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Cover of Improving High Productivity Vehicle Access through Potential Charging Regimes
Improving High Productivity Vehicle Access through Potential Charging Regimes
  • Publication no: AP-R504-16
  • ISBN: 978-1-925294-92-7
  • Published: 4 February 2016

This study assessed how charging regimes could increase high productivity vehicle (HPV) access, using three case study insights.

Four charging regimes were identified and assessed:

  • the National Transport Commission’s Heavy Vehicle Charging Regime (PAYGO)
  • New Zealand’s Road User Charging (NZRUC) Regime
  • a Mass Distance Location (MDL) Charging Model
  • a Corridor or Area Charging Model.

The analysis found that:

  • PAYGO delivers stability and underlying support for increasing HPV access. Its national approach cannot recompense road managers for freight upgrade investment, and within category subsidies exist.
  • NZRUC aligns HPV road use impacts with a corresponding mass distance charge for road cost recovery. Charge levels are derived from the extensive information from its distance licence sales. NZRUC delivers a fairer charging, more flexible but higher resource cost system, while facilitating HPV use.
  • MDL remains a conceptual road charging approach, without any trials to establish its viability and practicality. Its potential to recover HPV road impact costs by route segment rather than nationally at reasonable costs is not known. A trial to prove MDL practicality and effect on increased HPV access could be progressed.
  • A road, corridor or area charging regime could be introduced to complement the PAYGO or NZRUC regime, but not the MDL model. Progressing this concept requires significant matters being addressed.

It was found that A-doubles are the most efficient form of HPV, with logistics constraining about 40 percent of long distance HPVs from using the major case study inland freight route.

Four types of related research are suggested, including for the effect of increasing HPV access on freight contestable rail corridors.

