The document discusses the impacts of implementing road tolls (Eurovignettes) for freight transport across Europe according to EU directives. It aims to estimate the effects on transport costs and accessibility due to toll fees. The methodology involves modeling commercial freight flows between regions, assigning flows to routes, calculating toll fees paid on each route segment, and comparing total fees paid and received by countries. Preliminary results show some countries receiving more in fees than they pay, while others pay more than they receive.

1. Ana Condeço-Melhorado
Javier Gutiérrez
EUROVIGNETTE IMPACTS ON
ACCESS TO MARKETS

2. EUROVIGNETTE
The EU 99/62 y 2006/38 directives recommend the introduction of
tolls to freight transport (lorries over 3.5 tones) in all member states
• Network-wide: to all Trans-European roads and secondary
roads in case of traffic diversion;
• Kilometric charges;
• Charges are estimated based on provision and operating
costs of road infrastructure;
• Differentiation between vehicles (according to EURO standard
for vehicle emissions);
• Some countries have already implemented it: Austria(2004);
Germany (2005) and Czech Republic (2007). Outside EU also
Switzerland (2001).

3. EUROVIGNETTE
Main principles of 99/62 y 2006/38 directives
- Ensures the recovery of infrastructure costs;
- “Who uses, must pay “ and “Who pollutes, must pay”;
- Environmental benefits: reduction of emissions; route optimization;
efficiency; modal shift.
OUR OBJECTIVE
• Estimate the impact of Eurovignette policy on freight transport costs,
using network analysis
• Study the wider effects of this policy
- Accessibility losses regarding access to markets (single market)
- Effects on territorial cohesion. Winners and losers.

4. DATA FOR THE NETWORK
ANALYSIS
Digital Network
²
NUTS 2 Regions
²
0 125 250 500 Kilometers
Network (roads + ferries)
377,797 arcs
0 125 250 500 Kilometers
Arcs characteristics: link type; road
class; speed; length; travel time, etc.
253 NUTS-2 regions (excluding
Malta and Cyprus)
Trade matrix (tones) among each
NUTS-2 region (only road mode)
Source: TRANS-TOOLS model

5. METHODOLOGY
1) Minimum travel time routes Commercial flows through the network
among NUTS 2 regions
2) Assignment of trade flows
(tones exported) to each OD
²
route.
3) Conversion of exported tons to Tonnes (thousands)
< 4000
number of trucks, considering: 4000 - 10000
10000 - 20000
•40 tones standard truck (25 20000 - 30000
30000 - 50000
50000 - 70000
tones of load) 70000 - 90000
90000 - 159785
• 50% of empty trips (return trips).
No data about empty trips for 0 125 250 500 Kilometers
each NUT 2 pair is available.
This procedure gives us the information about :
•The number of trucks shipped in each trade route
•The most important infrastructure regarding the European freight market.

6. 4) The fee Fijk paid in each arc of the route
from region i to region j is calculated according
to:
METHODOLOGY
Fijk = Kmk * Lij *F
Kmk is the number of kilometers of the arc k;
Origin i
Lij is the number of trucks from i to j;
F is the unit fee: 0.12€ per vehicle kilometer
Country C1 (mean toll value currently being applied in
Germany).
5) The fees paid by country C1 to country C2
are calculated as follows:
Country C2
F12 = 2∑ Fijk ∀ i ∈ C1 ∀ j ∀ k ∈ C2
Being Fijk the fee in each arc k contained in C2
in all the routes ij with origin in C1 and any
Destination j destination.
6) The same procedure is followed for every
pair of countries in order to build a matrix of
countries.

7. Total charges paid by Germany

8. Total charges paid by Holland

9. Total charges paid by Portugal

10. MATRIX OF TOTAL CHARGES PAID BY COUNTRIES
Czech United
Austria Belgium Bulgaria Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany … Spain Sweden Kingdom Total Paid
Austria 220118 1299 20 10559 126 19 20 3196 70400 … 958 52 648 359.387
Belgium 2576 228536 3 1414 479 57 81 216253 85675 … 3185 248 5408 598.297
Bulgaria 536 14 192059 383 9 1 9 2728 1348 … 2044 0 62 209.923
Czech
Republic 14781 1260 38 282579 225 27 25 3698 65219 … 1045 105 859 421.866
Denmark 13 321 2 104 169020 4 22 717 14353 … 180 424 365 186.153
Estonia 23 300 3 21 101 25465 941 671 2355 … 282 246 361 37.149
Finland 140 953 40 61 16 2069 398640 1627 8326 … 588 900 1007 427.655
France 2498 54735 33 1025 232 17 23 2906665 57942 … 36675 114 6903 3.133.868
Germany 48517 48536 150 38176 9991 314 329 119086 5285135 … 10998 750 14710 5.718.422
Greece 632 10 3015 93 10 0 3 1659 1219 … 851 28 206 281.297
Hungary 13643 238 137 6929 10 19 20 2120 14924 … 1573 17 322 254.435
Ireland 29 587 0 8 27 2 9 2694 686 … 591 39 6210 223.490
Italy 24096 6044 111 1628 17 15 17 109644 52191 … 20182 33 4344 1.637.476
Latvia 16 417 0 9 523 542 239 730 2841 … 306 946 605 62.539
Lithuania 55 921 2 110 254 840 71 2625 8600 … 811 257 447 90.800
Luxembourg 258 4939 0 179 75 5 8 13269 11211 … 372 34 382 39.038
Netherlands 5956 51407 35 1504 1081 80 145 47878 220272 … 3124 472 8220 665.343
Poland 7185 2483 78 15646 662 114 191 5507 83473 … 1513 467 2992 967.628
Portugal 23 488 0 3 37 4 12 9569 966 … 31051 66 358 283.101
Romania 539 37 6224 360 5 1 0 3627 659 … 3046 2 37 725.597
Slovak
Republic 14408 210 21 18212 69 8 10 508 10862 … 285 51 163 185.678
Slovenia 4703 113 10 336 0 1 0 475 4148 … 58 1 39 63.216
Spain 381 2286 18 399 210 22 41 100461 8823 … 2021582 171 2886 2.172.078
Sweden 39 629 1 131 3233 15 427 1293 5501 … 455 289022 632 302.307
United
Kingdom 325 7634 4 215 225 42 68 22661 7133 … 3676 194 1529959 1.581.619
Total
Received 361491 414397 202002 380085 186638 29683 401352 3579362 6024263 2145430 294639 1588125
(in thousands of €)

