A proposal to increase the heavy vehicle toll multiplier in Sydney from 3 to 3.5 times higher than light vehicle tolls has been slammed by peak body, the National Road Transport Association (NatRoad).
The shock spike was announced in the final report released this week from the 2023 Independent Toll Review and NatRoad said it had failed to heed the concerns of the transport industry.
“The trucking industry has not been listened to,” said NatRoad CEO Warren Clark.
“This report is a setback for trucking businesses, which operate on extremely tight margins. The suggested increase is unjustified and mocks the essential role of trucking in our economy and our supply chain.
“Our industry simply cannot absorb these unfair and unnecessary costs, nor can we simply pass them on to customers.”
Clark said the recommendation to apply a toll to Sydney Harbour crossings for trucks, using the new higher multiplier, further exacerbates the financial burden on truck operators.
“These moves are in stark contrast to the fairer tolling system the report claims to call for.”
NatRoad has made the following points in regard to the increase in the toll multiplier:
- The report overlooks substantial evidence that the current truck toll multiplier is unsupported by data.
- A 1.5 times multiplier is sufficient to recover the cost of heavy vehicle road wear while still generating additional revenue. NatRoad’s recommended 2 times multiplier is more than reasonable and equitable. Ramping it to 3.5 times is simply using the trucking sector as a cash cow.
- Over 90 per cent of trucking operators are small and family businesses with profit margins averaging just 2 percent. Increasing the multiplier to 3.5 times places an undue burden on these operators, who already struggle with limited ability to pay and pass on costs. In a time when the sector is struggling to find drivers, this action could put the supply chain into crisis.
- The 2022 NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into road tolling found it already inequitable to charge trucks three times as much as cars, especially where trucks are compelled to use toll roads.
“We are calling on NSW Government to reject the proposed toll multiplier increase and to engage in meaningful dialogue with the trucking industry to develop a more realistic tolling system,” Clark said.
NatRoad is also asking for variable lower truck toll rates, discounts for multiple truck journeys, and exemptions for zero-emission heavy vehicles.
NatRoad does, however, agree with some aspects of the report, such as the establishment of an independent regulator and the move towards a unified and simplified tolling system, including the introduction of peak and off-peak tolls.
Meanwhile, the Transport Workers’ Union of NSW welcomed the report’s recommendation to implement a middle-class heavy vehicle classification.
The mid-class classification defines this as a vehicle which is:
- Not a car or motorbike,
- 3 metres or less in height and;
- 5 metres or less in length.
The union said this classification would provide fairer pricing for heavy vehicles using Sydney’s toll network by lowering drivers’ toll multiplier from three times that of a car to two times.
If implemented, this new tolling category will mean owner-operators of smaller heavy vehicles who are already suffering amongst a cost of living crisis, will no longer be unfairly charged for doing their essential service of keeping Sydney moving, the TWU said.