Romania to be the next country to implement heavy vehicle Road User Charging

Following on from the Netherlands on 1 July, Romania will become the 15th European country to launch a distance based road user charging system (truck toll in European parlance), using GNSS technology. It becomes the 16th full country worldwide to have heavy vehicle RUC and the 20th jurisdiction globally to introduce such a system (bearing in mind I am counting the nationwide DSRC based toll systems in Austria and Slovenia in this count, as they are priced by distance across the national highway networks).

TollRo as it is branded will be launched on 1 October (this is a second delay from 1 July and 1 January) and will effectively mean heavy vehicle RUC systems will apply from the Low Countries at the English Channel (Belgium/Netherlands) all the way through central and eastern Europe to the Greek border, and the borders of the former USSR (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova).  TollRo will be the responsibility of CNAIR.

CNAIR is the National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration.

It applies to travel on all motorways (“A” roads), expressways (“DE” roads) and national roads (“DN” roads). This covers over 18,100km of roads (around 29,000 miles).

TollRo will apply to all heavy vehicles with a registered gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes.  It will replace Romania’s vignette system for those vehicles (although the vignette will remain for light vehicles). The rates for the vignette (essentially a time based pass for those unfamiliar) are below

Category	Vehicle type	Validity	RON	US$
C	Goods vehicle 3.5 t–7.5 t	1 day	20.39	$4.00
C	Goods vehicle 3.5 t–7.5 t	7 days	81.54	$16.00
C	Goods vehicle 3.5 t–7.5 t	30 days	163.08	$32.00
C	Goods vehicle 3.5 t–7.5 t	12 months	1,630.82	$320.00
D	Goods vehicle 7.5 t–12 t	1 day	35.67	$7.00
D	Goods vehicle 7.5 t–12 t	7 days	142.70	$28.00
D	Goods vehicle 7.5 t–12 t	30 days	285.39	$56.00
D	Goods vehicle 7.5 t–12 t	12 months	2,853.93	$560.00
E	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, up to 3 axles	1 day	45.87	$9.00
E	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, up to 3 axles	7 days	183.47	$36.00
E	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, up to 3 axles	30 days	366.93	$72.00
E	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, up to 3 axles	12 months	3,669.34	$720.00
F	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, 4 or more axles	1 day	56.06	$11.00
F	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, 4 or more axles	7 days	280.30	$55.00
F	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, 4 or more axles	30 days	616.65	$121.00
F	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, 4 or more axles	12 months	6,166.52	$1,210.00

Charges will be based on:

• Distance travelled;

• Vehicle weight category;

• Road type (different rates for motorways compared to national highways); and

• Emissions class.

Vehicle owners will have two initial choices to comply with the system:

• Account with a telematics provider (typically supplying a GNSS enabled on-board unit)

• Pre-declared single trip route ticket

To enable interoperability between account managers for toll and RUC systems across Europe into Romania, it has set up an organisation called Serviciul European de Taxare Rutieră Electronică (RoSETRE). It is essentially the European Electronic Tolling System platform for Romania. This will enable existing providers in neighbouring countries to sign up to be certified to operate in Romania, so that, for example, a Hungarian registered truck using a service provider for the Hungarian HuGO system, could use that very system and the account for that system to pay Romania’s charges.  

The rates for motorways and expressways are as follows (per kilometre in Romanian Leu):

 

Vehicle Mass	Euro 6	Euro 5	Euro 4	Euro 3	Euro ≤2
3.5 t - 12 t	0.31	0.38	0.43	0.52	0.61
Over 12 t	0.42	0.49	0.56	0.69	0.81

 

Lower rates apply for “main national roads” presumably reflecting the lower level of service

 

Vehicle Mass	Euro 6	Euro 5	Euro 4	Euro 3	Euro ≤2
3.5 t - 12 t	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.43	0.49
Over 12 t	0.32	0.39	0.45	0.56	0.62

 

For US readers, the rates in US$ per mile are below

 

Motorways and expressways — approximate charges in US$ per mile

Vehicle Mass	Euro 6	Euro 5	Euro 4	Euro 3	Euro ≤2
3.5 t - 12 t	$0.111	$0.136	$0.154	$0.186	$0.218
Over 12 t	$0.150	$0.175	$0.200	$0.247	$0.290

 

Main national roads — approximate charges in US$ per mile

Vehicle Mass	Euro 6	Euro 5	Euro 4	Euro 3	Euro ≤2
3.5 t - 12 t	$0.089	$0.107	$0.125	$0.154	$0.175
Over 12 t	$0.114	$0.140	$0.161	$0.200	$0.222

Seven providers are apparently registered to be account managers for the Romanian system. I'll provide more details once it is up and running.