Subscribe to RSSTruckies Get Simpler Road User Charge System
TRUCKIES: Not one of his better days
It’s a big deal for trucking companies.
The Government’s introducing a simplified, more modern system for recording and displaying road user charges.
Regulations that set up a process for approving providers of electronic RUC services come into effect from January 1. This will enable trucking companies to voluntarily use electronic distance recording devices to measure distance travelled.
Paper-based RUC and mechanical hubodometers will still be available for companies that prefer them. Transport operators will have the opportunity to obtain, from approved providers, electronic devices that can operate as an alternative to mechanical hubodometers and paper licences.
Transport minister, Steven Joyce, hopes this will go a long way towards reducing compliance costs and improving distance measurement for those who choose to adopt the new technology.
Many trucking companies already use electronic devices and data collection systems to manage their businesses. Provided they meet performance requirements, they will now be able to use similar technology to manage their RUC.
Road Transport Forum Chief Executive Officer, Tony Friedlander, welcomes the move as a way of easing the compliance and administration costs .
But he added: “The more important issue of how the RUC system itself can be significantly simplified in line with the RUC Working Group report is something the Forum is working on with the Minister’s officials. We look forward to this latest development foreshadowing a number of major changes which will greatly improve the way heavy vehicles are charged for their road use and help improve the efficiency of the New Zealand freight industry.”
5 Comments
This is a step in the right direction, better measurement of the loads causing damage to NZ roads means more of the actual costs of trucks on roads can be passed on to the trucking companies, rather than other road users having to subsidise them.
Hopefully the technology will also use GPS to enable speeds/speeding and tonnage/overweight monitoring as well as assess actual heavy vehicle use on various parts of the road network.
The minister said another announcement was in the pipeline when asking a patsy question in Parliament yesterday… Can’t remember what it was though…
Steven said: Other road-user charges initiatives that the Government is working on include simplification and modernisation of the road-user charges system. Proposed changes include the removal of operator-nominated weights, removal of time licences, and consolidation of vehicles that are exempt from road-user charges. All these steps and other steps that we are taking in transport will reduce compliance costs for the transport sector and help to lower the costs for exporters to get their goods to the market.
Reduce costs to exports like coal, logs and milk..? The majority being moved by rail…
There are changes to the regulation of road freight under the guise of efficiency and enhancement that is intended to shift freight from rail and coastal shipping onto road. The weight allowance for an on-road truck is to increase from 40T to 53T across two trailers.
I can’t explain how disappointed I am with the current government. While I am in favour of improving tracking of shipping movements, the push toward road shipping causes me to burst into fits of swearing.