Hungarian annual motorway vignette is the most expensive in Europe

The cost of using the national highways puts a much greater burden on Hungarian motorists than in other countries. The Hungarian annual motorway vignette is the most expensive in Europe. 

Motorway vignette prices in Hungary

Not only are the prices of annual vignettes extremely high, but the system in Hungary is also unfair, although it shows some similarities to other countries in the region. In order to increase revenues, the Hungarian state is incessantly trying to force transit traffic through the country, thus raising the expenses of occasional drivers disproportionately high, writes g7.hu. Overall, revenues increased by 25 percent. The introduction of county vignettes played a role in this, as the Pest county vignettes essentially became a toll for Budapest motorists.

Less polluters bear the cost of maintaining the highway network

The price of motorway vignettes is increased according to the previous year’s inflation. This is also true for the weekly motorway vignettes, their cost soared by 28 percent between 2016 and 2022, almost at the same rate as the actual inflation. However, the price of annual vignettes only surged by 9 percent. This means that drivers who drive and, thus, pollute a lot actually benefit the most from the current system of expressway e-vignettes.

In 2016, those who purchased an annual vignette paid for 4,791 kilometers of road network use, while and in 2022, it amounted to 4,935 kilometers – this is a 3 percent increase. Meanwhile, weekly vignette buyers pay for 403 instead of 331 kilometers, which is a 21 percent increase.

The government unreasonably pushes the cost of maintaining the highway network on those who use expressways less frequently and thus pollute less.

Hungarian e-vignette system favours those who drive more

If we look at it in terms of days, the cost of road use is HUF 134 (EUR 0.35) per day for a one-year vignette, HUF 293 (EUR 0.77) for a monthly vignette, and HUF 550 (EUR 1.45) for a 10-day vignette. This is unfair to those who use the roads less often. Moreover, it goes against the EU’s polluter pays principle, since the biggest polluters pay the least. In the Hungarian e-vignette system, customers who drive the most and pollute the most pay one-tenth the toll of those who drive the least.

Mandatory daily vignette sales in 2024

According to the legislation of the European Union, it is mandatory to sell daily vignettes from 2024. It has already been announced in the Czech Republic and Slovakia that it will be introduced. Fortunately, Hungary does not have to wait long either. The exact price is not yet known, but Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that it will be similar to cost of the 10-day vignette. According to the EU regulation, the price can be no more than 9 percent of the annual pass, and since this year the former is HUF 49,190 (EUR 130,13) for passenger cars, the one-day pass is expected to be around HUF 4,427 (EUR 11,71).