The Slovenian government has adopted a plan with which current system of motorway toll stations for personal vehicles will be replaced with a toll sticker as of 1 July.
Similarly to the system in Switzerland, there will be annual and half-yearly toll stickers for the use of motorways. The former will cost 55 euros and the latter EUR 35 for cars and half that for motorcycles.
The annual price is comparable to ten one-way toll fees for the 130 km drive from the capital, Ljubljana, to Slovenia's second largest city, Maribor.
The system for trucks will remain unchanged, meaning that truck drivers will have to continue stopping at toll stations until a satellite system of toll collection is introduced, expectedly in August 2009.
Transport Minister Radovan Zerjav said the prices were "extremely attractive". The goal, he explained, was to get as many Slovenians to use the motorway network instead of regional roads, thus increasing road safety in Slovenia.
According to government estimates, the prices would allow more toll to be collected than the EUR 250m currently collected each year.
"We're talking in the range of 20 million euros each year, which is important," said Zerjav.
The Slovenian motorway company, DARS, pays the state-guaranteed loans it has taken out to build the motorway network with what it collects in tolls.
The minister reiterated that this was a temporary model, which would be in place until a system of satellite tolling is introduced. There is no fixed timetable for the introduction of the satellite system for personal vehicles.
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