From September 1, 2023, travel on toll sections of the M-3, M-4 and M-11 roads became free for school buses and buses carrying out organized transportation of groups of children.
To use the passage without charging a fee, you need to send an application to the owner of the road at least 5 working days before the start of transportation (on sections M-3, M-4, as well as M-11 operated by UTS from 59 to 545 km - to the Avtodor State Company to the email address info@russianhighways.ru, and for travel along the M-11 section from 15 to 59 km - to the email address info@unitoll.ru). Before the New Year holidays the applications are admitted till December 28, if sent later they will be considered from January 9, 2024.
The application must contain information about the organizer of transportation of children and his contact details, as well as:
- information about the bus/buses indicating the make, model, state number;
- transportation route with the name of the toll road (toll sections of roads) along which the route for transporting children passes, the place of entry and exit from the toll road, the date and time of the start of transportation of children (if several transportations of children are planned, the period for their implementation must be indicated);
- information about the unit of the State Road Safety Inspectorate (STSI) of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, to which it is planned to submit a notification about the organized transportation of a group of children and (or) an application for escorting buses by a patrol car of the traffic police unit of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, provided for in clause 3 of the Rules of the organization transportation of groups of children by buses, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated September 23, 2023 No. 1527 “On approval of the Rules for the organized transportation of groups of children by buses.”
After receiving a positive decision on the application, a school bus can travel through the toll lanes with a cashier-controller only along the route and during the period specified in the application. In areas with a barrier-free “free flow” toll system, buses are checked automatically. In this case, the bus must comply with the requirements of the Rules for the organized transportation of a group of children by bus and the Traffic Rules of the Russian Federation.