– Our family has had increased expenses, with increased interest and higher costs. It would be a setback, if they also take away the electric car discount, for us who think of driving from an environmental perspective, says Julie Westerlund Skogstad. When the politicians in Tromsø had to find out what revenue a toll could bring, they forgot to look at experience from other cities. The introduction of tolls has led to an explosion in electric car sales in cities across the country. In several of the cities, income from tolls is therefore failing, due to the environmental discount for electric car passes. From the time the introduction of the toll ring was adopted by Tromsø politicians in 2017, to the first six months of operating tolls, the income calculations from motorists have decreased by 25 per cent, news’s calculations show. The Storting has now opened the door to giving a lower discount for electric cars: – The possibility exists. It is something we will have to consider in the future. It is still too early to say, says the leader of the Municipality and Urban Development Committee in Tromsø, Tone Marie Myklevoll (Ap) Want to reduce expenses Julie Westerlund Skogstad has two children and a husband. The family made the decision to invest in an electric car two years ago, when the establishment of the toll ring in Tromsø was ready. – We bought an electric car because there was going to be a toll tax, and we wanted to reduce the expenses on the crossings, she says. She lives on Kvaløya outside Tromsø. There is great disappointment that the toll ring will still not contribute to financing a new connection between Tromsø and the island. In a new survey carried out by InFact for the newspaper iTromsø, 6 out of 10 residents on Kvaløya or the mainland answer that they are negative about tolls. This is “Think Tromsø”: Photo: Ingeborg Grindheim Slinde / news Think Tromsø is the steering group put together by Tromsø municipality, Troms and Finnmark county council, the National Road Administration, and is responsible for operating the toll ring, together with the publicly owned Bompengeselskap Nord (BPSNord) . In addition, Think Tromsø is responsible for following up the projects that are financed through tolls and public funds. City package Think Tromsø is an urban development project where the goal is to facilitate walking, cycling and public transport so that we achieve the main goal of zero growth in passenger car transport. Think Tromsø is run by secretariat manager Veronica Wiik. Tolls of at least NOK 60 million Think Tromsø is the steering group responsible for monitoring the introduction of the toll ring, and the projects that Bypakke Tromsø will finance. After the first six months of operation of the toll ring, Think Tromsø’s own figures show: despite higher traffic through the toll ring than expected, revenues were lower than expected. In 2017, the steering group believed that the income from motorists in the city should be as high as NOK 319 million measured in 2023 kroner. In December 2022, the steering group budgeted an income of 299 million in the first year. The latest action plan, to be adopted by the newly elected politicians after the autumn municipal elections, shows that the revenue estimate for the first year of operation has fallen to NOK 234 million. As a result, the income estimate from motorists in Tromsø has failed, last year alone, by more than NOK 60 million. Since 2017, the income estimate has fallen by NOK 85 million. The finance manager at Think Tromsø, Merethe Drivdal, thinks it is positive that the toll ring has an effect on Tromsø traffic. Photo: Marius Fiskum / Think Tromsø – The development is very positive Towards 2037, tolls will bring in NOK 3.6 billion, out of a total of NOK 6.5 billion that make up the City Package for Tromsø. Missing the estimate by 20 percent, the city package lacks NOK 750 million to implement the projects in the original plans. Finance manager at Tenk Tromsø, Merethe Drivdal, recalls that the overall goal is to facilitate zero growth in car traffic: – Then we think the development is very positive. Then we also see that we do not have as much income as was originally assumed. Bjørn-Gunnar Jørgensen, mayoral candidate for the Frp in Tromsø, is running for election on the basis that the toll stations should be demolished, “and sold to the highest bidder to a red-green municipality.” Photo: Aurora Berg / news Frp: – Not surprised The reason for the revenue shortfall is primarily the Tromsøværingen’s new craze for electric cars. In 2017, Tromsø’s politicians decided that electric cars would make up 6 percent of the passes in the toll ring throughout the entire period. Thus the politicians believed, and have stuck to the side, that electric car sales in Tromsø would hardly increase until 2026. – We now