Press release No. 443 of 9 November 2020

KÖLN/WIESBADEN – The Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG) and the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) report that the mileage covered by trucks with four or more axles, which are subject to toll charges, on German motorways increased by a seasonally and calendar adjusted 0.3% in October 2020 compared with September 2020. In a year-on-year comparison, the calendar adjusted truck toll mileage in October 2020 was up 1% on October 2019. As there is a strong connection between truck mileage and industrial production in Germany, the index provides an early indication of the short-term economic trends in October 2020.

The corona crisis has affected the development of the truck toll mileage index in the last few months. Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, truck toll mileage in October 2020 was 2.5% lower in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms.

Close connection between truck traffic and short-term economic development

Economic activity generates and requires transport services - there is therefore a close connection between the short-term economic development and truck traffic on German roads. As part of truck toll collection, digital process data are generated, for example, on the mileage of trucks subject to toll in Germany. The Federal Office for Goods Transport has developed the truck toll mileage index which reflects the development of mileage over time. Due to its rapid availability and economic meaningfulness, the Federal Statistical Office presents the index as a seasonally adjusted short-term indicator and has included the index in its publications programme since December 2018. The coronavirus pandemic has created considerable uncertainty about the economic development, and there is high demand for up-to-date short-term economic data. Therefore, the Federal Office for Goods Transport and the Federal Statistical Office update the results every week (on Thursdays) while the corona crisis lasts. Presented as a time series of daily figures, the results provide a very up-to-date picture of mileage after five to twelve days.

Information on the daily truck toll mileage index can be found in the article "Daily truck toll mileage index based on digital process data from toll collection system" (only in German), which was authored jointly by the Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Office for Goods Transport and published in the 4/2020 issue of the WISTA scientific journal of the Federal Statistical Office. Also, an explanatory video and a podcast on this issue are available on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.

Release notes

The monthly results of the truck toll mileage index can be found in the GENESIS-Online database in Table (42191-0001), on the short-term indicators pages and in the Business Cycle Monitor of the Federal Statistical Office. The daily figures on truck toll mileage are available on the "Experimental data (EXDAT)" pages and on the "Corona statistics" special webpage of the Federal Statistical Office.

As part of its "toll statistics", the Federal Office for Goods Transport has evaluated toll data since January 2008. Both the size of the toll road network and the permissible total weight of vehicles and vehicle combinations subject to toll charges have changed over time. The truck toll mileage index largely eliminates such structural changes so that short-term economic trends become clearer.

Further results of the toll statistics of the Federal Office for Goods Transport are available from its publications programme, including information on the mileage of trucks subject to toll broken down, for instance, by country of registration or pollutant category. Due to the broader range of data offered and the increased evaluation effort involved, the monthly toll statistics are usually published after the truck toll mileage index. The statistics are not adjusted for seasonal effects or structural changes in toll collection, as is done in the index calculation.

Bundesamt für Güterverkehr:
Michael Cox,
tel: +49 (0) 221 / 5776-21 06
www.bag.bund.de