Europe leads on VMT
Charging a user fee based on vehicle-miles traveled may be controversial in the United States, but is already being implemented in several European countries.
In Germany, all heavy vehicles that drive on the autobahn are required to pay a kilometer-based fee. Most trucking companies use a satellite beacon to track the truck's journey, and the equipment is now being installed as original equipment on new trucks. The government also gives a discount for clean-burning trucks and charges extra by the axle.
A manual online payment and on-road enforcement system is available for truckers who do not want to participate in the satellite-based system.
Toll payments are in addition to existing motor fuel taxes and other fees. Half the revenues from large trucks are spent on roads, 38 percent are spent on rail and 12 percent on waterways. Average tolls are roughly equivalent to 26 cents per mile.
The Dutch government is in the process of implementing a national VMT system by 2014 (trucks would begin in 2012) and Denmark plans to start its own program in 2016.
Switzerland and Austria also have similar systems for taxing commercial vehicles.
The report says per-mile pricing would create incentives to consolidate shipments and minimize trip mileage. The German heavy-vehicle road pricing system, for example, has led to a 10 percent drop in empty miles on long-haul routes, a 7 percent increase in containers moved by train and a 6 percent increase in the purchase of tractors that emit less pollution, according to the German Ministry of Transport.
Initial findings indicate that the German pricing system has led to increased efficiency for motor carriers and provided benefits to the economy as a whole.
The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Finance Commission noted that there are significant differences between the German and U.S. freight and logistics systems but that a domestic VMT program would achieve the same results.
A VMT system could provide other benefits to motor carriers, Commission Chairman Rob Atkinson, told American Shipper.
Trucks, for example, could be designed with wireless axle-weight sensors that transfer weight data to the electronic onboard unit used for the VMT system, which would allow states to eliminate the need for truck weigh stations. Pricing could be set so that heavier trucks pay more.
Under such a system, every truck would have its own navigation system that could also help with efficient route planning. Many U.S. trucking companies already outfit their tractors with satellite-based navigation to help with fleet identification and asset utilization, while others use route-planning software to plan trips in advance.
The U.S. government, as part of a VMT feasibility study, should conduct separate demonstration programs for trucks because of the operational differences with cars, Atkinson said.
Aftermarket installation of onboard recorders may be more achievable, for example, on trucks than cars because the cost of the unit is much less relative to the overall cost of the vehicle, he said. An aftermarket device is roughly twice as expensive as one installed in a vehicle during production.
Europe leads on VMT
