Skip to main content

Japan's toll plan

Japan's Transport Ministry is working on plans to remove toll charges for passenger cars using 1,626km of the country's expressways. The move is be used as a trial to evaluate benefits to the economy as well as on transportation businesses and traffic congestion.
February 7, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Japan's Transport Ministry (2358 MLIT) is working on plans to remove toll charges for passenger cars using 1,626km of the country's expressways. The move is be used as a trial to evaluate benefits to the economy as well as on transportation businesses and traffic congestion. The trial is being carried out on sections of the Do-o, Kyushu, Okinawa and Chuo expressways and will apply on 37 routes, a majority in rural areas. The Transport Ministry is considering removing tolls from expressways for passengers should the trial prove positive. The government will invest US$1.12 billion of its 2010 budget for the experiment. The move is of interest given that many countries are introducing tolling to highways in a bid to tackle congestion and provide more cashflow for highway investment.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Vietnam's road expansion
    May 28, 2012
    Vietnam is seeing significant expansion of its highway network at present, with another three major projects now moving forward and much of the financial backing coming from other Asian nations such as South Korea and Japan. A feasibility study is being carried out for the 94km Nghi Son-Bai Vot expressway and this should be complete by October 2010. The project is expected to cost US$1.04 billion and the expressway will have either six or four lanes, based on Transport Engineering Design's study.
  • Tackling India’s road safety will reduce crash rate
    February 19, 2013
    India’s road safety record is the world’s worst but there are plans to tackle the problems. Patrick Smith reports from New Delhi. A speeded up video of a short section of road in the Indian capital Delhi was followed by a question. “How many infringements did you count in that 25-second clip on a typical day in Delhi,” asked Dr Rohit Baluja, a question that brought understandable silence. It equated to hundreds of millions of infringements each year, said Dr Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Educ
  • Tackling Indian road safety
    December 5, 2012
    India’s road safety record is the world’s worst but there are plans to tackle the problems. Patrick Smith reports from New Delhi. A speeded up video of a short section of road in the Indian capital Delhi was followed by a question. “How many infringements did you count in that 25-second clip on a typical day in Delhi,” asked Dr Rohit Baluja, a question that brought understandable silence. It equated to hundreds of millions of infringements each year, said Dr Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Educ
  • Success of toll road operators' conference
    July 12, 2012
    The 37th ASECAP Annual Study and Information Days held in Krakow, Poland, gathered some 300 road transport CEOs, experts and government decision-makers making the event "a huge success." Patrick Smith reports Toll road operators from across Europe have met to discuss the state of their businesses in the current economic climate and how to tackle it. Fabrizio Palenzona, the outgoing President of ASECAP (the European professional Association of Operators of Toll Road Infrastructures) and president of AISCAT (