Sales of Annual Motorway Stickers Down
Vignette sales for motorcycles dropped by 80 to 2004 annual stickers, 648 to 15,627 half-yearly stickers and 580 to 37,781 weekly stickers.
DARS estimates toll sales revenue for 2012 to amount to EUR 290m, which is line with the target; receipts from vignette sales are estimated at EUR 133m and revenue from tolls for lorries at EUR 157m.
Overall toll revenues in 2011 amounted to EUR 298.3m, to which vignette sales contributed EUR 136.9m. The year before DARS collected EUR 290.1m in tolls, of which EUR 130.9m by vignettes.
The motorways manager projects this year's toll revenues to be roughly at 2012 levels.
DARS sold 119,112 annual vignettes for cars for 2013 in December, expecting the sales of annual stickers to peak these days and in the first half of February.
The annual vignette is valid from 1 December the previous year to 31 January the next year, that is 14 months, and costs 95 euros for cars and 47.50 euros for motorcycles.
Monthly vignettes for cars are available at 30 euros for cars and weekly at 15 euros for cars and 7.5 euros for motorcycles; the half-yearly sticker for motorcycles costs EUR 25.
DARS inspectors issued nearly 44,000 fines for failure to use vignette last year, down from 49,000 in 2011 and 51,000 in 2010. A total of 213,000 fines have been issued since vignettes came into use in the second half of 2008.
The fine for failure to use the toll sticker is EUR 300, but only half of the sum is paid if the fine is settled within eight days after being issued. The proceeds go into the national budget.