11. BALANCE BETWEEN RECEIVED AND PAID TOLLS
²
Ratio Received
VS Paid (%)
9 - 40
40 - 70
70 - 100
100 - 150
150 - 296
(in thousands of €)
0 120 240 480 Kilometers

12. Paid in other Received from Received Vs.
Countries coutries other countries Received Vs. Paid Paid (%) GDP (PPPS)
Austria 139,269 141,373 2104 102 125
BALANCE Belgium 369,761 185,861 -183901 50 117
Bulgaria 17,864 9,943 -7921 56 38
BETWEEN Czech Republic
Denmark
139,287
17,133
97,506
17,618
-41781
485
70
103
77
124
COUNTRIES Estonia
Finland
11,684
29,014
4,218
2,712
-7466
-26303
36
9
66
114
France 227,203 672,697 445494 296 108
Germany 433,287 739,128 305841 171 116
Greece 11,826 6,718 -5108 57 93
Hungary 75,758 40,366 -35392 53 63
Ireland 11,333 6,246 -5087 55 145
Italy 239,315 183,953 -55362 77 104
Latvia 12,144 11,768 -376 97 52
Lithuania 31,908 10,384 -21524 33 55
Luxembourg 32,004 21,833 -10171 68 270
Netherlands 354,382 114,048 -240335 32 131
Poland 146,399 111,431 -34968 76 52
Portugal 43,510 23,554 -19957 54 79
Romania 31,187 24,192 -6995 78 38
Slovak Republic 69,301 35,981 -33320 52 63
Slovenia 20,230 30,083 9852 149 87
Spain 150,496 123,848 -26648 82 104
Sweden 13,285 5,617 -7668 42 123
United Kingdom 51,660 58,165 6505 113 120
Total 2,679,243 2,679,243
(in thousands of €)
Countries with GDP
ablove the mean 2,068,143 2,273,098
Countries with GDP
bellow the mean 611,100 406,144

13. 2006 PER CAPITA GDP (PPPS)
DIFFERENCES
Czech United
Austria Belgium Bulgaria Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany … Spain Sweden Kingdom
Austria 0 8 87 48 1 59 11 17 9 … 21 2 5
Belgium -8 0 79 40 -7 51 3 9 1 … 13 -6 -3
Bulgaria -87 -79 0 -39 -86 -28 -76 -70 -78 … -66 -85 -82
Czech Republic -48 -40 39 0 -47 11 -37 -31 -39 … -27 -46 -43
Denmark -1 7 86 47 0 58 10 16 8 … 20 1 4
Estonia -59 -51 28 -11 -58 0 -48 -42 -50 … -38 -57 -54
Finland -11 -3 76 37 -10 48 0 6 -2 … 10 -9 -6
France -17 -9 70 31 -16 42 -6 0 -8 … 4 -15 -12
Germany -9 -1 78 39 -8 50 2 8 0 … 12 -7 -4
Greece -32 -24 55 16 -31 27 -21 -15 -23 … -11 -30 -27
Hungary -62 -54 25 -14 -61 -3 -51 -45 -53 … -41 -60 -57
Ireland 20 28 107 68 21 79 31 37 29 … 41 22 25
Italy -21 -13 66 27 -20 38 -10 -4 -12 … 0 -19 -16
Latvia -73 -65 14 -25 -72 -14 -62 -56 -64 … -52 -71 -68
Lithuania -70 -62 17 -22 -69 -11 -59 -53 -61 … -49 -68 -65
Luxembourg 145 153 232 193 146 204 156 162 154 … 166 147 150
Netherlands 6 14 93 54 7 65 17 23 15 … 27 8 11
Poland -73 -65 14 -25 -72 -14 -62 -56 -64 … -52 -71 -68
Portugal -46 -38 41 2 -45 13 -35 -29 -37 … -25 -44 -41
Romania -87 -79 0 -39 -86 -28 -76 -70 -78 … -66 -85 -82
Slovak Republic -62 -54 25 -14 -61 -3 -51 -45 -53 … -41 -60 -57
Slovenia -38 -30 49 10 -37 21 -27 -21 -29 … -17 -36 -33
Spain -21 -13 66 27 -20 38 -10 -4 -12 … 0 -19 -16
Sweden -2 6 85 46 -1 57 9 15 7 … 19 0 3
United Kingdom -5 3 82 43 -4 54 6 12 4 … 16 -3 0

