The provincial toll station is gone, and the high-speed toll has really increased？ Expert analysis
From 0: 00 on January 1, 2020, all 487 provincial toll stations of expressways in 29 networked provinces (Hainan and Xizang have no toll roads) will be cancelled. After more than a week of operation, some car owners have reported that the expressway toll has increased.
After canceling the provincial toll station, has the expressway toll really increased?
"First of all, canceling the toll station at the provincial boundary of the expressway is not to cancel the charge, but to change the charging method through technical means, with the aim of realizing the quick payment of vehicles without stopping." Li Aimin, vice president of the Highway Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, said that due to the more accurate charging method, the vehicle charging level will change in actual operation.
Before the withdrawal of the station, the charging rule of expressway in China was to charge according to the shortest path. Li Aimin introduced that China’s expressways are charged on a provincial basis. Before the provincial toll station of expressway was abolished, the closed toll system was mainly adopted. Passenger cars were charged according to their models and trucks by weight, according to their routes and mileage, and the accounts were split by sections. That is to say, vehicles entering the expressway get a pass card with their vehicle and station information recorded on it at the entrance or write the entrance information into the electronic toll collection (ETC) system. After returning the pass card or reading and writing ETC information at the exit, they will pay the toll according to their mileage and vehicle type (or weight).
It is understood that except for Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sichuan and other provinces, highways in most provinces adopt the shortest path toll collection.
For example, the owner wants to go from Anyang, Henan to Nanyang, and there are many expressways to reach. The mileage of these expressways is long or short. When charging, the mileage of the shortest route is multiplied by the rate standard. The problem with this charging system is that as the scale of the road network becomes larger, it is difficult to embody the fair principle of "users pay as much as they walk".
"After the station is withdrawn, accurate charges will be implemented." Li Aimin introduced that after the provincial toll station of the expressway was cancelled, along the expressway, every road section (with exit or entrance) where the traffic volume changed, new portal frames were built, and each portal frame was responsible for collecting the fees of the road section where it was located, thus realizing accurate charging by sections. Therefore, the toll of vehicles that have walked a long section between two points will increase compared with the toll charged according to the shortest path before.
In addition, the rules for rounding the toll amount have been adjusted from the original rounding to "0 yuan and 5 yuan" to "points" for ETC vehicles and "yuan" for manual toll vehicles, and the corresponding toll amount will also rise and fall.
For example, from the original place A to the second place, according to the toll rate multiplied by the mileage, it is concluded that the toll amount is 8 yuan, and the actual toll will be rounded up to 10 yuan. If the toll amount is 12 yuan, it will also be rounded up to 10 yuan. After the station is withdrawn, the fee will be charged as much as possible.
"There are also bus charging standards that have been significantly reduced." Li Aimin said that according to the newly revised Classification of Toll Vehicles on Toll Roads in 2019, small passenger cars with eight or nine passengers were reduced from the original second-class passenger cars to the first-class passenger cars. From January 1, 2020, 8-seat and 9-seat minibuses will be charged the tolls according to the first-class passenger cars, and the charging standards will be reduced by one-third to one-half on average, and the toll burden of these vehicles will be significantly reduced. In addition, some provinces have imposed downshifting charges on passenger cars.
Regarding the issue of truck tolls, in accordance with the general requirements of the State Council on canceling the provincial toll stations of expressways and adjusting the charging methods of truck tolls, the Ministry of Transport, together with relevant departments, issued a notice to deploy all localities to organize the adjustment and calculation of truck toll charging standards in strict accordance with relevant laws, regulations and provisions, demanding that "under the same traffic flow, the overall burden of truck tolls should not be increased, and the toll payable for each type of toll vehicle in the standard loading state should not be greater than the toll payable for the original weight charging", so as to adjust the charging methods of trucks.
The Ministry of Transport organized forces to conduct in-depth research and analysis on the rate adjustment schemes in various places, and realized that the freight car charging standard was at least 10% lower than the full load. Ensure that the overall burden of truck tolls does not increase from the microscopic and operational levels. (Reporter Qi Hui)