Via do Infante toll protesters once again have assembled on the Guadiana bridge with a message for the government, the ‘period of grace is over.’
Queues of vehicles from Spain applauded the protesters as the various payment schemes are still viewed as overly complex and certainly do not encourage visitors to the Algarve arriving by car.
The protest on the Portuguese side of the Guadiana bridge was designed to coincide with thousands of Spaniards arriving in the Algarve for the Easter holidays.
Foreign registered vehicles queued at the payment terminals where staff from Infraestruturas de Portugal were on hand to explain the various payment options.
The protesters believe that the new government has had its bedding in period and it is time for the Prime Minister, António Costa, to halt tolls or at least halve the toll fees, as promised in his election campaign.
José Domingos from protest group CUVI said of the low turnout that he certainly is not giving up and said that the Algarve population feels abandoned by a government which has failed to reduce or scrap tolls as it promised.
"The government has changed but the politicians have changed little. There are politicians who were elected by the Algarve population to represent them in Parliament against tolls, who voted on Monday for the continuation of tolls.”
CUVI considers it necessary to continue to fight to achieve the goal of ending the tolls, said Domingos.
Despite efforts from Infrastructure Portugal, who put a dozen staff on duty to help tourists at payment terminals, there were Spaniards who complained at the "confusion" over the pre-payment of tolls using the electronic billing system.
There is to be another vote in parliament, as yet no date has been given, as a result of a left wing petition. This may be the last chance to ever get the system changed as the incoming government went pro-toll as soon as it got into power.
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