The trucking industry is effectively being subsidised by other road users, says the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide.
Commenting after the government announced plans to allow trucks of up to 50 tonnes on public roads, Dog & Lemon Guide editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says:
“The government’s transport strategy is being driven by trucking industry lobbyists, and the average motorist is the loser.”
“According to the government’s press release, it will cost between $85 to $100 million extra to strengthen bridges and roads used by 50 tonne trucks. This is a nonsense figure.”
“Transit New Zealand has stated that a 50 tonne truck will cause 40,000 times the road wear of a 1 tonne vehicle. By comparison a 44 tonne truck will cause 23,000 times the road wear of the 1 tonne vehicle. Therefore, the 50 tonne truck is expected to produce 65% more road wear per trip than the same truck loaded to 44 tonnes.” 1
“A 50 tonne vehicle does not pay 40,000 times the amount of road user charges of a one tonne vehicle. Trucking companies use the roads paid for by the average motorist, yet they don’t pay even a fraction of the cost of the damage they do.”
Matthew-Wilson believes that groups such as the Road Transport Forum are driving much of the government’s transport strategy.
“The government’s policies start to make sense when you remember that Road Transport Forum chief executive Tony Friedlander is a former National Party cabinet minister.”
The Road Transport Forum was a major donor to political parties at the last election, contributing nearly $100,000 to Labour, National and also to individual MPs.
Truck group gave $95,000 to MPs - NZ Herald
“Trucks also waste a huge amount of energy. The government’s own figures show that transporting goods by rail is over five times more efficient that transporting goods by truck.” 2
“We need to rethink the whole process of transportation instead of trying to patch a sinking ship. The government’s own figures show that the current road-based transport system is unsustainable, yet the government wants to expand this system.” 3
References:
1 In response to a written question by TV3, Transit stated: “A 50 tonne truck is expected to produce 40,000 times the road wear of a 1 tonne vehicle…By comparison a 44 tonne truck produces 23,000 times the road wear of the 1 tonne vehicle. So the 50 tonne truck is expected to produce 65% more road wear per trip than the same truck loaded to 44 tonnes. However, given a fixed amount of freight, the increase to 50 tonnes is expected to reduce the number of heavy vehicle trips required to move the same quantity of freight. The net result is expected to be an increase in pavement wear of 40%.”
Transit’s website says: “Heavier vehicles pay for this extra wear through higher road user charges.”
The problem with this statement is that it’s patently incorrect: a 50 tonne truck does not pay 40,000 times the amount of road user charges of a one tonne vehicle. Therefore, large trucks are effectively being subsidised by smaller road users.
2 In 2000, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) calculated that transporting goods by road used 3.1 million units of energy to move one ton of goods one kilometre. By comparison, moving the same goods by rail used only 0.61 1 million units of energy, even allowing for the energy used when the trucks picked up the goods at the railway station.
3 “Transport consumes 219.5 PJ (44%) of energy used nationally. Freight accounts for approximately 43% of New Zealand’s transport energy use, and passenger transport 57%. In 2006 transport was responsible for 14.5 Mt of greenhouse gas emissions or 43% of New Zealand’s annual greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector. Unless action is taken, emissions from this sector are set to grow by 35% by 2030. Such an outcome is economically and environmentally unacceptable.”
Source: Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) report 2007.