14. WEIGHTED MATRIX OF TOTAL CHARGES PAID BY
COUNTRIES Czech United
Austria Belgium Bulgaria Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany … Spain Sweden Kingdom
Austria 0 10394 1715 506835 126 1140 219 54329 633599 … 20114 104 3239
Belgium -20609 0 206 56568 -3350 2890 243 1946279 85675 … 41401 -1485 -16225
Bulgaria -46607 -1143 0 -14955 -732 -41 -664 -190932 -105163 … -134901 0 -5118
Czech Republic -709493 -50381 1476 0 -10588 294 -908 -114636-2543548 … -28213 -4822 -36917
Denmark -13 2249 129 4892 0 250 219 11476 114821 … 3592 424 1458
Estonia -1364 -15305 72 -235 -5876 0 -45187 -28175 -117747 … -10711 -14046 -19505
Finland -1540 -2859 3065 2242 -158 99293 0 9764 -16652 … 5881 -8099 -6042
France -42465 -492613 2275 31771 -3712 731 -139 0 -463540 … 146698 -1704 -82833
Germany -436656 -48536 11718 1488880 -79928 15697 657 952689 0 … 131975 -5250 -58841
Greece -20224 -241 165808 1491 -309 12 -68 -24886 -28028 … -9356 -848 -5569
Hungary -845890 -12868 3413 -97012 -586 -57 -1044 -95402 -790957 … -64489 -1026 -18356
Ireland 587 16450 21 539 560 126 271 99692 19894 … 24236 858 155246
Italy -506015 -78566 7312 43968 -344 587 -173 -438576 -626292 … 0 -629 -69500
Latvia -1199 -27102 0 -216 -37637 -7591 -14842 -40887 -181839 … -15931 -67137 -41170
Lithuania -3833 -57092 28 -2428 -17528 -9239 -4210 -139127 -524629 … -39759 -17480 -29070
Luxembourg 37404 755710 82 34456 10977 1042 1189 2149624 1726514 … 61743 4998 57244
Netherlands 35734 719692 3273 81230 7569 5183 2461 1101185 3304081 … 84356 3774 90419
Poland -524476 -161386 1099 -391145 -47675 -1599 -11811 -308403-5342242 … -78663 -33165 -203430
Portugal -1073 -18533 5 6 -1682 55 -419 -277491 -35750 … -776273 -2900 -14670
Romania -46927 -2907 0 -14056 -416 -26 0 -253915 -51421 … -201062 -200 -3057
Slovak Republic -893272 -11348 521 -254965 -4239 -23 -521 -22868 -575666 … -11669 -3077 -9294
Slovenia -178696 -3397 510 3356 -8 12 -13 -9973 -120302 … -982 -18 -1283
Spain -8005 -29723 1204 10774 -4203 839 -410 -401846 -105877 … 0 -3254 -46171
Sweden -79 3771 58 6004 -3233 855 3840 19389 38510 … 8642 0 1896
United Kingdom -1623 22901 317 9249 -901 2241 411 271929 28533 … 58816 -583 0
(in thousands of €)

15. WEIGHTED TOLLS: PROGRESSIVE (positive
sign) AND REGRESSIVE (negative sign)
4000000000
3000000000
Mean -4863728
2000000000 Median 0
1000000000 ST 1638774979
VC -33694
0
Asymmetry -3
-1000000000 Max 3304080513
-2000000000 Min -5342242125
Sum positives 27980927027
-3000000000
Sum negatives -30899163684
-4000000000
Difference -2918236657
-5000000000 Total abs 58880090711
-6000000000

16. Conclusions
• The EU recommends the introduction of kilometric charges to freight
transport, in all Trans-European and some secondary roads;
• This study shows the winners and losers of this policy.
• Results depends on several factors:
- The geographic location of the countries: central countries tend to receive
more charges than peripheral ones (due to international crossing traffics)
- The area of the countries: small countries tend to use more the
infrastructure of neighboring countries and to pay more.
- The export-import balance of the country: export oriented countries tend to
use more the infrastructure of neighboring countries and to pay more.
• Core-periphery patterns are observed: central countries will have
more positive balances between received and paid tolls.
• Regressive tolls are predominant, that is peripheral poorer countries
pay more tolls to richer countries (negative effects on
competitiveness of poorer countries and EU territorial cohesion)

17. THANK YOU!
amcondeco@gmail.com
javiergutierrez@ghis.ucm.es