From Monday, drivers at Macedonia's toll plazas have to watch which lane they pick - or they'll be stuck, braking, and creating jams. From June 15, 2026, the lanes marked MTAG become exclusively for users with an electronic tag. The old M-CARD will no longer be accepted in those lanes.

In other words, if you pay with an M-CARD, you have to move to the appropriate lane marked for that payment method. The Public Enterprise for State Roads reminds drivers to „strictly follow the vertical and horizontal signage and the electronic boards" that split the lanes by payment type: electronic (MTAG/M-CARD), cash (CASH).

On the lanes, a green arrow means the lane is open, a red X means it's closed. The logic behind the split is sound - tags allow faster flow without stopping, which eases the load on the toll booths. Electronic tolling is the standard across Europe and should have been fully up and running here long ago.

The question is how well the change will be explained at the booths themselves in the first days. Every change like this here usually brings a few days of confusion, cars in the wrong lane, and short jams until drivers get used to it. If the signage is clear and visible, the switch will be painless. If not - the first week of the new rules will look like every first week of every new measure: chaos before it becomes habit.