Electronic trial could see Kiwi truckies go paperless

The method of collecting road user charges on trucks is about to be overhauled. Photo / Sarah Ivey

If there's a government fee regime that's ripe for an electronic makeover, it's the collection of road user charges from the national diesel truck fleet, totalling about $800 million a year.

The signs are that's the direction truckies are headed, with an independent review of the charging system urging that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) undertake an eRUC trial.

That's music to the ears of a couple of companies that have developed electronic road user charge management systems. But the Road Transport Forum, representing trucking companies and owner drivers, is less thrilled.

The RTF wants reassurance that an eRUC system won't end up costing members more than the existing paper-based system. "At this stage we are firmly opposed until we can see that it is a practical system that offers value for money," says chief executive Tony Friedlander.

No problem, says Brian Michie, business development manager of North Shore-based Eroad, which had a "soft" launch of its system in Wellington this week.

With truck maker Hino, which contributed a new diesel-electric hybrid light truck, the pair put "the future of land transport" on display in a carpark at North Queens Wharf.

The future, as far as Eroad is concerned, is based around devices like its eHubo, an electronic replacement for the mechanical hubodometers that RUC-liable trucks and trailers now use.

The eHubo, a slightly chunkier device than the navigation systems found in many cars, displays the truck's actual mileage and the paid-up RUC mileage.

But that's not the half of it. The device connects via Vodafone's cellular network to an Eroad computer, uploading a range of data, including, most crucially, its precise location.

Location information is key to automating one of the most onerous parts of the RUC regime - the process of applying for rebates for off-road driving, for which no charge is levied. At present, each time a truckie enters a farmer's paddock to spread a load of fertiliser, say, he has to jump down from the cab and record a mileage reading off the hubodometer on the rear axle, repeating the exercise when he rejoins the public road network.

According to Michie, as much as 20 per cent of the distance travelled by a rural truck operator might be off-road and even urban operators will be off-road 5 per cent of the time.