TIA: Don’t hold your breath on transportation bill

Transportation Intermediaries Association policy experts also say they don’t expect to see an extension of the relaxation on hours of service regulation due to expire in September.    Policy experts at the Transportation Intermediaries Association are not optimistic about a long-term transportation bill, with the current bill due to expire July 31, TIA said in a recent conference call with Stifel’s transportation and logistics group.
   According to TIA, a lack of earmarks has made it less desirable for legislators to push forward on a bill that would require a viable funding mechanism. The impact, of course, would come in the form of higher costs for truck-based transportation, Stifel said, due to bottlenecks and poor road infrastructure.
   Meanwhile, TIA said it advocates a national motor carrier hiring standard, which would require all carrier hires to be properly registered, carry adequate insurance coverage, and maintain a higher than “unsatisfactory” safety rating. The final rulemaking regarding safety fitness determination is likely to once again be delayed, TIA said, placing shippers in an “awkward and potentially dangerous position of having to assemble the pieces of the carrier safety mosaic on their own.”
   TIA also noted the relaxation of the 34-hour restart provision of the hours-of-service rules is due to expire at the end of September, and that an extension may not be passed. Stifel estimates failing to extend the relaxation would create a 2 to 3 percent decrease in driver productivity.
   TIA added it is unlikely that a speed limiter mandate would be fully implemented within the next three to four years.