Abstract:
Road user charging (RUC) has a long history as a mechanism to recover infrastructure
maintenance and capital costs. The range of fees and charges include: import taxes,
fees, registration, stamp duty, direct toll charges, congestion levies and fuel taxes. Frequently
these charges are opaque at best and the revenue generated from road users does not always
find its way back to investment in transport facilities. In recent years the fuel tax has been the
most popular method of charging users in many countries. Changing road user behaviour,
travel demands and expectations as well as technology changes all point to the need for
alternate mechanisms for road charging that encompass broader concepts integrating traffic
demand management measures, efficient and sustainable revenue sources that balance
economic, environmental and social considerations. Current charging measures are struggling
to meet these multi-stakeholder multi-objective mechanisms with issues for heavy vehicles
(HV) such as transparency, cross-subsidisation, environmental concerns and reducing
revenue due to the likes of lessening fuel tax as vehicles become more efficient. This all
results in insufficient revenue to cover cost of critically needed infrastructure.
licence
This study reviews the evolution of RUC with more emphasis on heavy vehicles and
evaluates strengths and weaknesses of the present RUC mechanisms implemented in the
world with respect to stakeholder problems and demands of the freight industry. Further, this
review describes and highlights the need for a more appropriate, practical and sustainable
approach which can be used in the future. Promising schemes are also described.
A systems approach is used to analyse the problems, identify key issues, propose a valid
solution and describe the need for improved decision support to determine the level of
charging. A model is proposed that is transparent and considers direct usage based charging
addressing most of the weaknesses highlighted in the models reviewed. Further, it considers
externalities produced by heavy vehicles into account. The model has the potential to provide
answers to key stakeholder issues and will lead to more sustainable freight transport system
in future. Encouraging fuel efficient and safe vehicles or modes of transport, optimization of
loading, routing and logistics systems, and long-term land use planning are a few of them.
