Motorway tolls are going to be increased by an average of 1.85% as from January 1st 2014.
The price rise is due to an overall fall in traffic using the motorways and to the bankruptcy situation faced by some motorway operating companies.
The price rise is lower than the 2.4% increase seen at the beginning of 2013 and the 3.2% seen at the beginning of the previous year when the CPI dropped as a result of cheaper fuel prices.
There are a total of 3,404 kilometres of toll motorways in Spain, 83.4% of which are operated by central government, 6.4% by the Catalan regional government; 5% by the Basque Country; 3.3% by Navarra; 1.8% by Galicia and 0.10% by the Balearic Islands.
Traffic fell by a average of some 16,300 vehicles per day in the first ten months of the year, corresponding to an cumulative fall of 33.4% from the maximum figures registered in 2006, before the recession.
By October this year, the average number of vehicles using the motorways had fallen by 5.4% compared with the same period in 2013.
Several motorway-operating companies have declared bankruptcy this year, leaving the Ministry of Public Works to negotiate with construction companies, concessionaries and banks.
