toll roads. It represented an increase of 6.85% compared to the same period of 2019. The year-on-year growth in collected tolls was brought about by two extra working days compared to 2019, a revival of transit freight traffic through the Czech Republic and revenues from newly charged 1st category roads.
While toll revenues declined at a double-digit rate in April and May due to the COVID-19 disease pandemic (by 19 and 14 percent), June brought the expected recovery in traffic on domestic roads and motorways. The efficiency of toll collection was also increased by the expansion of the network of tolled 1st category roads by 868 kilometres as of 1 January this year - the amount of 105 million Czech crowns was collected on 1st category roads in June.
Following the expansion of the toll road network as of 1 January 2020, CzechToll operates the satellite toll system on a total of 1,102 kilometres of 1st category roads and 1,307 kilometres of motorways. Although the scope of charging has been expanded by 903 kilometres, the operation of the satellite toll system is three times cheaper than the original microwave technology.
For the entire first half of 2020, CzechToll charged carriers the amount of CZK 5.496 billion in tolls (a year-on-year decrease of 1.01%). As of 30 June 2020, almost 489 thousand vehicles were registered in the domestic toll system - more than 150 thousand from the Czech Republic and over 338 thousand from abroad. For a total of 424,000 vehicles, carriers picked up the OBUs needed to use the toll roads and motorways.
"The new toll system is stable even in critical situations and generates revenues needed for the development of transport infrastructure in the Czech Republic. The strategic investment in the generational replacement of the old microwave technology with the satellite solution, which brought new revenues from 1st category roads, helped to preserve toll revenues despite the negative impact of restrictive measures against COVID-19,” said Matej Okáli, CzechToll CEO.
