T his situation leads to compartmentalisation of the European market and the countries within it. B ut above all this mixed pattern of charging does not reflect the real cost of transport . There is a very clear discrepancy between the price which the user pays and the costs he generates. Put simply, the driver on an open country road pays exactly the same as the driver using a busy urban road in the rush hour - though the cost of the two scenarios to society is of course very different. R ecovery of the costs of infrastructure use varies greatly from one mode to another, and within each mode of transport as well.
Some users pay too much, others too little.