The road toll system

The road toll system in Norway

AutoPASS is the collective term for the technical solutions for toll collection in Norway. The system consists of several parts owned by various parties affiliated with the system. AutoPASS Samvirke is the term for the Norwegian toll domain.

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has been tasked by the Ministry of Transport and Communications to manage, supervise and handle disputes between the parties operating within the AutoPASS system. This also includes coordination tasks in AutoPASS Samvirke, operate and management of the core system.  

The toll chargers’ relation to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration is controlled through the toll agreement and through guidelines from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The toll service providers’ activities are subject to the Toll Service Provider Regulations. Toll service providers are required to conclude toll service provider agreements with all toll chargers in Norway in order to carry out toll service provision.

Main purpose

The main purpose of toll funding is to finance the planning and building of public roads in order to achieve faster construction of road infrastructure. In addition, road tolls may on certain conditions be used for investments in fixed facilities for public transport by rail, including trams and subways. As part of a plan for a comprehensive, coherent and coordinated transport system in an urban area, road tolls may be used to finance measures to operate public transport.

It has also been made possible in some urban areas to determine toll rates in such a way that they help achieve special needs in the area. This means that toll rates may be differentiated based on the vehicles' weight and/or environmental properties (emission standards), be determined in such a way that they affect people’s choice of transport mode, or vary with the time of day. More information can be found in the National Transport Plan (NTP) 2018-2029) and Section 27 of the Norwegian Road Act.

How the road toll system works:

1.Decision on toll funding

• First, a local policy decision must be made in the affected municipalities.
• The road toll issue, i.e. a draft proposition to the Storting (parliamentary bill), is prepared by the relevant road owner, i.e. the party in charge of the construction of the road in question. This may be the Norwegian Public Roads Administration or Nye Veier AS for national roads, and the relevant county administration for county roads.
• The proposition to the Storting is quality assured by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration before it is processed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications and submitted by the Government to the Storting.
• The Storting adopts the proposition.

2.Toll collection

• There are five toll chargers in Norway, all of which are owned by county administrations. 
• The toll chargers are responsible for financing road projects through road tolls, as well as for the establishment and operation of toll stations and for the collection of tolls from customers without a user agreement.
• The toll chargers discontinue toll collection when loans have been repaid or when the granted collection period expires.
• Toll service providers are commercial companies that collect payment on behalf of the toll chargers, from users of the AutoPASS system.
• The toll service providers are responsible for establishing user agreements, and for distributing toll payment tags to users and following up contract customers. 

3.The collections system:

• A toll transaction is generated when a vehicle passes a toll station and is registered as the vehicle’s toll payment tag is identified. Vehicles without a user agreement and toll payment tag will be identified through a photo of the vehicle’s registration number.
• Transactions are transferred to a toll service provider, who invoices users who have user agreements. The toll chargers invoice users who do not have such agreements.

Facts:

• All toll stations in Norway are automated.
• There are multiple categories of road toll projects:
  • On certain roads
  • Ferry replacement projects
  • As part of urban packages
• Toll rate signs are subject to restrictions in urban areas, but are used on roads outside and between cities.
• Toll collection may take place after, in parallel with or before the development of a toll road project (deferred collection, parallel collection and collection in advance).
• A toll tag issued by an approved toll service provider may be used in all automatic toll collection facilities and for payment of ferry tickets on some ferry connections in Norway. See AutoPASS ferje to find out which ferry connections this applies to.
  There are two types of AutoPASS payment on ferries, either by AutoPASS toll payment tag or by AutoPASS ferry card, depending on the ferry connection.

For more information about preliminary figures (only in Norwegian)