French motorway firms offer summer péage ‘discounts’
Motorway operators in France will be offering discounts at the péage toll booths to certain motorists in July and August, following pressure from the government.
The likes of Sanef, APRR-AREA, and Vinci Autoroutes have been making sizeable profits - toll fees have risen an average of 4.5 percent in 2023, while a finance ministry report has revealed profits are rising rapidly.
And they are, belatedly, promising toll reductions of between 20 percent and 50 percent this summer for a select band of users who subscribe to their electronic payment systems, or who pay using vacation vouchers.
Sanef announced on Monday it would offer a 50 percent discount to customers subscribed to the Bip & Go "Liber-t Vacances" electronic toll collection.
This would mean a reduction on, for example, the standard €59.10 toll for a car travelling on the A10 between Paris and Bordeaux this summer.
The APRR-AREA motorways (Eiffage) had already announced a matching contribution of 25 percent on the amount of holiday vouchers credited to the electronic toll badges of their subscribers.
Travelling along APRR-AREA’s A6 between Lyon and Paris costs - without discounts - around €39.20.
Vinci Autoroutes, which manages a vast network in the west and south of the country, for its part indicated that it was going to top up the sums paid in holiday vouchers by 20 percent to supply the electronic toll accounts of its subscribers between 15 June and July 31, from €20 to €250.
Without discounts, a car journey from Toulouse to Nice, using Vinci’s motorway network, would cost €57.10.
Transport minister Clément Beaune called on motorway companies last week to grant “a discount” to motorists during the summer holidays, at least equivalent to the 10 percent that was offered last year to those who paid in holiday vouchers.
But a polite public request is not the real reason for this sudden repeated largesse, of sorts. Motorway companies are concerned that the French government will demand some of their profits in taxes.
Earlier this year, Beaune told Le Monde that motorway concessions would be required to "contribute financially to the ecological transition", and announced that, “public works will begin with parliamentarians, economists, non-governmental organisations, the motorway companies themselves, on the 'future of concessions'.”
The government has suggested it could use additional funds accrued in taxes from motorway operators to cover some of the country’s ‘ecological transition’ pledge - notably the €100 billion it intends to use to improve rail transport by 2040.
There is also an argument that France could consider renationalising the motorway network, as it has electricity giant EDF - though the estimated €40 billion to €50 billion cost, by the government’s own calculations, would be off-putting.
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The likes of Sanef, APRR-AREA, and Vinci Autoroutes have been making sizeable profits - toll fees have risen an average of 4.5 percent in 2023, while a finance ministry report has revealed profits are rising rapidly.
And they are, belatedly, promising toll reductions of between 20 percent and 50 percent this summer for a select band of users who subscribe to their electronic payment systems, or who pay using vacation vouchers.
Sanef announced on Monday it would offer a 50 percent discount to customers subscribed to the Bip & Go "Liber-t Vacances" electronic toll collection.
This would mean a reduction on, for example, the standard €59.10 toll for a car travelling on the A10 between Paris and Bordeaux this summer.
The APRR-AREA motorways (Eiffage) had already announced a matching contribution of 25 percent on the amount of holiday vouchers credited to the electronic toll badges of their subscribers.
Travelling along APRR-AREA’s A6 between Lyon and Paris costs - without discounts - around €39.20.
Vinci Autoroutes, which manages a vast network in the west and south of the country, for its part indicated that it was going to top up the sums paid in holiday vouchers by 20 percent to supply the electronic toll accounts of its subscribers between 15 June and July 31, from €20 to €250.
Without discounts, a car journey from Toulouse to Nice, using Vinci’s motorway network, would cost €57.10.
Transport minister Clément Beaune called on motorway companies last week to grant “a discount” to motorists during the summer holidays, at least equivalent to the 10 percent that was offered last year to those who paid in holiday vouchers.
But a polite public request is not the real reason for this sudden repeated largesse, of sorts. Motorway companies are concerned that the French government will demand some of their profits in taxes.
Earlier this year, Beaune told Le Monde that motorway concessions would be required to "contribute financially to the ecological transition", and announced that, “public works will begin with parliamentarians, economists, non-governmental organisations, the motorway companies themselves, on the 'future of concessions'.”
The government has suggested it could use additional funds accrued in taxes from motorway operators to cover some of the country’s ‘ecological transition’ pledge - notably the €100 billion it intends to use to improve rail transport by 2040.
There is also an argument that France could consider renationalising the motorway network, as it has electricity giant EDF - though the estimated €40 billion to €50 billion cost, by the government’s own calculations, would be off-putting.
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