In the recent week, international oil prices have continued to soar, as of March 2, Brent crude oil futures prices have exceeded the $11 billion mark, and the domestic No. 92 gasoline returned to the 8 yuan era is already a foregone conclusion.
The high cost of oil directly affects the travel costs of car owners.
However, if the toll can be reduced, it is also a comfort to everyone.
According to official sources, the Guangzhou-Foshan Expressway will stop charging at 00:00 from March 3, 2022, and car owners in Guangzhou-Foshan can boil a little.
In fact, there has been a lot of discussion around the toll and free issue of domestic highways.
So is it symbolic that the Guangzhou-Foshan Expressway is free? What are the references for highways in other parts of the country? Let's explore it together.
Why is the Guangzhou-Foshan Expressway free?
First of all, we must figure out why the first free is the Guangfo Expressway.
The reason is very simple, because it was built earliest in Guangdong Province, it was completed and opened to traffic in 1989, according to the relevant regulations at the time of construction, this kind of operational highway toll period generally does not exceed 30 years, and it is natural that it will be free in 2022.
The total length of this highway is only 15.7 kilometers, and in 2020, affected by the epidemic prevention and control work, the traffic flow will remain at a high level of 72.69 million vehicles, so after free, it will bring direct benefits to car owners in Guangzhou and Foshan.
So now the question is, will this kind of handover to the local management department after the expiration of the period, and then the implementation of free highways, become a common phenomenon in the future?
Can we make highways free, as in countries like the United States and Germany?
Large areas free for a short period of time are not realistic
First of all, the conclusion is that the large-scale free of highways in China is not realistic in the short term.
At present, the management of national highways is independent, unified and free of charge throughout the country, and it is not operational in technology and system.
In addition, it should be made clear that the Guangzhou-Foshan Expressway is a commercial expressway, in short, a privately contracted, for-profit expressway, which generally only appears in some short-distance, intercity, and branch projects, and is obviously different from beijing-Hong Kong-Macao, Beijing-Shanghai and other high-speeds.
Free is not the pursuit of domestic highways, and rushing to carry out large-scale high-speed free will cause serious traffic congestion, slow down the efficiency of operation, and the economic losses generated are difficult to estimate.
There are many toll items at home and abroad that are suddenly free of charge and there is chaos and mismanagement.
In fact, there are also free high-speed in China, the most typical is Hainan Province.
Since January 1, 1994, the expressways in Hainan Province have been combined with four fees: road maintenance fee, road transport management fee, toll fee and bridge toll, which are unified and merged into motor vehicle fuel surcharges, and all toll stations are abolished.
However, according to the general reaction of car owners, the free highway in Hainan Province, the fuel cost is more than 1 yuan more expensive than that of mainland provinces and cities, while the highway maintenance is less, the road conditions are poor, the management is chaotic, and the driving experience is even worse than the free national highway.
More importantly, the regional environment of Hainan Province is relatively closed, it is an island in itself, and the experience cannot be copied to the provinces and cities in the interior.
So, what is the legendary "foreign highway free"?
There is no such thing as a free lunch
In recent years, on the Chinese Internet, there are often passages such as "The United States domineering small passport, German conscience sewer, universal medical care in Somalia, Russia white room set", "foreign highways are free" is also one of them, as if only China in the world is collecting tolls.
This is not the case!
High-speed is a large-scale infrastructure project, where does the money come from?
This is a primary issue.
It is true that most of the high-speed highways in the United States, Germany and other developed countries do not have toll stations, but their fuel costs are amazingly high, for example, Germany's fuel tax rate is as high as 260%, they are not really no charge, but like Hainan Province, they have changed the way they charge.
Why doesn't China do this?
Because when China's highways are built on a large scale, the per capita car ownership is very low, and there is no way to return the cost by raising the fuel tax.
At the same time, in order to increase the mileage of highways in a short period of time, China has diversified the sources of funds for the construction of highways, rather than all government investment, which is also fundamentally different from the United States.
In other words, relative to our level of economic development, our highway is ahead of its time, and since it is enjoyed in advance, this cost will have to be recovered through a long time. If you take out a loan to buy a house and move in more than ten years in advance, then this interest is naturally inevitable.
Conclusion: From an economic point of view, free is not necessarily a good thing. For example, the subway in some cities, when it first opened, there was no restriction on the length of stay, so it became a free park for uncles and aunts, which was extremely difficult to manage and had safety risks, and after the number of hours that must leave the subway station, this phenomenon disappeared immediately. We enjoyed the convenience of the highway decades ago, so now there is nothing wrong with paying a little cost.