No difficulties have been reported in the National Toll System since January 1st, when Bulgaria joined the Eurozone. An organization was created at the border checkpoints, and the issuance of various types of transport documents — vignettes, route maps, in cash, has practically not been interrupted, said the director of the National Toll Administration, Prof. Oleg Asenov, in the program "This Saturday and Sunday" on bTV.
He announced that the first route map was purchased with a bank card at 12:55 p.m. on January 1st, entirely according to schedule. So I think we have created a good organization and people had no problems on New Year's Eve with road tolling, Asenov summarized.
He reminded that from February 3rd there will also be a one-day vignette at a price of 4.06 euros. In 2025, the revenue from vignette fees was 330 million leva, and 671 million leva were the revenues from fees for vehicles over 3.5 tons, said Prof. Asenov. Total revenues to date from the toll system are 1 billion and 32 million leva, to which we add revenues from various types of compensatory mechanisms — maximum toll and compensatory fees, and there are more revenues that we are currently summarizing, he added.
Prof. Asenov reminded that toll fees from March 1st are increasing with the introduction of the so-called additional component for carbon emissions. In monetary terms, this means that fees for road vehicles will be increased by an average of about 30 percent, and this increase is maximum for the most polluting emission vehicles, while, for example, Euro 6, as well as cars produced after July 1, 2019, will receive discounts on this fee — the so-called emission classes, explained Prof. Asenov. There will be no such fee for electric vehicles, and for others with low emissions, the fee is minimal and the increase is between 3 to 5 percent, he added. According to him, the idea of the reform, which is underway in the European Union since 2024, is the replacement of the vehicle fleet — first with new heavy-duty vehicles and second — achieving a trajectory of reducing carbon emissions by not less than 2.5 percent annually with the idea of reaching a reduction of more than 15 percent by 2030.
According to Prof. Asenov, the effect of average speed detection is that in the sections where there is such control, a significant reduction has been achieved in road vehicles that are moving at a higher than permitted speed. He announced that there is technical readiness for more than 2500 kilometers to measure the average speed with the current 1100 km and added that work is being done to add at least 50 more sections to the current 69 this year.
Prof. Asenov expressed hope that from spring the toll cameras will also control the movement of trucks in the overtaking lane.