About three weeks ago, and it probably started as a hot topic in Tyrol, Austria (the state or western region of Austria) maybe back in March and April of this year as a regional topic.....the Austrians began to set up a 'zone' and forbid tourist traffic from Bavaria from entering Austria (or at least the Tyrol region).
You are talking about a 40 mile by 70 mile area.
So here's the deal. You can through the region on the Austrian autobahn (thus paying their little daily, weekly or yearly fee). You can avoid the fee by driving country roads....at least till this discussion came up.
Right now, if the cops catch you (the non-Austrian) on the country roads in Tyrol....they will ask if you have hotel reservations in the area. If you don't....you are in serious local trouble....meaning a fine.
The anger by Germans? Well, a fair number of Germans will go down to Tyrol on weekends, and avoid paying the autobahn-use fee deal. They do this by using secondary roads. By doing this....they've increased traffic through the mountain passes and smaller towns....inciting those local Tyrol folks because of heavier traffic flow. The Austrians don't think it's right to skip the fee.
The Bavarians? They'd like to react, and use the same tactic on Austrian-platted vehicles....preventing them from using secondary roads in Bavaria.
As you can imagine, this 'game' has turned into a public discussion about autobahn fees and the lack of taxation upon foreigners using German autobahns.
The comical side of this? It applies to not only cars and delivery vehicles, but motorcyclists, and bicyclists. If a guy on a bike uses the trails....he's still OK. If he transits via public streets? He could be caught by the Austrian cops.
How long will this go? Till the end of summer (early September).
It came up in the news yesterday that a summit is being called by the German Transport Minister, the Bavarian Transport Minister, and the Tyrol authority.
In some ways, if this escalates....it'll be a negative upon business operations, and tourism in both Bavaria and Tyrol. A page one type story? No.....but it's almost comical how this started, and if they don't settle this now....it'll repeat in 2020 and just get worse.
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