Alex Trelinski
TOLL charges on the AP-7 motorway on the Costa del Sol could be discounted for workers and students in a bid to reduce traffic jams on the A-7.
Spain’s Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Jose Antonio Santano has agreed to ‘study’ such a possibility based on a similar scheme used on the AP-9 in Galicia.
Such a deal would be dependant on reaching an accord with the AP-7 toll franchise operator, Ausol.
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The concept involves just workers and students, which rules out tourists or occasional motorway users.
To get a discount, qualifying motorists would have to register in the Via-T electronic system, which means they don’t have to stop at toll booths.
Based on the Galicia region, they would receive a 50% reduction on fees, where people travelling in the morning to work pay the full amount but their return journey is free- so long as it is made within 24 hours and uses the same route.
The Transport Ministry then pays the Galicia operator what it is owed.
This system used in northern Spain has caught the eye of Andalucia’s Minister of Development, Rocío Díaz, ahead of his meeting with Jose Antonio Santano earlier this month.
Diaz highlighted the ‘great disproportion’ of traffic volumes between the A-7 (80%) and the AP-7 (20%).
He put forward a partial or total subsidisation of toll charges, citing the Galicia model.
This month’s decision to remove tolls on the AP-7 Alicante ring road until October has raised some eyebrows but the situation there is different from Malaga province.
The Alicante section does not involve paying any franchise holder because the motorway is already state-owned and managed by the State Society of Land Transport Infrastructures (SEITT), after it was taken over due to bankruptcy.
In contrast, the AP-7 on the Costa del Sol is privately managed which means any toll discounts would have to be negotiated with the operator.
