Source: Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand
National road freight association Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is cautiously supporting the Land Transport (Revenue) Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today, which makes changes to the Road User Charges Act 2012 to modernise the system in preparation for transitioning all vehicles to universal RUC.
However, Transporting New Zealand is concerned about other proposals in the Bill which will enable existing roads to be tolled, and the ability to prohibit heavy vehicles from using certain roads and force them onto toll roads or face a penalty.
Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Dom Kalasih says the organisation supports moves to facilitate universal RUC. “These changes will enable greater use of technology and more flexible payment options, and also do away with the requirement to display a RUC label. This will help get our RUC system match-fit to enable tech businesses to offer low-cost products that could be rolled out to the petrol vehicle fleet in the future.”
No date has yet been set for the transition to universal RUC which Kalasih says is a significant undertaking, but essential to ensuring the transport system is sustainably funded.
Kalasih says Transporting New Zealand thinks we need to be much more cautious about other clauses in the Bill relating to tolling, particularly tolling existing roads.
“I accept that can bring forward raising the revenue to construct a new road but we’d like to see some constraints around that. Existing roads have already been paid for by road users through petrol tax and diesel Road User Charges for example, so if this approach was to progress we’d like to see that other options, like PPPs, have first been fully explored before tolling existing roads. We’d also need to have certainty that all the money that’s collected from roads is spent on roads.”
“Worse though, is a clause that could prohibit heavy vehicles from using alternative free routes, and force them onto tolled roads or else face a fine. That is fundamentally denying transport operators and drivers freedom of choice.” Kalasih said.
Kalasih says that while Transporting New Zealand will be fully supporting the clauses in the Bill relating to RUC, it will be making sure that the risk of unintended and perverse outcomes from the changes to road tolling are well thought through.
About Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand
Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is the peak national membership association representing the road freight transport industry. Our members operate urban, rural and inter-regional commercial freight transport services throughout the country.
Road is the dominant freight mode in New Zealand, transporting 92.8% of the freight task on a tonnage basis, and 75.1% on a tonne-km basis. The road freight transport industry employs over 34,000 people across more than 4,700 businesses, with an annual turnover of $6 billion.
