The new, reduced, charges will apply to all users, with transport companies benefitting from an extra ten percent reduction during the day and a twenty-five percent reduction during night time.

The roads that are covered by the new tolls are the A17 and A29 – Silver Coast, the A4, A41 and A42 – Greater Porto, the A28 – Norte Litoral, the A22 – Algarve, the A23 – Beira Interior, the A24 – Interior Norte and the A25 – Beira Litoral/Alta.

The former toll regime, allowed local residents and workers to benefit from ten free trips each month, however that was deemed illegal by the virtue of it being discriminatory by the European Commission, so the Government had to abandon it. That opinion was also echoed by the several major figures of the Algarve tourist market.

Going back to the European Commission decision, it argued that the old system of tolls was in violation of the right of free movement of people as well as the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of residence.

The updated regime is in accordance with EU legislation and in a statement from the Portuguese Minister of Economy, he said that the new regime won’t impact the State Budget and that it also respects the government’s user-payer principle for all the motorways in the country.

But the general feeling in the Algarve business sector on the whole isn’t as calm as the Minister’s conclusion sounds, instead they are expecting more bankruptcies, higher unemployment rates, less tourists from Spain, decreases in the Algarve car rental industry numbers and a more congested EN125 if the tolls remain active.

New protests are against the Algarve tolls are scheduled to take place in the near future.