A summer charge on Norway's otherwise free ferries in Nordland raised twice as much as planned, but about a third of it came from local residents rather than tourists, public broadcaster NRK reports.
The government made almost all ferry routes free three years ago, which led to long tourist queues. Nordland county council brought in summer fares this year, with drivers using AutoPass tags paying only for their first six trips on each route, to protect regular local users. It hoped to raise about 17 million kroner and took in 34 million.
Halvard Henriksen, a business owner on the island of Vega, said locals had been promised free ferries and warned the charge could put people off moving there. Labour county politician Odd Arnold Skogsholm said islanders had been hit hard. Transport chief Richard Dagsvik of the Progress Party called the extra income a bonus for the county.
Source: NRK
Photo: Graddiselva river in Junkerdalen, Saltdal, Nordland, Norway, 2018 September by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative image of Nordland.
