Aude: why the route between Toulouse and Narbonne is subject to an increase in tolls of almost 7%
The new toll rates come into force this Wednesday, February 1, with an average increase on all networks announced at 4.75% by Vinci Autoroutes. On the portion between Narbonne and Toulouse, where 24 km are still affected by the widening sites to 2×3 lanes until the summer, the price, fixed at 14.3 €, increased by one euro this Wednesday.
Why a new increase?
The Audois followers of the A61 and the A9 will obviously not be the only motorists to suffer an increase in tolls this Wednesday 1uh February. At the head of five companies (Autoroutes du Sud de la France, Cofiroute, Escota, Arcour and Arcos), Vinci Autoroutes reigns over a motorway network 4,444 km long, including 2,737 km for ASF alone, at the head of an operating concession that runs until 2036. With an immutable calendar: each year, the 1uh February, the toll rates are reassessed – upwards, need I specify -, with an evolution that takes into account at least 70% of inflation (excluding tobacco) over 12 months until October, and possible increases depending on the work planned. A clever mix which had led, on December 2, 2022, to the announcement by the Ministry of Transport of a planned increase of 4.75%: an average, for Vinci Autoroutes, with an oscillating range, according to the dealers, of + 4.53% at Cofiroute to +5.09% for ASF.
A heavy toll on Narbonne/Toulouse
+ 5.09% on the ASF network, therefore. But this is still an average. Since this Wednesday, those who take the A 61 between Narbonne (South toll) and Toulouse (South/West toll) can testify to this. Going from €14.3 to €15.3, the cost of these 143 km has simply jumped by 6.99%. Another increase, which is part of a strong trend: +4.68% between 2018 and 2019 (from €12.8 to €13.4); +2.98% between 2019 and 2020 (from €13.4 to €13.8); +2.81%, between 2021 and 2022 (from €13.9 to €14.3). Only the evolution between 2020 and 2021, in a context marked by the Covid, had been reduced, to +0.72% (from €13.8 to €13.9). Since 2018, the rating has soared by almost 20% for motorists. A severe addition, to be placed in a national context, here again: in 2015, the Valls government had activated a freeze on toll rates, in reaction to a report by the Competition Authority which condemned the situation of “annuity” for motorway companies since the privatization of the network in 2006. Except that the Regulatory Authority for Rail and Road Activities then indicated that users had to pay €500 million in additional tolls to compensate for the cost of the delay in the price increase; an obligation accompanied by a smooth catch-up of the freeze, planned for the period from 2019 to 2023.
Work, but no discount
Chance of the calendar, the increase in tolls comes as the construction site of the widening to 2×3 lanes of the A61 between the Villefranche-de-Lauragais area and the A 61/A66 junction has just resumed. In the spring of 2022, a financial disagreement between Vinci and Spie Batignolles led the latter to leave the site: it took 10 months for the ASF to relaunch the market, and award it in December 2022 to a consortium led by Eurovia, a Subsidiary of Vinci. The commissioning target is now set for the summer of 2023 for the 14 km of the Lauragaise portion, as well as for the 10 km between the Bizanet area and the A 61/A 9 junction in Narbonne. So many months during which the speed remains limited to 110 km / h, even 90, on 24 of the 117.8 km which separate the tolls of Villefranche from Narbonne Sud. A portion very far from being spared by price increases, again: in 2018, it would cost €10; last year, the price went from 10.7 to 11.1 €. This year, it will cost €11.9, i.e. +7.2%…
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Rise in tariffs on February 1: tolls, a real war chest for the motorways of the South of France
How to save €2.7 on €15.3?
For those who are pressed for time, the solution will probably seem exaggerated. But the report, renewed each year, remains valid in 2023. To limit the costs, only one solution: to divide its journey, by complying with systematic exits before resuming the motorway. On the scale of the Narbonne Sud/Toulouse Sud-Ouest journey, the exercise speaks for itself: done in one go, the 143 km therefore cost €15.3. But on leaving then taking the motorway to Lézignan (€1.8 for the 23 km from Narbonne), Carcassonne East (€2.6 for 28 km), Carcassonne West (€0.7 for 10 km), Bram (1 €7 for 17 km), Castelnaudary (€1.3 for 14 km), Villefranche-de-Lauragais (€2.2 for 24 km), Montgiscard (€1 for 13 km) before the Toulouse rally (1.3 € for 13 km), the bill drops to €12.6: 17.6% less than for a single trip.
“Measures in favor of purchasing power” of Vinci: what impact?
Two days before the entry into force of the increases, Vinci Autoroutes did not fail to underline its commitments to “limit the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of users”. In addition to reductions of 40% on a regular trip (for Ulys subscribers) and 10% on electric recharges, the concessionaire announced the blocking, “across its entire network, tariffs for 70% of journeys of less than 30 km”. Asked to know the translation of this last measure in Aude, Vinci’s communications services were delivered “a non-exhaustive list of prices that do not increase on the 1uh February 2023″. Among them, described as follows: Bram/Castelnaudary (16 km), still at €1.3; Bram/Nailloux (48 km, €4.5); East Carcassonne/Bram (31 km and €2.5); East Carcassonne/West Carcassonne (13 km, €0.7); West Carcassonne/Bram (21 km, €1.7); Lézignan/Carcassonne West (39 km, €3.5); East Narbonne/Leucate (31 km, €2.7); East Narbonne/Lézignan (26 km, €2.5); Narbonne East/Narbonne South (4 km, €0.4); East Narbonne/Sigean (20 km, €1.9); Narbonne Sud/Lézignan (22 km, €1.8); Narbonne Sud/Sigean (16 km, €1.5).