A8: the discount is valid for only one tollbooth

 The “rip-off” for local commuters is hidden in two words: “open system”; the A8 (Autolaghi) is one of the motorways on which the users do not pay on the basis of the distance travelled. This is what a number of Varese commuters discovered today, when they found the catch among the small print while registering on the Telepass website: the discount requested by the government after the 2014 motorway increases, is valid, on the section of the Autolaghi, for only one tollbooth. We were informed by a number of readers, who, like many others in Italy, are visiting the Telepass website to register and so have the reduction.

The problem lies in the fact that, in the so-called “open motorway systems”, the discount applies only to one tollbooth.

But what is an “open system”? This is a system “where the motorway user does not pay on the basis of the distance travelled. The motorway barriers are placed along the route (not at every exit), and it is here that the user pays a fixed sum that depends only on the class of vehicle (source: Wikipedia).

According to the Telepass system, “An open system is a route on which a fixed toll is paid at the tollbooth or at the barrier crossed during the journey.”

And which tollbooths are part of open systems?

The website contains a long list (which we have published below), including also “Milan North” and “Gallarate Svincolo” and “Gallarate North”. So, for example, according to the new rules, a user that enters the motorway at Solbiate Arno and travels to Milan, can ask for the discount, not for both tollbooths, but only for one.

Here is the list of Italian motorway sections and of the associated motorway stations, where discounts cannot be asked for for two tollbooths, because they are on “open systems”:

Open systems – stations: Station Description

Milan north

Lainate

Como Grandate

Fino Mornasco

Gallarate Svin

Gallarate North

Rome West

Maccarese freg.

Aurelia

Civitavecchia S

Torrimpietra

Avigliana

Salbertrand

Villafranca

Govone

Cherasco

Villanova Svincolo

Fiano Romano

Melegnano

Cast. Di porto

Caserta South

Pomigliano