Toll charges on most toll roads around the country will increase to their "maximum level" from 1 January 2023.
Inflation is cited as the reason for the price hikes but "the toll cannot be increased beyond this rate", RTÉ reports. There are 10 toll roads on the national road network and only the Dublin Port Tunnel route will not be affected by the price increases.
The revenue will be used for motorway and wider national road network maintenance and "toll collection and operations", among other purposes, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) said.
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M50 tolls
Car and bus drivers will face a toll increase by either 20 cent or 30 cent depending on the payment method. The unregistered cars toll will be rising by 30 cent, while tag users and those using video capture will see an increase of 20 cent.
Goods vehicles using the M50 will also be charged between 20 and 60 cent more per journey, depending on the size of the vehicle and the payment method. However, cars using the tag payment method for the last 10 years won’t see a price increase, TII said.
In a statement it said that M50 tolls pay for the maintenance and operation of the motorway. A deferment of the toll increase would have meant funding would need to be reallocated from other national road projects and a reduction in funding for asset management and renewal activities.
PPP tolls
The eight other toll roads operated by Public Private Partnership (PPP) want to increase their toll charge to the maximum level as part of their annual plans. These increases were reviewed and agreed with by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, which added these tolls have had minimal increases in the last decade apart from 2022.
M4 motorway car users will see a price jump by 20 cent, from €3.00 to €3.20, while a car using the other seven toll roads (M1, M3, M7/M8, M8, N6, N25WF, N18-LT) will be charged 10 cent more.
Dublin Port Tunnel
There will be no price increases for motorists using the Dublin Port Tunnel. HGVs currently travel toll-free through the port tunnel and TII said there is no current justification for raising the toll charges on non-HGVs, given the fact that the current arrangements are effective for managing demand.
The M50, the country's busiest motorway, brought in €140 million in tolls and fines last year, Paddy Comyn, Head of Communication at AA Ireland told RTÉ, adding that the M50 was the "victim of bad planning" with constant changes being made to improve it.
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