New motorways are increasing toll collection in the Czech Republic: České Budějovice motorway bypass withdrew 41 thousand lorries from the city centre in February

Prague, 25 March 2025 – Carriers paid CZK 1.508 billion in tolls in February, up 17% year-on-year. Toll revenues from the beginning of the year until the end of February reached CZK 2.99 billion. More than 89% of the total toll revenues since the beginning of the year were paid by carriers for driving on motorways, with just under 11% coming from tolls collected for driving on the specified sections of 1^st category roads.

Approximately 15% of the overall 17% growth is due to changes in toll rates and the introduction of the new CO₂ emissions charge in March last year. In March, the year-on-year shifts in toll collection should return to single-digit levels. The fact that trucks use motorway routes more frequently, including newly opened ones, has also contributed to the growth. CzechToll processed 92 million toll transactions in February, which represents a growth of 2%. 

“The growth in toll revenues is also supported by the newly opened sections of the D3, D4 and D55 motorways at the end of last year. “Vehicles with a maximum weight of over 3.5 tons pay higher fees for driving on motorways than for driving on the original sections of 1^st category roads,” explained Petr Chvátal, CzechToll CEO. However, according to him, it is particularly important to divert freight traffic to motorway routes, where the operation of heavy vehicles is safer, has less impact on the environment and is ultimately more efficient for carriers.

Probably the most visible impact was the withdrawal of freight traffic from the centre of České Budějovice, where the opening of new sections of the D3 motorway in December resulted in a significant traffic reduction on city crossings. “A total of 41,124 lorries passed through the toll section between Úsilný and Pohůrka in both directions in February,” added Petr Chvátal. Before the motorway bypass commissioning, all of these vehicles were directed to the České Budějovice bypasses. Approximately 17 thousand lorries passed in each direction through the newly commissioned section of the D4 motorway in February as well.

At the end of February, 887 thousand vehicles weighing over 3.5 tons were registered in the electronic toll system, of which over 705 thousand vehicles had foreign license plate numbers. For the registered vehicles, CzechToll issued 658 thousand on-board units to carriers.