Romanians bought 67,000 electronic vignettes

Road connections with Romania are being repaired before the start of the summer season

67,000 electronic vignettes with a total value of over BGN 2 million have been sold to cars with Romanian registration, which puts Romania in second place after Turkey in terms of users of the national road network from abroad. Of these, nearly 37,000 are for cars, and over 30,000 - for heavy trucks over 3.5 tons. This was announced by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Petya Avramova at a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and Administration of Romania Vasile-Daniel Suciu in Bucharest. There she took part in a joint meeting of the governments of Bulgaria and Romania.

Minister Avramova acquainted her Romanian counterpart with the electronic vignette introduced in Bulgaria on January 1, 2019 and with the forthcoming toll fee for trucks over 3.5 tons from August 16 this year.

She noted that with the approach of Easter and St. George’s Day, as well as the summer season, sales of e-vignettes will increase. The data show that in 2018 Romania ranks first among foreign markets in the number of tourist visits to Bulgaria – 1,377,009, compared to 2017 there was an increase of 20.9%. On Easter and St. George’s Day, Balchik, Albena, Golden Sands, Sts. Constantine and Helena and Sunny Beach traditionally have many Romanian guests. Therefore, drivers are advised to use all channels to buy electronic vignettes.

The fastest and most convenient way to pay is via the Internet, stressed Minister Avramova. In just a few minutes the vignettes are already active and one can safely travel on the toll road network in the country. This saves time when entering Bulgaria at border checkpoints. Electronic vignettes can be purchased online from the websites www.bgtoll.bg, www.vinetki.bg, www.A1.bg and through the free mobile application BGTOLL. Other channels to purchase vignettes are the Bulgarian Posts, Easy Pay offices, OMV and Lukoil gas stations.

To make things easier for Romanian drivers at the Danube Bridge border checkpoint near Ruse, there are 4 self-charging terminals and one e-vignette sales booth, where they can also pay in cash. There are two self-charging terminals and one sales booth at the Danube Bridge 2 border checkpoint. There is also one terminal each at the Silistra, Durankulak and Kardam border checkpoints.

The two ministers discussed transport links between Bulgaria and Romania. Minister Avramova informed her colleague that by the beginning of the summer season, roads that are most often used by Romanian tourists will be repaired.

One of the busiest routes is the second-class road Varna - Dobrich - Kardam, which covers the flow of tourists to the resorts in Dobrich, Varna and Burgas region. Last year, 30 km of it were repaired with funds under the OP “Regions in growth” 2014-2020. Repairs to the remaining 12-kilometre section begin this week.

The road Silistra - Dobrich - Obrochishte is also important. It takes over the tourist flow from the “Danube Bridge” near Ruse and from the border checkpoint “Silistra - Calarasi”. The road is in good working condition, except for the nearly 11-kilometre section, which is under repair. The construction and installation works are to be completed before Easter, so that the traffic would not be hindered.

Currently, the renovation activities of the horizontal marking on the territory of Dobrich district and on road I-9 Durankulak - Varna - Burgas, which is one of the busiest roads in the summer season because it is used for connection with the resorts of Albena and Golden Sands, are being completed.