The Transport Regulatory Authority (ART), one of whose missions is to guarantee price control for users, presented its 2022 activity report on Tuesday and in particular its actions to contain the rise in toll rates.
Although the profits generated by the motorway management companies, considered too high in relation to the initial concession contracts, are the subject of sustained attention by the Government, ART is pleased to have contributed to containing the increase in tolls in 2022.
“We have received four drafts of amendments to the highway concession contracts,” said Patrick Vieu, vice president of ART, during a press conference at the premises of the independent authority, which has been waiting for the appointment of a president for almost a year.
An average increase of 4.75% in 2023
These projects, on the A13 between Caen and Paris, or on the APRR network in the East, were aimed at modifying the contracts linking certain motorway companies to the State due to the construction of new equipment (motorway interchange, parking spaces, heavy parking… ) leading these companies to increase their toll rates.
The requested price increases were 668 million euros during the duration of the concessions, indicated the ART, which commissioned an assessment to find out if “they were correctly proportional to the cost of the works”, according to Patrick Vieu.
Finally, she estimated that these compensations “should be reduced by 142 million euros” because, according to her, the costs of the works were overestimated and the hypothesis of an increase in traffic was underestimated.
“The licensor followed us up to 28 million euros”, stressed Patrick Vieu, or “5% avoided rate increase for users”.
Tolls have increased by an average of 4.75% in 2023, a higher increase than in previous years due to inflation.
Tax under study
The Government plans to tax motorway companies whose profitability it considers too high, to finance the ecological transition and rail transport. The Council of State has validated the idea, as long as it also applies to other state concessions, such as airports, for example.
ART also drew up a first balance on the opening to competition in the railway sector, the deployment of which should be encouraged.
With the arrival of Trenitalia in December 2021, “we are seeing a reduction of more than 10% in fares per passenger” in 2022 on the Paris-Lyon route, Patrick Vieu said.
In the Hauts-de-France regions, such as Pays-de-la-Loire, the lines reassigned to SNCF Voyageurs will experience a significant reduction in the cost of the service, between 20 and 25%.
Source: BFM TV