see that the increase in the share of electric cars in traffic in Tromsø is much higher than what the study suggested, says Drivdal. Conclusion after half a year of tolls in Tromsø: 30 per cent more travelers by bus, and far more electric car passes than previously estimated. Photo: Jørn Inge Johansen / news Instead of 6 per cent passing by electric cars in the first half of 2023, the figure has risen to over 19 per cent on average, and over 22 per cent of passing during rush hour, the steering group’s own figures in June show. Top candidate for the Frp in Tromsø, Bjørn Gunnar Jørgensen, believes that Think Tromsø should anticipate the development. – We are not surprised. We have seen this in all large Norwegian cities that have introduced tolls: that revenues fail completely, upcoming projects are affected, and rates increase. FRP has gone to the polls to close down the toll ring in Tromsø. They have also given a voter guarantee not to support a mayor who does not support the closure. Toll rings increase electric car sales Photo: Jørn Inge Johansen / news An overview news has made shows that in cities with new toll rings, the share of electric cars has skyrocketed after the introduction. In Bergen, tolls were introduced in June 2019. In 2018, the proportion of electric cars in the car park in the country’s second largest city was 15.2 per cent. By the end of the year 2022, the proportion had risen to over 35 per cent. A calculation from 2022 shows that Bypakke Bergen will miss out on NOK 8 billion until 2037 if toll rates are not increased. In the Stavanger area, 38 new toll stations were opened in October 2018. In the same year, 10 percent of the cars in the city were fully electric. By New Year, electrification of the car fleet in Stavanger municipality had reached 26.5 per cent. In 2021, actual toll revenues in Bypakke Nord-Jæren were almost NOK 100 million lower than the revenue forecast from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration pointed towards. In the same year, the steering group for the toll ring raised the rates for both ordinary cars and electric cars. – The calculation was made a long time ago Not only the development in the electrification of the car fleet in other cities, which had already introduced toll rings, could have given the Tromsø politicians a clue as to what was about to happen: In 2019, 28.8 percent of all new – and used cars in Tromsø, sold through dealers, electric cars. By the end of 2022, the share had risen to a whopping 82.3 per cent. Tone Marie Myklevoll, deputy leader of Tromsø Ap, believes that increased rates for electric cars will have to be considered. Photo: Aurora Berf / news From 2026, all new electric cars in Norway must be fully electric. Tone Marie Myklevoll heads the urban development committee in Tromsø. She thinks it was unexpected that national policy would lead to such a rapid introduction of electric cars. – The calculation was made a very long time ago. It is therefore difficult to land on the right share so long after, she says. Høyre: Questioning the advantages of electric cars Erlend Svardal Bøe is Høyre’s parliamentary representative in Troms. He believes the answer to the income shortfall is obvious: the electric car benefits must be reduced. – Electric cars also contribute to the burden on the roads, and must therefore contribute to building road projects, which will develop the cities in the future, says Bøe, and adds: – At the same time, the projects in the city packages have a cost increase of up to 20 per cent. Storting representative for the Conservative Party, Erlend Svardal Bøe, believes it is time to reconsider the electric car discount. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news He believes that the advantages of electric cars have been successful, and important for the green shift. – But it also challenges the income base for toll projects, both in Tromsø and in other cities. We have to ask questions about whether you also have to challenge the electric car benefits in the city packages, he believes. Julie Westerlund Skogstad says the family has been experiencing ever-increasing costs in recent years. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news – Will have a big impact on our family For Julie Westerlund Skogstad, and her family, the electric car discount ensures that the family has slightly less expenses. – If it disappears, it can have major consequences for the family’s everyday life. She believes that the bus will always be an option: – But then we have to restructure our days much more. Family life will not be so easy to get around, she says and concludes: – I hope they don’t end up with this.
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More people drive electric cars in Tromsø – toll revenue is failing – news Troms and Finnmark
