Oh this is rich: After gritting our teeth for years over reports of how outrageously expensive it is to build motorways in Hungary – allegedly more, kilometer for kilometer, in this pool-table-flat country the in the craggiest Swiss mountain pass – now we hear the nation is facing a crisis because its highways are too cheap. According to a recent piece on napi.hu, a spokesman for the National Motorway Manager (ÁAK) says that Hungary needs to introduce a new electronic system for collecting motorway fees, because otherwise the fees will remain low enough that truckers from around the region will swamp the country’s motorways, in the process “wearing them out for cheap.”
Apparently, the EU rules for the fee system Hungary currently has are different from the electronic one the ÁAK wants to implement. And because the Czech Republic is already using this system – and Slovakia is set to introduce it on January 1 – Hungary’s motorways will soon be even more of a “value” for regional truckers.
So it sounds like a no-brainer to switch to the new, updated system. Well, until we see the bill for the upgrade.
Well of course they are expensive to build, probably half of the material is disolved by the terrible Hungarian climate and just disspears without a trace. And then you have to factor in the 3:1 labour requirement, i.e. for every 1 man working there have to be 3 standing around watching (for safety reasons of course).
So what exactly are these truckers from around the region doing? Are they driving up and down all day wearing out the motorways just because they are bored?
More likely they are just passing through delivering all the nice goodies to neighbouring countries who’s population can afford them. Don’t worry, whatever fruit falls off the back, Tesco’s will sell.