Morocco’s Motorway Card Price Hike Sparks Outrage Among Locals and Expatriates

The "Jawaz" card sold for 50 dirhams with an initial credit of 40 dirhams has gone up to 80 dirhams without any included credit, causing outrage among road users. "I was surprised by the new price. I bought the card for 80 dirhams while it was completely empty. It is a blatant greed and exploitation of consumers, especially since we do not use it daily," fumes Abdelilah, a professional driver between Casablanca and Fez, met by the website Al3omk. "The Jawaz lanes have become more numerous than the cash payment ones, which forces us to buy the card to avoid long queues, even though it was not a personal choice," denounces Zineb, an employee who travels regularly between Rabat and Kenitra.

Moroccans residing abroad (MREs) also express their discontent. "I thought the card still cost 50 dirhams and included credit, but I was surprised by the price of 80 dirhams without any compensation. I will be spending less than a month in Morocco and I don’t see the logic of paying this amount," irritates Abderrahmane, a resident in France. "At this precise time, thousands of Moroccans from abroad are returning, and raising prices now gives us the impression that we are simply a source of profit and nothing else," laments Youssef, who came from Belgium. According to a lawyer at the Rabat bar, the adoption of digitalization in the motorway sector is "a good thing", but the problem lies in the transformation of prepayment into a mandatory tool.

This model is acceptable for services like telephone or electricity, where consumption is linked to a fixed rate, but "motorway travel is linked to specific and irregular circumstances," explained the legal expert, stating that the imposition of prepayment as the only option "violates the contractual relationship between the consumer and the company." He added that people harmed by waiting in cash payment queues, due to the reduction in the number of counters, have the right to go to court and claim compensation for the damage suffered. Also, he called for exempting users from payment on sections undergoing work and diversions, considering that the service offered in these cases does not meet the conditions of safety and fluidity.

According to Dr. Bouazza Kherrati, president of the Moroccan Federation of Consumer Rights, this increase is a "blatant greed." He accuses the National Motorway Company of having "turned into a predatory company seeking quick profit at the expense of the vulnerable consumer." He strongly criticized the chosen timing - the return of MREs to the country. According to him, ADM is exploiting the return of MREs, which pushes some of them to prefer other destinations offering better quality and better service at reasonable prices. Kherrati urges road users to respond to this increase by boycotting: "The solution is in the hands of the citizen: is it expensive? I don’t buy it. Citizens must refuse to buy the card and opt for direct payment."