Press release No. 009 of 8 January 2021

Truck toll mileage, December 2020
+4.4% on the previous month (calendar and seasonally adjusted)
+6.4% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
+5.5% compared with the average of the period from March 2019 to February 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 4.4% in December 2020 compared with November 2020. The calendar adjusted truck toll mileage was 6.4% higher than in December 2019. Compared with the average of the 12 month period before the coronavirus crisis broke out in Germany (March 2019 to February 2020), it was up 5.5% after seasonal and calendar adjustment.

Close connection between truck traffic and short-term economic development

Economic activity produces and requires transport services. Therefore, the truck mileage on motorways reflected by the index is closely connected with industrial production in Germany and provides early indications of short-term economic trends.

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. Because of the considerable uncertainty about the economic development and the high demand for up-to-date short-term economic data due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Office for Goods Transport and the Federal Statistical Office are currently updating the results every week (on Thursdays). 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 (updated every week).

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