Traffic on Serbian motorways is growing year on year, and the Putevi Srbije (Roads of Serbia) public enterprise has announced a major overhaul of the toll collection system. Conventional toll plazas are expected to be phased out gradually, with TAG devices, electronic toll collection, and artificial intelligence taking their place.
Every day, between 315,000 and 320,000 vehicles travel on Serbia’s motorways, with traffic volume continuously increasing. According to data from Putevi Srbije, current vehicle numbers are approximately four per cent higher than last year, while long-term trends show traffic growth of around eight per cent annually.
The end of July and the start of August were particularly busy, coinciding with the peak of the tourist season. The heaviest traffic was recorded on routes around Belgrade, with the busiest toll plazas including Obrenovac, Belgrade near Vrčin, Šimanovci, and Stara Pazova.
However, according to Darko Savić from Putevi Srbije, toll barriers themselves are increasingly not to blame for queues.
“Roadworks, maintenance, and traffic accidents can slow down traffic and create tailbacks miles long, whereas electronic toll collection is steadily reducing delays at the barriers,” he says.
Toll barriers soon to be a thing of the past
The plan is to completely modernise the toll system by introducing a multi-lane free-flow system, which allows vehicles to drive along the motorway without stopping at toll plazas. Tolls would be recorded automatically electronically using TAG devices.
According to Putevi Srbije, conventional toll plazas should be completely removed within five to six years. The system would rely on TAG devices and artificial intelligence. However, this does not mean that toll plaza employees will lose their jobs.
As explained, staff will still be needed to monitor collections, process post-payment charges, and resolve issues whenever the automated system fails to process data correctly.
Serbian TAG already works in several countries
Electronic toll collection is already widespread. Putevi Srbije has over 1.1 million electronic toll users, and more than 65 per cent of toll revenue this year has been generated this way. There are no plans for a new toll price increase in the coming period, according to “Putevi Srbije”, reports Euronews.
The Serbian TAG can also be used in several countries across the region, including North Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Republika Srpska. To use it abroad, drivers need to register their TAG on a web platform and link a payment card, which must be connected separately for each country.
Plans are underway to expand the system further to countries using electronic vignettes, such as Slovenia, Hungary, and Romania. Linking with Greece, however, is made more complex by the fact that seven different concessionaires operate toll collection there.
One step towards the new system has already been taken on the Belgrade bypass, where non-stop toll collection for heavy goods vehicles was introduced along a 39.5-kilometre section. According to Putevi Srbije, the system generated 255 million dinars in revenue in July alone.
(Kamatica.com, 28.08.2026)