What helped achieve "social peace" on the railway was the agreement defining the overhead fare for 2018 and 2019. The terms of this agreement were signed today by the Ministry of Transport and the representatives of railway trade unions. The cost of a standard overhead ticket will rise from CZK 1000 to CZK 1100 starting next year. The state will not determine the benefits in commercial trains. They will however be provided in the form of employee benefits directly by Czech Railways and the Railway Infrastructure Administration.
On Friday, 1 December, the sale of annual motorway coupons for 2018 for weight category up to 3.5 tonnes started. Coupons with a validity period of one month or ten days will be available for sale with the arrival of the new year. Their prices for 2018 remain the same as this year. The one-year coupon for 2018 is valid from December 1, 2017 to January 31, 2019, and its price is CZK 1500. The price of the one-month coupon is CZK 440 and the price of the 10-day coupon is CZK 310.
The Ministry of Transport will allow emission measuring stations that were unable to acquire the necessary software issue inspection reports in the current mode by the end of the year. Starting on 1 December, the emission measuring stations were obliged to send photodocumentation from the inspection to the Central Information System and post the measurement results online. The information was published by the ministry in an extraordinary bulletin.
The first PPP project in the Czech Republic is close to implementation. The Ministry of Transport signed a contract with White&Case, Česká spořitelna and Obermeyer Helika that will help the state with preparing the project and selecting the concessionaire. The objective is to complete the missing 32 kilometres of the D4 motorway between Příbram and Písek through cooperation between the private and the public sector. The private company would also be responsible for the operation and long-term maintenance of the new motorway.
The continuation of the ring road around Prague between Běchovice and the D1 motorway received the binding environmental impact assessment (EIA) statement. This way, the Ministry of the Environment gave green light to further preparation of the construction project. It shall start within three years. Opponents and land owners may obstruct the time schedule before construction commencement.
The Ministry of Transport repeatedly criticizes Kapsch for obstructing the process, with the aim of cancelling the toll tender before other bidders can come with bids that will show how far form competitive the current price is. The Ministry of Transport considers the action of the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), i.e. the antimonopoly office, in checking the supply and operation of the toll system as highly extensive, raising doubts what the actual reason is.