A13 freeway: The toll gates have been gone since December 10!
Since Tuesday December 10, the A13-A14 motorway between Paris and Caen has been free of barriers. A new free-flow toll system has been introduced. This innovation, already present on the A13 and A79 freeways, will be deployed for the first time on such a long route. To mark the occasion, the French Ministry of Transport is launching a major communications campaign to educate both old and new users of the freeway.
As a reminder: What exactly is free-flow or barrier-free tolling?
Free-flow tolls do away with the need for motorists to stop and pay their toll. With free-flow tolling, motorists no longer stop at the toll plaza. Payment is made either before or after the entire journey, within 72 hours.
So how does it work?
Toll gates are replaced by gantries equipped with sensors and cameras. These sensors and cameras detect the car's license plate and, thanks to the various detections, reconstruct the driver's entire journey. All cars are thus identified, and the toll is calculated according to their category (cars, motorcycles, trucks) and the route taken. To pay, either the gantry detects your electronic toll tag, and you'll be charged automatically on the 15th of the following month. Or you can pay the toll on the freeway company's website or at a tobacconist's.
(source : https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/peage-flux-libre)
Why the free-flow system on the A13 freeway?
This innovation makes journeys smoother, calmer and more environmentally friendly. When the A79 was assessed, it was estimated that nearly 12,000 tonnes of CO2 would be saved in 18 months. This saving was due in particular to heavy goods vehicles. Indeed, when a truck stops at a traditional barrier, it consumes an average of one liter of fuel when restarting from the toll plaza, equivalent to 3.1 kg of CO2 emissions.
With the conversion of the 210-kilometer Paris-Normandie motorway (A14 - A13) to free-flow tolling, this is the first time in France that a motorway already in service has been transformed into a free-flow freeway.
The benefits of free-flow tolling on the Paris Normandie route in figures:
According to the French Transport Regulation Authority (Autorité de régulation des transports), an annual saving of almost 10 million liters of fuel for the A13 and A14 freeways as a whole (see notice of July 29, 2021)The freeing up of the physical toll gates and associated platforms represents almost 28 hectares of desartificialised land.
We're below the 1% mark for unpaid tolls
What are the risks of not paying the free-flow toll?
If you do not pay your toll within 72 hours, a payment notice will be sent to the address shown on your vehicle registration certificate.
This notice will include the amount of the unpaid toll, plus a flat-rate penalty of €90, reduced to €10 if payment is made within 15 days. If you fail to pay within two months of receiving this notice, you will be issued with an increased fixed fine of €375.
(source : https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/peage-flux-libre)
Since June 19, the A14 freeway has been free-flowing. What are the results for free-flow freeways?
“More than 1.5 million people have already used the A14, sometimes on a daily basis,” says Arnaud Quémard, SANEF's managing director, on franceinfo.
said SANEF General Manager Arnaud Quémard on franceinfo.
6 months on, that's the verdict on the A14. The results are encouraging, given the scale of the challenge on a freeway already criticized for its high tolls. SANEF has not released any further figures for the A14 freeway, but if the rollout is also carried out on the A13, it's a safe bet that the results will be positive.
For the A79 freeway, 2 years after commissioning, the results are very positive, with concession holder ALIAE reporting a 5% increase in traffic over the first 9 months of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. The 15-million-trip mark was reached this year, and it seems that regular users have taken to the new system. The concession company's efforts in terms of education and signage have helped motorists adapt to this innovation.
