site.btaRoad Toll System for Heavy-duty Vehicles to Be Officially Launched on March 1

February 25 (BTA) - The road toll system for heavy-duty vehicles will be officially launched on March 1, Deputy Regional Development and Public Works Minister Nikolay Nankov told a briefing on Tuesday, as quoted by his ministry. He added that no more compromises will be made with the deadline for the system's launch.

The road toll system was initially supposed to go into operation in August 2019, but its launch was postponed to no later than March 1, 2020. Under the system, vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonnes have to pay a distance-based toll, instead of purchase a time-based vignette as they currently do.

In Nankov's words, the system is completely ready, and there hardly is another country in Europe that in such an innovative way gives three options for road tolling: route maps, GSP trackers, and onboard devices.

The road toll system's purpose is to provide additional revenues for repairing and reconstructing Bulgaria's road infrastructure based on a fairer model, where whoever travels more and causes more damage, pays more, he went on to say. In his words, the system is not just a means to collect resources, but a wide-ranging instrument of the State in the fight against the grey sector in transport. The road toll system is closely connected to the customs, which is a step towards fighting fraud, and a connection is also provided with the Interior Ministry's system, Nankov specified.

Cameras of the toll system have been installed along almost 11,000 km of republican roads. In addition, the mobile teams of the toll system cover the entire republic road network of nearly 20,000 km, the Deputy Ministry said.

He noted that in the last days, the road toll system has been subjected to constant hacker attacks.

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