Ingles

Announced on last nights TV New's & confirmed this morning in the Press as from Jan 1st 2012 + 4.36%

Benny Dorm

The country is in a mess, what do you expect them to do.

Ingles

It would have been "Politically" good sense to at least leave it a month or two before they whack the Fee's up.
But NO straight away , As to A22 is it going to be a Troll Road or not?
Nobody knows ,if they do bye bye Spanish Tourist , if they don't , I predict chaos in the North as the only way to get into Porto is by using Troll roads

Benny Dorm

You didn't answer my question, but It seems to me that the most belligerent opponents to tolls are expats, the majority of whom can well afford to pay

Ingles

Have a bit of common sense - Belligerent EXPAts - try talking to some Portugues & hear what they have to say ,or better still LOG On to some Portugues Anti Tolls web sites !

p.s This ExPat cannot afford these extra tolls

Ingles

This may help you understand that it's not just Expats fighting to stop the
"Free scut's" being turned into cash cow's.
Google translate is easy to use ,If you want more sites please just ask !

http://canilho.wordpress.com/2011/01...uts-a23a24a25/

Benny Dorm

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning how to dance in the rain

Ingles

1711JohnB

Is it really about paying tolls or the way they are going to implement it by the use of transponders. If they had toll booths and you could pay as you go (I went to Gib last week and payed Euro 6.10 each way with no issues).

I really think that the way these idiots are implementing it is the main issue.

gedscottish

Well considering public transport is shite at best, a huge percentage of the population live in rural areas and NEED to use a car so screwing the motorist should be the last option(I at least like to be kissed before I am screwed) Petrol/diesel prices are already shocking considering the average wage here.

Perhaps if business owners did not find it so easy to screw the tax system & the threat of being caught and jailed was actually a concern this would help tremendously?! The state/goverments are to blame here... spunking money on new roads/tunnels etc that are hardly used has to stop! Hike the tax up on ciggies & legalise cannabis taxing the hash heads would bring in a fortune too!
Portuguese wine is excellent yet when you go into a UK supermarket you will be lucky to find a bottle yet there is hundreds of that Spanish crap... obviously the export minister(or whoever) is not doing a good job?!

Has to be other ways of bringing in extra cash other than driving families to the brink of starvation by punsihing them for driving to work?!

Ingles

I will quote from another site
Tourism in Portugal is expected to grow 7.9% in 2012 to 23€Billion which will = 9.2% of Portugals GNP.
The Portugues Business Comunity in the Algarve are up in arms because of this "Toll" system & the complete & utter confusion it is causing.
They expect bookings to drop & unemployment to rise
Algarve has the highest unemployment rate in Portugal

The_Hog

Hear hear!
With toll booths you catch everyone AND create employment.
The transponder system is a non starter as far too many people a) do not understand it, and b) it does NOT work for foreign registered vehicles.
Yes, it is cheaper to run but the basic theory of economics tells you that if fewer people pay it then it won't be worth it in the end.....
Think about it. If it is such a good system the French would have done it years ago.

lagosguy

I think enforcement is going to be a real problem. If the Spanish visitors have any sense, they will ignore the tolls, safe in the knowledge that their government will refuse to assist the Portuguese authorities to recover tolls that it regards as illegal.

It remains to be seen how many other governments will take a similar line, particularly when they discover that the main reason for so many unpaid tolls will be the fact that the Portuguese government tired to introduce tolls on the cheap and didn't have systems in place that visitors in foreign-plated cars could easily comply with.

Once the Portuguese nationals realise that they are the only mugs paying the tolls, hopefully they will decide that a bit of mass civil disobedience is the best way to bring the system to a griding halt.

Ingles

Transponder system :- whathisname assured every body that they WILL work on foreign reg cars !
this poster stated it would work because it can read the Number Plates

The_Hog

These systems can read any number plate - but will they pursue every foreign registered vehicle? I seriously doubt it.
I know there have been posters who say that they can but I am yet to be convinced that there is any LAW enforcing cross border civil debt. Yes, there are companies that 'buy' other peoples debts but I cannot see how they can possibly be legally enforced. Who was the owner at the time? Who was the driver? These are very important legal questions that must be asked before any kind of judgement or enforcement can be made.
These are civil debts not criminal fines. There is a world of difference between the two.