Distance, Emissions and the Future of the Toll: Where Tolling Is Heading in 2026

Comment

Tolling is having its most interesting year in a decade. Across the US and around the world, the same question keeps surfacing in different forms: if roads still cost money to build and maintain, and fuel taxes are fading, how do we pay for them fairly? The answers taking shape in 2026 tell us a lot about where the industry is going, and they point to real opportunities for agencies and operators who move early.

Here's what we're watching this week, and what it means for you.

The Netherlands just redrew the European map

On 1 July, the Netherlands switched on a satellite based, pay per kilometre truck toll and retired the Eurovignette. It's a milestone worth pausing on. Europe now runs eleven nationwide road usage charging schemes, more than any other region on earth, and the Dutch launch confirms the direction of travel. Time based stickers are giving way to charging that reflects actual distance and actual emissions.

That shift is already reshaping cost structures. Under the Eurovignette Directive, almost every EU member now sorts vehicles into five CO2 classes, with zero emission trucks earning the biggest discounts and standard diesel facing the highest surcharges. In some corridors, zero emission trucks receive up to a 70% toll discount to encourage greener transit. For anyone designing or running a tolling programme, the lesson is clear: the pricing engine of the future needs to handle distance, vehicle class and emissions together, not just a flat rate at a gantry.

In the US, the funding conversation is finally getting real

The American story is about the same pressure from a different angle. The Highway Trust Fund has spent more than it takes in for over two decades, and electric vehicles have broken the old link between road use and road funding, because they pay nothing at the pump.

Two responses are now on the table. The Surface Transportation Reauthorization proposal released in May introduces a federal EV registration fee starting at $130, rising in steps toward a $150 cap. Alongside that, momentum is building behind mileage based user fees, sometimes called road usage charges, with Oregon setting a rate of 2.3 cents per mile for 2026 and forty states already charging some form of EV fee. A flat annual fee is the quick fix. A per mile charge is the structural one, and it's essentially tolling logic applied to every road. That's a significant opportunity for the technology and back office capabilities the tolling industry has spent years perfecting.

New York proved the model works

If you want evidence that smart road pricing delivers, look at Manhattan. One year into congestion pricing, the MTA reports 27 million fewer vehicles entering the zone, an 11% drop, alongside faster crossings, quieter streets and cleaner air. A Cornell study found a 22% reduction in particulate matter inside the zone within six months. The programme has generated over $550 million in net revenue, unlocking billions in transit upgrades.

The numbers matter because public acceptance has always been the hardest part of pricing a road. New York shows that when the benefits are visible, faster buses, cleaner air, funded transit, the public conversation shifts. That's a useful reference point for any agency weighing a pricing scheme of its own.

The technology is racing to keep up

Underneath all of this, the electronic tolling market is expanding fast, valued at $16.9 billion in 2026 and projected to reach $46.3 billion by 2036. The interesting part isn't the size, it's the direction. Agencies are moving away from proprietary, single vendor systems and demanding open standards and interoperability, so a transponder or account works seamlessly across regions and networks.

We're seeing the same theme play out globally. India is moving to replace RFID FASTags with AI based digital tolling, and providers across Europe are consolidating to offer single account access across many countries. The winners in this next phase will be the systems that talk to each other, handle multiple pricing models cleanly, and give the driver one simple experience.

What this means for you

Three things stand out from this week's picture.

First, pricing is getting smarter, and rightly so. Distance and emissions based charging is becoming the norm, not the experiment. Building flexibility into your pricing engine now will pay off as these models spread.

Second, funding gaps are becoming tolling opportunities. As fuel tax revenue declines, road usage charging moves from theory to policy, and that's a natural fit for tolling expertise.

Third, interoperability is the differentiator. Open standards and a clean driver experience are what separate a modern tolling programme from a legacy one.

We help agencies and operators turn exactly these shifts into working systems. If any of this maps to a challenge you're facing, we'd be glad to talk it through.

Sources

  • Toll4Europe / Netherlands truck toll launch, Toll4Europe News: https://toll4europe.eu/en/news
  • PTOLEMUS Consulting Group, "Europe quietly became the world's road pricing pioneer": https://www.ptolemus.com/insight/europe-quietly-became-the-worlds-road-pricing-pioneer/
  • ONYX, "Road Tolls and Fees in Europe 2026: A Carrier's Compendium": https://onyxtms.com/en/blog/road-tolls-in-europe-2026-compendium-for-carriers/
  • Congress.gov, "Electric Vehicle Taxes and the Federal Highway Trust Fund": https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13064
  • Tax Foundation, "EVs and the Highway Trust Fund": https://taxfoundation.org/blog/ev-highway-trust-fund/
  • Governor Kathy Hochul, "Less Traffic, Better Transit: Congestion Pricing First Anniversary": https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/less-traffic-better-transit-its-first-anniversary-governor-hochul-celebrates-transformational
  • amNewYork, "27 million fewer vehicles entered Manhattan's Central Business District": https://www.amny.com/news/congestion-pricing-27-million-fewer-vehicles/
  • Future Market Insights, "Electronic Toll Collection Market Trends & Forecast 2026-2036": https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-electronic-toll-collection-market
  • openPR, "Global Electronic Toll Collection Market Set to Surge to USD 46.3 Billion by 2036": https://www.openpr.com/news/4480725/global-electronic-toll-collection-market-set-to-surge-to-usd-46-3

Comments

Comments are hosted by Disqus. Showing them loads Disqus, which sets cookies and may show ads (Disqus privacy policy).