Traveling on the Via do Infante motorway will be cheaper starting in July. This is one of the seven new motorway measures where discounts of up to 40% will be available for the most frequent users of these roads.
The measure is part of the package of proposals for transport in Interior region, which will be approved tomorrow, Thursday, at a Council of Ministers to be held in Bragança, as reported this morning by public broadcaster RTP.
These new regulations only really benefit regular users of the motorway. Discounts in classes 1 and 2 (motorbikes and cars; vans) will vary according to monthly usage: during the first six days of usage, the current regular amount of tolls is paid; after using the motorway for six days in a month, between the 7th and the 15th day, the discount jumps from nothing to 20%; from the 16th day of usage onwards, the reduction climbs to 40%. To exemplify, those who use the highway 22 days a month have an average discount of 20%; those who travel 30 days a month have an average discount of 25%, thus benefiting residents, workers and frequent visitors to region, as opposed to visitors/tourists.
“We will be able to implement a toll reduction system in the third quarter of this year, favouring tolls in the interior. It is a quantity-related discount, which favours frequent users, whether they are residents or work in these territories, or they visit them regularly,” said Territorial Cohesion Minister Ana Abrunhosa, speaking to Renascença Radio.
These discounts will be applied nationwide: on the the A22 (Lagos-Vila Real de Santo António), A4 (Porto-Vila Real), A24 (Viseu-Chaves and Viseu-Vila Real), A28 (Porto-Viana), A25 (Aveiro-Viseu) motorways ), A23 (Castelo Branco-Covilhã) and A13 (Coimbra-Torres Novas).
In addition to discounts for cars, motorbikes, and vans there will also be a new discount system for heavy vehicles, with passenger transport benefiting from the reduction already applied to goods: 35% if the trip is during the day; 55% if traveling at night. Until July, discounts for goods will be 30% and 50%, respectively.
To take advantage of these benefits, vehicles have to be fitted with an electronic identifier, without the need for a certification by the IMT (Transport and Mobility Institute).
Mrs. Abrunhosa also admitted that discounts may increase in the coming years. “For this measure to be sustainable, we have to gradually reduce it”, she claims.
“Our proposal is, in the future as our State Budget is able to accommodate, that we are able to work on this reduction to ensure that, in fact, people have a better quality of life in these territories and we are naturally privileging the interior territories, as it is in the Government's program and as it was registered in the State Budget”, added the minister.
Asked by Renascença Radio in the interview about whether the measure truly responds to the demands of the population, the minister underlines that "it favours the frequent use of these routes and, therefore, this proposal meets the demands". The reduction in tolls will cost the State just over 100 million euros.
