National road freight association Transporting New Zealand has welcomed Transport Minister Chris Bishop’s announcement this morning about modernising the Road User Charges (RUC) system, ahead of transitioning to universal RUC at a later date.
The announced changes will enable greater and more flexible use of technology, and private sector provision of RUC for light vehicles.
Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Dom Kalasih says that transitioning the light vehicle fleet from pay-at-the-pump fuel excise duty will be a significant undertaking, but essential to ensuring the transport system is sustainably funded.
“Having modern, well maintained transport infrastructure is essential to moving people and freight in a safe, affordable, and reliable way.”
“With an increasing number of electric, hybrid, and efficient ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles not paying fuel excise duty or contributing at reduced rates, we need reform to avoid a structural funding deficit. We simply cannot afford to have a large proportion of the light vehicle fleet not contributing fairly to the maintenance and improvement of our roads. That is a recipe for congested, unsafe, pot-holed roads.”
Kalasih says that the road freight industry has been paying and administering weight-based road user charges for heavy vehicles for nearly 50 years, and Transporting New Zealand is optimistic that the light vehicle fleet can be carefully transitioned to universal RUC without undue inconvenience or disruption to motorists.
“It’s encouraging to see the Government isn’t rushing to implement the transition, is focused on ensures the RUC system is user-friendly and accessible to lower income people and is continuing a bipartisan approach to these reforms.”
“The Ministry of Transport has been engaging with us on this change for a considerable period and it’s good to see the Minister is addressing this issue. We will continue to provide advice on how to implement the RUC transition smoothly, learning lessons from our trucking members’ experiences with paying and managing RUC.”
