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DRIVING

EXPLAINED: Norway’s AutoPASS system for toll roads

Tolls stations are pretty much everywhere in Norway. Here's what you need to know about the automated AutoPass system for toll roads. 

Pictured is a road in Norway.
This is what you need to know about the AutoPASS system. Pictured is a road in Norway. Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash

There are more than 300 toll stations in Norway where charges are levied for travelling on certain roads and bridges and through tunnels. 

Road tolling in Norway dates back to the late eighties and early nineties when Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim introduced toll rings to finance infrastructure and decrease congestion. 

Fast forward to today, and you’ll need to pay a toll to travel into, or to and from, most of Norway’s cities and large towns. Today there are toll rings surrounding Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Askøy, Bodø, Harstad, Grenland, Førde and Trondheim. 

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen) has a map to help you plan your route and figure out how many toll roads you’ll use. 

Regardless of where the driver or car is from, you’ll be required to pay tolls when travelling through Norway. 

How does the AutoPASS system work?

Luckily, you won’t constantly be pulling into toll booths to pay charges, as all levies are charged automatically via the AutoPASS system, which the Norwegian Public Roads Administration operates. 

All toll operators in the country are a part of the AutoPASS system.

To pay with AutoPASS, you will need to order a payment tag from several providers. You can click for a list of providers here

Typically, you’ll need to pay a 200 kroner deposit to receive a toll tag. Once your contract with a provider ends, you’ll get the money back. 

Paying with AutoPass

Once you’ve selected a provider and registered, you will be sent a tag, which you attach to the inside of your windscreen, near the top. 

When you’ve got a toll tag, you will receive an invoice automatically when you pass through a toll station. 

You will receive a 20 percent discount on tolls compared to not having a tag installed, and depending on your agreement, you may receive further discounts and benefits. Typically though, greener cars will be cheaper. 

Every time you pass through a toll, you’ll receive an invoice. However, most providers put all the tolls incurred on a trip, during a day, or another time period into one invoice, rather than you having to pay many individual bills. 

What happens if I don’t have a tag? 

If you don’t have a tag, tolls will still be automatic. However, toll stations will instead read your number plate rather than the tag. As a result, you will be sent the invoice to your address instead. One big downside is that you will not receive the 20 percent discount. If you live in Norway, this cost can add significantly over the course of a year if you drive regularly. 

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POLITICS

Norway’s government to merge state-owned train firms Vy and Flytoget

Norway’s two state-owned train companies, Vy and Flytoget, will be merged and travellers will eventually be able to use the same ticket for services offered by both rail firms, the government announced Wednesday.

Norway's government to merge state-owned train firms Vy and Flytoget

The companies may be merged from as early as the beginning of next year, Nygård told public broadcaster NRK, and the process could take up to three years.

As part of the merger, travellers will be able to use the same ticket on both services.

“Our aim is to give everyone who travels by train in Eastern Norway a better offer, at the same time that the state gets more for every kroner we spend on railways,” he told NRK.

“Making Flytoget a subsidiary of Vy will contribute to this. Vy will bring the very best from Flytoget. Now we are getting a powerful state passenger train company of which I have great expectations,” he added.

Under current rules, travellers with Vy cannot use their tickets on Flytoget services and vice versa, even though both companies stop at several of the same stops and use the same lines.

Tickets for Vy’s services from Oslo to the airport are currently around 100 kroner cheaper than Flytoget’s and can be bought via the Ruter transport app, but these services also take around 10 minutes longer to get to the airport from the city centre.

READ ALSO: What is the best way to get to Oslo from the airport?

The government has seen merging the two companies as a solution to increase capacity for trains in and out of Oslo without building new infrastructure.

Union officials working in Flytoget have previously criticised the prospect of a merger.

Vegard Einan, regional director of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) in Viken County, told the newspaper VG that the merger could make services worse overall.

“If Flytoget is swallowed up by Vy, I fear that the passengers and business will be the ones who lose. Oslo and Eastern Norway as a travel destination will also come out of it unluckily if air passengers experience being delayed…, and not making it to their flights,” he said.

Opposition parties, such as the Conservative Party and the Progress Party, have also criticised the merger.

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