Free-flow tolling in Europe: market overview

Europe is often described as a single tolling market. In practice, free flow takes three distinct forms, each with its own customers, technologies and suppliers, connected by the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS).

1. Barrier-free motorway tolling

This segment converts toll plazas on motorways, bridges and tunnels into gantries that read tags and plates.

• Norway: every toll station is automated under AutoPASS, with five county-owned toll chargers and commercial tag issuers.
• Portugal: electronic-only motorways have long coexisted with conventional plazas; several former SCUT roads became toll-free in 2025.
• Ireland: the M50 around Dublin has run barrier-free tolling between junctions 6 and 7, managed by Turas (VINCI Highways and Abtran).
• United Kingdom: the Dartford Crossing has used free-flow charging (Dart Charge) since 2014.
• France: after the 2019 mobility law, the A79 opened in 2022, Sanef converted the A14 and A13 in 2024 and ATMB’s A40 follows in 2027.
• Netherlands: the A24 Blankenburg Connection has been tolled in free flow since December 2024.

Suppliers active in European barrier-free tolling include Kapsch TrafficCom, EFKON, Q-Free, Vitronic, Emovis, A-to-Be, Indra, Tecsidel and Movyon; their roles vary by project, from roadside equipment and ANPR to back offices and operations.

2. Satellite-based charging for heavy vehicles

Several countries charge trucks per kilometre on whole networks using GNSS on-board units, with roadside equipment reserved for enforcement.

• Germany: more than 50,000 km, operated by the federal company Toll Collect.
• Slovakia: since 2010, delivered by SkyToll.
• Belgium: since 2016, operated by Satellic, with enforcement supplied by EFKON.
• Czech Republic: since December 2019, built by the SkyToll–CzechToll consortium.
• Netherlands: since July 2026, implemented by the Triangle consortium of Via Verde, Yunex Traffic and Ascendi, with enforcement led by Vitronic and SkyToll.

3. Urban congestion charging

Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden and the London Congestion Charge, introduced in 2003, charge vehicles entering city zones without barriers, identifying them mainly by their plates.

EETS: the glue between national systems

The European Electronic Toll Service lets a single provider and on-board unit cover several national systems. Telepass has been an EETS provider since 2016 and operates in 19 countries; when the Netherlands launched its truck toll, RDW admitted EETS providers such as TotalEnergies and Telepass alongside the national provider NedLinq. In Germany, Toll Collect runs the central service that EETS providers connect to.

Market dynamics

• Consolidation and ownership changes: Yunex Traffic has belonged to Mundys since 2022, Tecsidel to Eysa since 2022, Brisa acquired Axxès, and Autostrade Tech became Movyon in 2021.
• Services over equipment: long operation and maintenance contracts are becoming standard, from Vitronic’s ten-year enforcement contract in the Netherlands to Q-Free’s own-and-operate model with Ferde in Norway.
• France as the next large conversion market: with three concession groups and a network historically built on plazas, every free-flow conversion is a large back-office, enforcement and customer-service project.