  • Summary
  • 1. Purpose of HPV Charging Regime Assessment
    • 1.1. Rationale for This Study
    • 1.2. Project Context
    • 1.3. Working Papers Outline
      • 1.3.1. WP 1 Case Study Option Identification
      • 1.3.2. WP 2: Case Studies Investigation
      • 1.3.3. WP 3: Potential Charging Regimes
    • 1.4. Concurrent Austroads Project
  • 2. HPV Characteristics and Benefits
    • 2.1. HPV Types and Access
      • 2.1.1. HPV Types
      • 2.1.2. HPV Access History and Potential Impacts
      • 2.1.3. Guideline Infrastructure Cost Effects
    • 2.2. Benefits and Use of HPVs
      • 2.2.1. Austroads Strategic Overview of Benefits
      • 2.2.2. Balancing Strategic Benefits with Access Impacts
      • 2.2.3. Road Freight Operators and HPV Operational Matters
    • 2.3. Freight Commodities and their Freight Trailer Types
    • 2.4. Take-up Rates and Upper Bounds of Higher Order HPVs
      • 2.4.1. Upper Bounds
      • 2.4.2. Confidence Intervals
      • 2.4.3. Take-up Rates
      • 2.4.4. Application
    • 2.5. Discussion
  • 3. Case Studies and HPV Access
    • 3.1. Interstate Route (Moree to Roma)
      • 3.1.1. Description
      • 3.1.2. Travel Demand and Characteristics
      • 3.1.3. IFR Function
    • 3.2. Queensland Inland Freight Route
      • 3.2.1. Description
      • 3.2.2. Travel Demand and Characteristics
      • 3.2.3. An Inland Freight Route Function
    • 3.3. PBS2B Brisbane to Toowoomba Case Study
      • 3.3.1. Route Description
      • 3.3.2. Travel Demand and Characteristics
    • 3.4. EQIFR and Bruce Highway Description
      • 3.4.1. The EQIFR Proposition
      • 3.4.2. EQIFR Heavy Vehicle Volumes
      • 3.4.3. Bruce Highway and EQIFR Travel Times and Distances
    • 3.5. Route Diversion to an EQIFR from Increased HPV Access
      • 3.5.1. Freight Diversion to an EQIFR
      • 3.5.2. Advantages of an Inland Freight Route
    • 3.6. Discussion
  • 4. Case Studies Costs and Economic Evaluation
    • 4.1. EQIFR Infrastructure for Increased HPV Access
      • 4.1.1. Guideline Infrastructure Funding for the EQIFR Inland Freight Route
    • 4.2. Background to the Economic Evaluation
    • 4.3. The Case Study Proposal and Scenarios
    • 4.4. Current Traffic Volumes and Composition
    • 4.5. Methodology
      • 4.5.1. Overall Approach
      • 4.5.2. Operational Aspects
      • 4.5.3. Upgrade Capital Costs
    • 4.6. Choice of Discount Rate
    • 4.7. Treatment of non-HPV benefits
    • 4.8. Results and Discussion
    • 4.9. Interstate Freight Route Evaluation
    • 4.10. Brisbane Toowoomba PBS2B Freight Route
      • 4.10.1. Coastal (Bruce Highway) Freight Route
    • 4.11. Discussion
  • 5. Bruce Highway Long Distance Heavy Vehicles
    • 5.1. Survey Methodology, Site Location and Duration
      • 5.1.1. Survey Methodology
      • 5.1.2. Survey Location and Duration
    • 5.2. Survey Analysis
      • 5.2.1. Commodity Classification
      • 5.2.2. Vehicle Combinations
      • 5.2.3. Trailer Classes
    • 5.3. Bruce Highway Survey Results
      • 5.3.1. Summary Outputs
      • 5.3.2. Through Running Heavy Vehicles
      • 5.3.3. Through Running Heavy Vehicle Characteristics
    • 5.4. Route Commodity Type and EQIFR Potential
      • 5.4.1. Bruce Highway Freight Commodities
      • 5.4.2. Diversion Flexibility
      • 5.4.3. East West Commodity Types
    • 5.5. Discussion
  • 6. Road Freight Operational Model
    • 6.1. Purpose and Aim
      • 6.1.1. Other Road Freight Models
    • 6.2. RFOM Design
      • 6.2.1. Combinations and Type
      • 6.2.2. Scenarios
      • 6.2.3. Design Elements
      • 6.2.4. Data Sources
      • 6.2.5. Approach
      • 6.2.6. Assumptions and Data
      • 6.2.7. Depreciation Rates
      • 6.2.8. Output of RFOM
    • 6.3. RFOM Outcomes
    • 6.4. Validating the RFOM Outputs
      • 6.4.1. Table 6.1 Combination Efficiency Overview
      • 6.4.2. HPV Tipper Combination Payload Efficiency
      • 6.4.3. HPV EQIFR Access Effects
      • 6.4.4. HPV Tipper Combination Capex Efficiency
      • 6.4.5. HPV Tipper Combination Trip Costs
    • 6.5. Freight Strategies and Facilitating HPV Access
      • 6.5.1. Bruce Highway and EQIFR Freight Competitiveness
      • 6.5.2. Increasing EQIFR Competitiveness with HML A-doubles
      • 6.5.3. Increasing EQIFR Competitiveness with Higher Order HPVs
      • 6.5.4. The Show Stopper
    • 6.6. Facilitating HPV Access and Charging Regimes
      • 6.6.1. Key RFOM Lessons for HPV Access
      • 6.6.2. Volumetric Loading
      • 6.6.3. Distinct Approaches to HPV Access and Charging
  • 7. Potential Charging Schemes Assessment
    • 7.1. Potential HPV Access Charging, Funding and Investment Regimes
      • 7.1.1. Local Roads Not Considered for Charging Regimes
      • 7.1.2. Potential Charging Regimes
    • 7.2. National Transport Commission and PAYGO
      • 7.2.1. PAYGO Outline
      • 7.2.2. PAYGO Heavy Vehicle Charges Determination
      • 7.2.3. Selected Current HPV Registration Charges
      • 7.2.4. Key Aspects of PAYGO
      • 7.2.5. PAYGO Efficiency Factors
      • 7.2.6. PAYGO Effectiveness Issues
      • 7.2.7. PAYGO and Facilitating HPV Access Options
    • 7.3. Mass Distance Location Charge
      • 7.3.1. Background and Context
      • 7.3.2. MDL’s Rationale and Potential Benefits
      • 7.3.3. 2006 Sixty-Three Link Case Study
      • 7.3.4. MDL Issues
      • 7.3.5. Progressing the MDL Beyond an Economic Concept
      • 7.3.6. Using a HPV Class for the Trials
    • 7.4. New Zealand Road User Charge
      • 7.4.1. Freight, the Economy and Freight Planning
      • 7.4.2. Road Charging, Funding and Investment
      • 7.4.3. Local Roads
      • 7.4.4. The NZRUC
      • 7.4.5. Facilitating HPVs in New Zealand
      • 7.4.6. Discussion
    • 7.5. Corridor or Area Charge for HPVs
      • 7.5.1. Purpose
      • 7.5.2. Rationale
      • 7.5.3. Rationale and Competition Policy
      • 7.5.4. Western Australia’s Area or Corridor Charging Mechanism
      • 7.5.5. Application Potential and Matters Arising
      • 7.5.6. Managing Road and Corridor Charging Risks
    • 7.6. NZRUC and PAYGO and Facilitating HPV Access
    • 7.7. MDL and Facilitating HPV Access
      • 7.7.1. Complexity and Outcomes Sought
      • 7.7.2. Forward Looking
      • 7.7.3. Trade-offs for Outcomes
    • 7.8. Collect Revenue on Use and Distribute by Need Policy
      • 7.8.1. Revenue on Use, Funding on Need Context
      • 7.8.2. MDL and Transparent Road Segment Charging
      • 7.8.3. Clear and Coherent Objectives
  • 8. Conclusions and Next Steps
    • 8.1. Key Project Aspects
      • 8.1.1. Case Studies
      • 8.1.2. The Road Freight Operational Model
      • 8.1.3. Two Day Bruce Highway Survey
      • 8.1.4. Economic Evaluation
      • 8.1.5. Charging Regimes
    • 8.2. Findings
      • 8.2.1. HPV Efficiency
      • 8.2.2. Facilitating HPV Access by Charging Regimes
      • 8.2.3. Road Freight Operator and HPVs
      • 8.2.4. Forecasting Heavy Vehicle Diversion to Inland Freight Routes; Numbers Not Enough
      • 8.2.5. Economic Evaluation Results
      • 8.2.6. Road Freight Operator HPV Costs and Charging Limits
      • 8.2.7. PBS2B A-double Access
      • 8.2.8. Charging Regimes, HPV Access and Jurisdictional Freight Strategies and Policy
      • 8.2.9. Monitoring Mass, Distance and Location in Real Time
      • 8.2.10. Charging and HPV Policy Matters
    • 8.3. Other Matters for Consideration or Research
      • 8.3.1. A-double Access
      • 8.3.2. Separating ‘Catch Up’ and Guideline Infrastructure for HPV Access
      • 8.3.3. Higher order HPVs and Overtaking
      • 8.3.4. Bridge Costs for HPV Access
      • 8.3.5. Economic Evaluation of HPV Access
      • 8.3.6. Local Government Roads
  • Glossary and List of Acronyms
  • References
  • Appendix A 2006 HV Charges on 63 Road Segments
  • Appendix B WA Road Maintenance Contribution Policy
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