[ferrocarraiges]

"They" are whoever holds the monopoly on violence in the region. Sometimes colloquially called a "government" or "state".

You probably don't pay them to uphold their power to close roads whenever they want, it's just a consequence of the aforesaid monopoly on violence.

If you think it's wrong, you can try to bring competition into the market, but if history is any indication you'd better make sure you have a lot of upper/middle-class people who agree with you first.