In December last year, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia decided to increase tolls in the Biscayan section of AP-8, with an average of 2.5%. The measure set fire to many neighbours and neighbours of the Duranguesado and provoked an immediate reaction, which was calm by the demonstrators. In a few days, what started as a protest against the rise became a cry requiring the elimination of all tolls of the AP-8 in Bizkaia. The platform for gratuitousness has been created and thousands of signatures have already been collected; just over 12,000 at the time of writing it.

“The only tolls the highway has in Bizkaia are those of Duranguesado,” says Juan Carlos Mighty, member of the A-8 Peajerik Ez platform, “the inhabitants of Durangaldea and Lea-Artibai are discriminated against with respect to the rest of the Biscayan people.” According to Mighty, the issue of remuneration generates great sensitivity in the counties of eastern Bizkaia. “The AP-8 is one of the best moving businesses in the country, last year they earned over 30 million euros.”

1,152 million profit in 2035

Specifically, and on the basis of the data provided by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, in 2015 the difference between the revenue from the usual activity and the current expenditure achieved was EUR 33 million. But to this must be added the extraordinary investments. Taking these data into account, the management of the AP-8 gave a negative result to the Deputy in 2014 and 2015 (EUR 21 million and EUR 18 million respectively), and the balance is expected to also be the opposite (almost 12 million) in 2016. However, the results of the three years are an exception: Between 2002 and 2013, a total of EUR 74 million of profit was recorded, including investments, and the Council has foreseen a total of EUR 1,152 million in the 2002-2035 tranche for AP-8.

Analyzing the topic yes, without gratuitousness

The wave of public outrage has come to public institutions quickly, although no party has joined the call of the platform created in the Duranguesado, the total elimination of salaries. For the time being, the A-8 Peajerik Ez platform has succeeded in getting the motion on this issue debated in a couple of municipalities. In the largest of the region, in Durango, the alternative motion presented by the PNV in the government was finally imposed. The Council will urge the Member to reduce the toll on the motorway to the inhabitants of the area without further details. Durango Mayor Aitziber Irigoras explained at a press conference the position of her party after the support of the majority of the mayors of the region.

At the General Meetings, EH Bildu has taken the first step in the election campaign. The coalition has called for an in-depth debate not only on tolls, but also on road mobility in the Basque Country. “We want a picture of the situation, and once it is known, we will decide what concrete proposals we will make,” said Zigor Isuskiza, “but for this we need all the data, which is just the Council.”

In any case, EH Bildu has clear basic criteria to defend: to promote quality public transport “so that mobility is not based on the private vehicle” and to respect the polluter-pays principle. For this reason, the Abertzale group has not supported the claim of the A-8 Peajerik Ez platform, but they share one thing with them: “Imbalance and discrimination are evident in Bizkaia.”

During the “in-depth discussion on the model,” EH Bildu proposed a provisional measure, widely known by users of the AP-8 in Gipuzkoa: that drivers pay a maximum of EUR 28 per month.

Reply from the Member

At the JJGG plenary held on 27 January at the Casa de Juntas de Gernika, the Member of Parliament for Economic and Territorial Development, Imanol Pradales, stated that since September the Provincial Council is analysing a comprehensive pricing model for payment channels. “This new model will reduce the economic costs of the Biscayan people using these roads,” said the press release published by the Department of Economy and Development. We have come to the Member for further details, but we have been told that at the moment they are not going to add anything to what Pradales said.

The Member's statement did not satisfy those who came to ask for a solution to the problem. Both the Bai A-8 platform Peajerik Ez and EH Bildu are of the opinion that this is an answer to gain time, motivated by the need to deal in some way with the citizen reaction arising in the Duranguesado. In the opinion of Zigor Isuskiza, the Member’s intention to “reduce the economic cost to Biscay and Biscay” is not credible, after three weeks of tariff increases. EH Bildu's MEP has also found it suspicious that the study launched in September has not been released until 12,000 signatures have been collected against the increase in the rate.

Gains on one, losses on the other

As mentioned above, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia foresees a profit of EUR 1,152 million up to 2035 thanks to the exploitation of AP-8. But this highway is not the only toll road in the country. The study carried out by the public society Interbiak to justify the increase in the rate also includes the Southern Metropolitan Variant – Supersur – and the tunnels of Artxanda, located in one of the accesses to Bilbao.

As far as the Supersur is concerned, the result envisaged by the Member until 2035 is very bad: EUR 1,056 million loss. Chills… if there were no benefits of AP-8 to alleviate the disease.“They clearly want to plug the SuperSouth hole with AP-8,” said Zigor Isuskiza, “one of the problems is that to calculate the AP-8 inputs have been based on an exaggerated expectation of traffic evolution:4% annually. That’s not real.” In Interbiak’s report, to support this forecast, it is noted that the 2014 and 2015 increases were 3% and 5%, respectively. However, according to Isuskiza, it cannot be ensured that this trend will continue over time, as in previous years there have been declines due to the crisis.