28 430 Bulgarian trucks and buses have their on-board units activated
31 March 2020
28,430 trucks and buses of Bulgarian carriers have their on-board units already registered in the National Toll Administration and are charged through them when travelling on the paid roads. 342,646 route passes have been purchased since the toll charging started on March 1st, despite reduced heavy traffic due to restrictions against the spread of coronavirus. The sales channels of the Road Infrastructure Agency are the most preferred. 76 percent of the route passes were purchased through the bgtoll.bg website, the mobile application, the 500 self-service terminals or from the counters of the main border checkpoints and in the Regional Road Administrations.
Analysis of data in the National Toll Administration shows that despite the state of emergency and difficulties due to restrictions against COVID-19, carriers have not interrupted their efforts to equip their fleet with on-board units. From March 13th up to this day, 9,540 devices have been registered. Talks with all participants in the process show that additional time is needed in a state of emergency to complete the equipment of the fleet above 3.5 tonnes. Therefore, taking into account the difficulties the industry is experiencing, the time for the equipment of heavy goods vehicles is extended until the end of the state of emergency, which is 13 April. In this period, mobile toll control teams will continue to enforce the law on terrain. Offenders without registered on-board units and without activated route passes will be guided on how to become proper users of the paid road network. Mobile teams will also check that active and installed toll reporting devices are properly used. The main objective of the control authorities at the state of emergency will be to ensure that the road toll due for each vehicle over 3.5 tonnes will be paid according to the route travelled, the vehicle category and the vehicle emission class.
According to the information received by the National Toll Administration from national service providers, nearly 10,000 on-board units are in the process of being installed and activated. And in April, another 10,000 will be delivered. Five companies, registered as Declared Data Providers in the list of the Road Infrastructure Agency, have effective contracts with National Service Providers and can provide data from GPS trackers for tolling purposes. Upon prior requests, they must ensure the automatic charging of more than 60,000 road vehicles. Contracts for over 1,500 heavy goods vehicles have been signed so far, and the process continues.
An analysis of toll revenues will be made after at least one month of their implementation.
