On Thursday, the topic will be up for discussion again in the plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic, with three legislative proposals from the PS, the BE, and the PCP for the elimination of tolls on various motorways, and with draft resolutions (not legally binding) from the IL, the PSD and the CDS, the PAN, and Chega to exempt or reduce the fees, including gradually.

The proposals concern several motorways that were previously SCUTs (no cost to the user): A4, A13 and A13-1, A22, A23, A24, A25, A28, A29, A41, and A42.

In the previous legislature, with the PS in government, some reductions in tolls were implemented, and the party has now requested a new debate, under the right of parliamentary groups to set some of the orders of the day in the plenary session.

Here is a summary of some of the challenges to the collection of tolls on former SCUTs:

A4

When tolls were introduced on some SCUTs in 2010, the district of Bragança did not yet have a single kilometer of motorway (the Transmontana Motorway would be inaugurated in September 2011) and reaching Vila Real was done without the Marão Tunnel on the A4, which was only completed in 2016, after about three years of work stoppage.

Local authorities, parties, businesspeople, associations, and users have always said no to tolls, both on the Transmontana Motorway, between Bragança and Vila Real, and on the Marão Motorway, between Amarante and Vila Real, and the opposition has reached the Assembly of the Republic with a petition and draft resolutions against the collection and in defense of the interior, without any success.

In 2016, when discounts on tolls were announced on a section of the A4, businesspeople from Vila Real spoke of a "painkiller" to gradually alleviate the region's problems.

The State Budget for 2024 included the A4 in the discounts to be applied to motorways with tolls, but the granite sector demanded "more oxygen" from the government, regretting the reduction in the cost of tolls by only 13% for heavy vehicles.

A13

The introduction of tolls on the A13, known as the Autoestrada do Pinhal Interior (from Coimbra to Marateca, connecting the sub-regions of Coimbra, Leiria, and Médio Tejo), was contested by local authorities, movements, and business associations.

As early as December 2011, two months after the collection, the Câmara de Vila Nova da Barquinha announced that it would take legal action. The following year, the municipalities of Médio Tejo argued that a "significant reduction in tariffs" on the A13 would lead to an increase in traffic revenue.

Later, the Intermunicipal Community of Pinhal Interior Norte asked the Ministry of Economy to revise the price of tolls on the A13 downwards and expressed its displeasure at the "negative discrimination" to which the territory was subject.

The opposition did not wane, and in October 2016, the Movement of Public Service Users of the district of Santarém appealed to the government to include in the State Budget for 2017 the abolition of tolls on the A13 (and also on the A23).

In February 2020, the business associations of the municipalities of Lousã, Miranda do Corvo, Penela, and Vila Nova de Poiares advocated for the immediate end of the collection, arguing that, as this territory was deprived of the Mondego Mobility System, an alternative to the Estrada da Beira (EN17), and a decent connection to the Main Itinerary (IP) 3, the A13 was an important route for economic and tourist development.

Three years later, the Public Services Users Commission of Médio Tejo held a public gathering in Torres Novas to demand the abolition of tolls on the A13 and A23 motorways, where more than 12,500 signatures collected in 13 municipalities for this purpose were presented.

A22

The opposition to the collection of tolls on the so-called Via do Infante, a former SCUT that crosses the Algarve, began in 2005, a few years before the measure was implemented, by deputies, local authorities from various political forces, and economic entities in the region, after the government of the time announced its intention to impose the payment.

In 2010, a year before the payments came into effect, which occurred on December 8, 2011, the protests became more visible through the Comissão de Utentes da Via do Infante, a civic movement created by a group of seven people who were joined by others from various sectors of society.

The movement promoted various protest initiatives, including slow marches, petitions, demonstrations, gatherings at the door of the Assembly of the Republic, and even at the homes where government officials were vacationing in the Algarve.

One of the protests was joined by a delegation composed of local authorities, members of political parties, business leaders, and trade unionists from Andalusia, Spain, who argued that the payment was negatively affecting the economy of both countries.

The A22, also known as the Via do Infante de Sagres, crosses the Algarve region longitudinally, between Lagos and Castro Marim, ending at the Ponte Internacional do Guadiana, with a connection to Spain.

A23, A24, and A25

The opposition to the payment of tolls on the A23 (Guarda/Torres Novas), A24 (Viseu/Chaves), and A25 (Aveiro/Vilar Formoso) motorways began even before the measure was implemented (which occurred in December 2011), with user commissions, movements, and intermunicipal communities promising not to give up against what they considered an economic and social attack on the interior of the country and an obstacle to territorial cohesion.

In September 2011, the user commission of the three motorways expressed its dissatisfaction with the possibility of the collection and appealed for disobedience and protest in the streets, which would happen the following month, with slow marches at various points in the Centro region, which were then repeated over the years.

The year had not yet ended and the Comissão de Utentes da Autoestrada da Beira Interior (A23) was already delivering more than 20,000 signatures against the introduction of tolls to the prime minister's official residence in Lisbon.

At the same time, the Movimento Pró IP6 announced the filing of two lawsuits in the courts of Abrantes and Leiria in an attempt to end the collection of tolls on the A23 and claim compensation for what motorists had paid in the meantime.

The protest initiatives have continued over the years, examples of which are the slow marches and honking promoted by the Platform for the Reestablishment of SCUTs on Motorways 23 and 25 and the popular action against the collection of fees filed in the Administrative Court of Viseu by the user commission of the A23, A24, and A25 motorways.

In February 2019, parliament rejected draft resolutions from the PCP, BE, and PEV recommending the elimination of tolls on the three motorways (and also on the A22).

A28

Since 2008, when the possibility of introducing tolls on the A28 was first glimpsed, local authorities, businesspeople, and movements in the district of Porto, Viana do Castelo, and Galicia have contested the option, which was implemented in October 2010.

Honking, slow marches, and other popular protests lasted for several months and the Spanish press even classified the former SCUT A28 as the "most expensive motorway in Europe", because it forced foreign motorists to pay 77 euro>