Highway toll collection costs halved due to e-stickers

In addition to added convenience for motorists, the scrapping of paper highway stickers and their replacement with electronic ones has also brought cost savings, National Highway Company (NDS) Spokesperson Michaela Michalová told TASR on Tuesday. Due to the introduction of e-stickers, NDS will save more than half of the costs incurred by traditional stickers each year. "The cost of distributing and printing stickers is history. It accounted for 6.6 percent of the proceeds from sales of highway stickers, meaning €3.9 million in 2015," said Michalová. According to Michalová, the cost of providing the e-sticker service equals 2.78 percent of the proceeds from selling highway stickers. "When the current cost of providing e-stickers is compared to the volume of sales in 2015, it shows that the costs would have been €1.6 million, i.e. €2.6 million lower," added Michalová. Michalová noted that the provider of the e-sticker service is SkyToll. "NDS pays 2.78 percent of the proceeds from sales of highway stickers to SkyToll for providing the service. The cost of launching the e-sticker service system was zero for NDS," she said. NDS itself is in charge of checking up on the use of e-stickers. Its supervision mechanism is comprised of a camera system and special mobile patrols. "The total sum of investment in the supervision mechanism is estimated at €3 million," said Michalová. The annual operating costs are projected at €300,000. They chiefly include the cost of fuel, energy, data-communication links and servicing and maintaining cameras and vehicles.