While most European countries offer drivers an annual vignette costing between €100 and €150, which allows access to the entire network of existing motorways, the situation in Serbia is quite different for its citizens. And significantly more expensive…
An annual subscription for the route from Belgrade to Niš, for example, amounts to nearly €4,000 or 468,000 dinars, because according to the regulations of Roads of Serbia, the toll price – which was increased to 1,170 dinars on 4 July – is multiplied by 400. And this price applies solely to that one section.
For using other motorways, such as those towards Subotica, Čačak, Šid or elsewhere, drivers must either purchase additional subscriptions or pay the toll at the barrier. There is no universal vignette that covers the entire motorway network, as is standard in the European Union.
In Serbia, you pay both at the bridge and the crossing
But that’s not all, because Serbian citizens are already funding these same roads through taxes. Most motorways have been built or are being built using money from the state budget and foreign loans, which are repaid by the state – that is, by all taxpayers. For instance, the Morava Corridor is being constructed using multi-million euro loans, for which the state has provided guarantees. Not to mention that it was originally agreed to cost €900 million, but so far, although the works are nowhere near completion, almost twice that amount has already been paid from the budget in public funds for its financing, as reported multiple times by Radar.
This rightly raises the question of whether citizens of Serbia are paying for their motorways twice. Once through taxes and the repayment of public debt, and a second time when they pay tolls or extremely expensive annual subscriptions for using certain sections. In other words, the old saying – “if you don’t pay at the bridge, you’ll pay at the crossing” – doesn’t apply here. In Serbia, you pay both at the bridge and at the crossing. That’s why, compared to the rest of Europe, the cost of driving on motorways in Serbia is among the highest, and in terms of transparency and flexibility, among the least favourable.
Introducing an annual vignette for the entire network of existing motorways and reforming the tolling model would be the first step towards a fairer system, in which citizens would no longer be paying twice for something they already own.
Comparative toll prices in the region and the EU
Unlike Serbia, countries in the region and the European Union take a significantly different approach to motorway toll collection. In Hungary, an annual electronic vignette for passenger vehicles costs around €149 and allows unlimited use of the entire motorway network throughout the year.
In Slovenia, drivers pay €117.50 annually for a vignette that also covers all motorways in the country. In Austria, the annual subscription costs €104, and in the Czech Republic €92. In one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Switzerland, the system is even more affordable, as the vignette costs only €42 and is valid for 14 months. In Germany, meanwhile, drivers of passenger vehicles do not pay tolls at all, as motorway use is free for them and only lorries are subject to charges.
In the countries of the region, the situation is mixed. Croatia, like Serbia, uses toll booths and does not have a vignette. The toll is charged per kilometre and becomes significantly more expensive during the summer months due to seasonal traffic. Annual tolls can amount to several hundred euros, but are still considerably lower than in Serbia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina uses a similar toll booth system, but the motorway network is much smaller, so drivers’ total costs are proportionally lower.
In this context, Serbia is the only country in the region that offers neither a vignette nor a unified annual pass for all motorways, instead charging tolls for each individual section. And at prices that far exceed the European average.
(Radar, 30.03.2025)