Nearly 2,000 roads in countries such as the United States, India, Indonesia or Japan will see Google Maps adding toll price estimates of the highways included in the route.
In addition to indicating whether the road is a toll road, Google Maps now adds information regarding the price of such tolls
This new option was announced during the month of April and is already starting to appear in both iOS and Android applications of Google Maps. Initially in these four countries but over time it will be gradually added to roads in other countries around the world.
On roads where this information is available it will be accessible through a new icon, in the shape of coins, which appears below the map displayed on the screen when calculating the route, next to the time and distance indication. This new option shows the price estimate for the tolls included in the roads along the route, based on the information available from the toll operation service itself.
This display of tolls can be activated and deactivated from the “Route options” menuwhere you can also see the indications to avoid tolls and freeways or ferries.
For the planner friend: this new feature is for you. 🙏
Now when you’re planning big and small trips, you can check estimated toll prices before you pick a route-and spend what you save on road snacks pic.twitter.com/Lfy8s2TXQU
– Google Maps (@googlemaps) June 13, 2022
The information related to the cost of tolls facilitates the pre-planning of journeys and routes taking into account the additional cost, as well as the money that should be carried in the car in case any of the tolls do not allow payment by card.
It also allows assign different costs to different routes depending on whether one is shorter but tolls have to be paid and another is longer but no tolls have to be added. By knowing the price of these tolls in advance, it can be established whether it is more worthwhile to spend more time on a longer route or less on a shorter one, contrasting the differences between the additional cost of tolls and the additional cost in fuel consumption of a route where there are no tolls but more gasoline will be spent.
A circumstance this last one to take very much into account in the current context, with the increasingly higher prices for gasoline and diesel, which in some cases could make it more economical to opt for a route with tolls in which the vehicle consumes less fuel because it travels less distance. This option is in addition to others already available in the application, such as showing the most environmentally friendly route.
Google has indicated that more roads in more countries will be incorporating this information, but has not provided deadlines for this.