“Pedrizas Highway was the first one in Spain to implement a general reduction in their tolls, a decision that even had to undergo the approval of the Ministry of Development. Between April 8th and May 30th, a driver who decided to travel from the capital to the Alto de Las Pedrizas taking the highway AP-46 had a reduced toll fee of 1.90 euros, representing a reduction of 40% compared to the official tariff. The special campaign, driven by the concessionaire, was applied from Monday to Thursday until May 30th, and was intended both to win customers and raise awareness of this route among people from Malaga. The result has proved them right, with an average of 2,000 vehicles more every day (an increase of 40%) to a mean of over 10,000 cars. In addition, surveys have shown high levels of satisfaction.”

The Tariff Optimization Study conducted by Diadro led to another monitoring project, in which fees and discounts applied so far were thoroughly analyzed and the tariff proposed to the concessionaire were validated. In addition, new combinations of toll discounts adapted to the annual period and vehicle type were proposed.

“However, the crisis has also affected this service and numbers are still below the initial forecast, which was about 15,000 vehicles/day, though, immediately afterwards, the heads of the organization assure that the data is more than reasonable, on the basis of the overall economic situation and the state in which similar roads in Spain are, on the verge of bankruptcy. The toll road currently takes up around 30% of the traffic of the old A-45 road. The first to realize the benefits have been truck drivers (to whom a 40% discount will also be applied).”

[See complete article in Diario Sur]

[See related article: Pioneer initiative in toll pricing strategy in Spain]