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Transport 2000 recommends freight traffic road pricing
Page 8
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The environmental transport body wants the government to revisit the idea of lorry road user charging. Roanna Avison reports.
A FREIGHT TRAFFIC road pricing scheme could improve the efficiency of road freight. almost double rail freight and increase coastal shipping, according to environmental transport body Transport 2000.
Research carried out by MDS Transmodal on behalf of Transport 2000 assumed the lowest charges would be on motorways to encourage trucks to use these rather than local roads. It found that some international freight would switch from SouthEast ports to those in Yorkshire and the North-East; rail freight would more than double: and the environmental costs of road freight would stabilise. However, the research also showed that the scheme might increase carbon emissions because some trucks would choose longer routes using cheaper roads.
Stephen Joseph, executive director at Transport 2000, says: "We'd like [the government] to revisit [lorry road user charging] with a less complex scheme."
Geoff Dossetter, external affairs director at the FTA, says: "We support road pricing, but historically we had the Lorry Road User Charge (LRUC) and that became a catalogue of broken promises."
For that reason, the FTA would be cautious about any future scheme for freight traffic alone. We support the idea of a scheme replacing the current taxation system: freight traffic needs to travel and will not be disincentivised by [a scheme]. It would just add to operational costs.
Roger King, chief executive of the RHA, says such an idea would be as unworkable as the LRUC had been. "It would also be very expensive to do it just for trucks." he says, adding that there is not enough capacity on the rails to double rail freight.