The National Freeway Bureau said recently it has yet to finalize a new freeway toll plan, noting that it was more equitable to charge motorists by the number of kilometers they travel rather than the number of toll booths they pass.
“Each day, approximately 1.5 million motor vehicles travel on the freeways. Studies show that 55 percent of these travel short distances, meaning they do not pass a toll booth,” said Wu Mu-fu (吳木富), the bureau’s deputy chief engineer.
“This means that only 45 percent of freeway travelers actually pay tolls,” he said.
NOT FAIR
As an example, Wu said that if a motorist were to get on Freeway No. 1 at the Wugu (五股) Interchange, the first toll booth he would pass would be Taishan (泰山), 8km away, whereas those driving from the Neihu Interchange and exiting at Jhungli (中壢) would only encounter one toll booth, even though they travel 52km.
Wu said many motorists have complained about this over the years, adding that asking them to pay for the actual distance they travel would be more reasonable.
Regarding accusations that the new policy is simply a covert way to tax people, Wu said a majority of motorists used the freeways for free in the past.
He said the bureau was most likely to adopt a fixed-rate policy and eliminate “toll free” sections, but that it still needed to carefully consider all proposals before deciding how much to charge motorists for each kilometer.
CONSEQUENCES
Legislators have long said that motorists should not pay freeway tolls anymore because the cost of freeway construction has long since been recouped, but the bureau said there would be negative consequences if the freeways were to become toll free.
The bureau said it spent about NT$30 billion (US$938 million) last year constructing new freeways and maintaining old ones.
Approximately NT$20 billion of that came from tolls, whereas the rest came from the fuel surcharge and profits earned by freeway service areas.
If tolls were abolished, the funds reserved for freeway maintenance would vanish, the bureau said.
Rather than being paid for by motorists, freeway maintenance and construction costs would then be paid by all taxpayers.
The bureau also noted that the Freeway Construction Fund (國道基金) has accumulated more than NT$200 billion in loans.
Aside from paying for freeway construction and maintenance costs, the freeway tolls also cover interest payments on those loans.
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