Road cost recovery from heavy vehicle operations in Australia has been the subject of further studies in addition to the eleven studies summarized by Ogden (Transport Reviews, 1988, 8, 101–123). The recent adoption of increased mass and dimension limits for heavy vehicles has also resulted in some changes to road cost recovery.
As of January 1987 a new Federal Interstate Registration scheme became effective. The level of charges have been reviewed in 1987 and 1989 by an Inter‐State Commission, and have resulted in further changes in road cost recovery.
The paper reviews these changes and recent studies. The results of these studies range from the Federal Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics finding significant under‐recovery of road system costs from heavy vehicle operators to a Royal Commission into Grain Storage, Handling and Transport finding that sufficient revenues are generated by the various taxes and charges on road transport to cover the costs of any marginal increase in road freight. These variations in estimates of levels of road cost recovery are similar to the variations in annual registration fees, permit fees and fuel taxes levied by the various State and Territory Governments. These road user charges are in addition to Federal fuel excises and other general taxes.
A brief account is given of the weight distance taxes that have been used successfully in New Zealand since 1978. The paper also considers other external costs of the road freight industry such as road damage due to overloading, and road accidents. It is suggested that a growing land freight transport task and declining self sufficiency in proven reserves of liquid fuel in Australia will encourage moves to full cost recovery from heavy vehicle operations.
Road cost recovery in Australia and New Zealand
Transport Reviews ; 10 , 3 ; 215-227
1990-07-01
13 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
Unknown
Road cost recovery in Australia
Taylor & Francis Verlag | 1988
|Road Safety Audit: Progress in New Zealand and Australia
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994
|Managing the Road Asset: Managing the Road Asset in Australia and New-Zealand
British Library Online Contents | 1997
Total Cost Analysis of New Zealand Sealed Road Surfaces
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994
|Online Contents | 1994