Fuel Tax 1174On the absolute contrary - it was *your* claim that the Swiss system is a system of "tolls". You even claimed that because a foreign (non-English-speaking) government (as it happens, erroneously, in...
JNugent
I've already provided you with links to several. The following (published on 12th July this year) is a good recent summary of developments :-
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Source:
"Germany's Toll Collect doing 450k tolls-day - 22b vehicle-km-yr.
"Toll Collect in Germany is collecting some 450k tolls-day from trucks traveling the German autobahns after six months operations. The mostly GPS-based toll system is clocking a daily average of 60m vehicle-km traveled. The tolls are based on distance traveled as calculated by the GPS-based on-board units (OBUs) or based on trip bookings via the internet, or via one of 3,500 terminals located at places like fuel stations and truck stops. The average trip being tolled is 135km (80mi).
"By all reports the TC system has worked well since it opened for business at the beginning of the year - a striking contrast to the previous 18 months during which the start up was twice postponed, and the Government government actually announced a cancellation of the TC contract. TC is a joint venture of DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Telecom and Cofiroute, and makes heavy use of a Siemens on-board unit."
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And the president of the Federation of German Industry certainly seems to be under the impression that the system went live on 1st January :-
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Source:
Q. Mr. Thumann, you called 1st January 2005 "a good day for Germany". Why did you see the start of the toll collection system as having symbolic importance?
A. The successful start and, in particular, the innovative technology attracted attention from Germany and abroad. This was a situation to be pleased about - especially when you think how difficult the start-up phase was. In the end, patience and hard work paid off.
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If your friend told you that he-she had seen the studio in the Nevada Desert where they faked the Apollo moon landing films, would you believe them?
Fuel Tax 1175JNugent Where did I claim that the Swiss charge a per-kilometre fee for driving on private land? Rubbish - you can drive your foreign-registered vehicle...
CLearly, you would.
