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.

If towing a trailer, its mileage has to be noted too, doubling the administrative work of getting a rebate.

The eHubo, using its built-in GPS and map data from AA-owned GeoSmart, allows the Eroad computer to take care of calculating rebates. Fleet operators get access to the information via the internet.

But the information flow goes both ways. Eroad and International Telematics, another Auckland company with an eRUC system, called iBright, have been made authorised internet RUC sellers and distributors by the NZTA.

An Eroad customer (they pay $109 a month for a cab-mounted eHubo) can top up a truck's RUC licence via the internet and the system automatically transmits the new paid-up mileage to the eHubo.

Similarly, if a truckie at a port finds he has a heavier shipping container to haul than his licence allows, the fleet operator back at the depot can buy supplementary RUCs online and transmit them to the truck's eHubo.

Michie says these benefits, plus the greater reliability and accuracy of the eHubo compared with the mechanical kind, add up to a "conservative" return on investment of 200 to 300 per cent. Eroad has carried out a 104-truck trial over 1.6 million kilometres to prove it.

The RTF might still need convincing, but the NZTA official in charge of the RUC regime, Ian Gordon, has no doubt eRUC systems will be on the agency's road map.

Even before being urged to by the RUC review team, the NZTA began working with Eroad and International Telematics to see if their systems can make RUC collection more efficient, particularly the payment of off-road rebates, which run to $50 million a year or more.

There are a couple of key concerns. First is establishing that electronic hubodometers are accurate, which is being tested by using them in parallel with mechanical hubodometers in a handful of truck fleets.

The second is linking the NZTA's computer system in a secure fashion with those of the two eRUC providers, and determining the cost of any new systems that might be required.

"By two-thirds of the way through this year we should have some sort of feel of what is and isn't possible and what the cost would be," Gordon says.

Perhaps mindful of truckies' staunch attitude to state-imposed measures - remember last July's protest against a rise in RUCs that brought city centres to a standstill? - an eRUC system won't be forced on them.

Gordon is optimistic they'll see the "whole of business" benefits of better fleet management the systems offer. "It's certain to me it's the way of the future."

Who pays?

Road user charges are payable on:

* Vehicles with a laden weight over 3.5 tonnes.
* Lighter vehicles powered by fuel which is not taxed at source (typically diesel).

* Anthony Doesburg is an Auckland technology journalist.