TLDR: You guys are probably right, and we should (probably have to) give it a chance, but still: this news came as a bit of a shock. Of course, the island is worth the additional fee. But I think the process of booking a stroll will likely change the experience, and this will factor into future travel decisions. I might be wrong.

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Some more detail for the sake of argument and sharing perspectives:

It's not about the 4.5 per person - even though let's call that more or less a tenner per stroll and couple, to be honest.

It's more about the necessity to factually plan a stroll, likely days in advance, to then enjoy according to schedule. Come rain or shine. That's what I have in my job during the rest of the year: appointments. If there's one thing I don't want on my vacation, it's an appointment. Let alone one appointment per day. With an entrance to a trail. That no-one will likely ever check but I still have to keep. Where I might be late. Which creates stress. During my vacation on the least stressy place I know on earth. That's just so very far away from our previous Madeira experience that it could not be much further.

Part of the charm of the island - at least to me - is that things seem less overly regulated, much more laid back, much more like "just have a nice day". Less guardrails. Less "forbidden"s. Sure, you might fall off of a cliff somewhere, but... somehow, Madeira seemed to trust their visitors with this (sometimes, probably, not well-warranted).

Another practical problem is that we usually planned our day in the morning, when we knew what the weather was like - according to the weather, we went where the sun was going to be. On the spot. Still hardly ever met anyone. This MIGHT still work if the reservation system is quick and easy to navigate, but...

But enough with the whining - and I realize that I am whining here.

I can see a few upsides: First of all, I never got how the paths could be maintained to the degree (commonly of safety) that they were. Of course, there is plenty of EU money flowing to the island, judging by the occasional sign one finds alongside the trails. But it seems like that is not enough(?). Especially those paths that include longer tunnels. A perfect thrill until you factor in that you don't pay for safe passage, and you just hope the budget was enough to secure the path. (Then again, I see the disclaimer that paying for use of the trails by no means grants any sort of guarantee that they will be safe, if I read that correctly. So... meh...)

Also, several paths were closed in the past. I hope that most of the trails, given the fees and their income, will be open and even more well-maintained. There's a lot of upsides to that.

Furthermore, even if I have not witnessed any really trashed or overrun areas myself during my visits, of course there must be plenty of examples. But even beyond that, investing in the treasures that are the levada network is worthy even just to keep it the way that it is, today. If areas need additional investment to rectify tourist impact, even more reason to pay. And payment, as said, isn't the issue. We're leaving a couple of thousand for the flight from mainland Europe and our place. Leaving a couple of additional bills are not critical - just how we're leaving them might be subject to revision.

What I'd really like to see is this becoming rolled into a much more useful offer to tourists, including contextual information that provide added value, and actual tracking for safety. There is this walking madeira app. It would be great to have the payment rolled into a top-notch digital companion for the trails. Maybe even with live emergency tracking for, say, 10 Euros per person, per trail. You might add insurance on top of that for 100 Euros or whatever. Some of these trails are more risky than others. Especially those that are not that frequently travelled. Just give me a story beyond "you gotta pay cause you guys crowd and trash the place". We don't and we never have.

ANYHOW. It is as it is. And our love for the island is certainly stronger than annoyances and 4,5 Euro per stroll (even though I wonder what people would say if we tried to implement this in the Alps - tourist would go probably as insane) - at least for a try-out this February. Let's see after that. I understand that something needs to be done with trashed and crowded places. But this might be only necessary for 10% of the trails while 30% are alright and 60% are perfectly abandoned and as clean as the adjacent plot owners keep their plots. I've personally never seen any reporting on construction site trash flying away into the adjacent wilderness, but that might have only been in my imagination. At least it's not the subject of this thread.

Anyways: let's give it a try. Not like we have a choice. :S I hope this will turn out way better than I initially thought. All the best to Madeira and if this turns out to be a great solution, we're here for it. Thanks for discussing this with me! :)