Part of the agreement for the new German government to exist (between the CDU/CSU and SPD)....is this autobahn tax episode. A year ago.....the idea was deemed as non-existent and most everyone in Germany would have put a bet down that nothing would come of the idea. Today, it's going to occur.....unless something comes along to stop it.
The deal is simple.....you are a resident of some neighboring country and need across Germany to reach your destination (business trip or vacation) in a private car. To use German autobahns.....you will buy a pass at some gas station upon entry into Germany. The yearly cost? Around one hundred Euro. The cost for a two-week card? It hasn't been discussed yet but I'd guess at fifteen Euro.
The transportation ministry is moving on the project but admits it just won't happen in 2014. The card needs to be developed, and some type of box at gas stations would likely need to be developed to sell the card. Call the next six months simply the planning stage.
Over the past couple of days....the Austrians got into the debate. Basically, they are feeling hostile over this new tax that affects them. Course, in public, they can't admit that they already do the same thing with road tax for foreigners as they enter Austria. The talk indicates that they will go to the EU court of justice, and seek to stop the matter.
How many Austrians would this affect? They have a population of 8.4 million residents. You can figure that half are kids or older folks....that won't come into the equation. Austria is a small country and a lot of the smaller business operations rely upon travel and sales in Bavaria. I'd figure around 1.5 million Austrians will have to pay the Maut....to enter Germany.
An American could view this as simply a necessity. We've been on toll roads in various states, and know the procedures for avoiding them if necessary. Austrians might think in this way for a short while....avoiding German autobahns. Maybe a few folks might make this work. But in the end.....the majority are going to pay.
Affecting the Dutch? Yes, a large segment of the Dutch population take vacations in Germany, and down into Switzerland, Austria and Italy. I'd take a guess that roughly two million Dutch of the sixteen million population.....will end up with Maut.
The French? For the majority of a year, I rarely ever see French cars on the autobahn. The concentration would be in June or July, in the vacation period. There might be a million French who buy the Maut cards.
I should state this obvious fact.....Maut version 1.0 was a complete disaster in the late 1990s. The Germans in charge of that effort....screwed up to the ninth degree. Screwups pushed that program to almost three years beyond the actual delivery date. Should we expect problems in this effort? Yeah, probably. I could see the EU court folks getting involved and forcing some changes.....which would occur after the Germans had already invested a hundred million Euro into the effort.
So I will predict....2015 will come and no Maut will be in effect. Maybe by the end of 2016....but it might actually be 2017 before we see this new Maut in effect. Just my humble opinion after watching history unfold.
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