Angry truckies to clog city streets
Transport Minister defends increases
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Transport Minister Annette King is defending new road charges saying they are minimal but truckies are furious at the changes and plan to clog city centres across the country tomorrow.
The nationwide protest which organisers have promised will see 1000 trucks in the centre of Auckland will disrupt commuters heading to work on Friday.
The trucks will be driven into the centre of cities between 7.30am and 9am in what trucking representatives say is the first national protest taken by the industry.
Transport Minister Annette King announced the increase in road user charges (RUC) on Monday, and they came into effect on Tuesday.
This angered truck companies who wanted notice so they could pre-purchase charge vouchers.
Ms King told Radio New Zealand today the increase was about fairness.
Car users paid for the roading system every time they bought petrol, those with diesel only paid through the charges and these had not risen to cover the costs created by trucks, Ms King said.
The increase means that for a small diesel car it will cost $3.28 more to drive 1000km, or $32.80 more for an average year's motoring of 10,000km.
For a larger vehicles, such as a three tonne SUV, it will cost an extra $49.20 per 10,000km.
A typical five tonne truck will pay an additional $53.80 per 10,000km, while a 23 tonne four-axle truck can expect to pay an additional $198.
Ms King said she had been advised to increase the charges by twice that amount.
The increases were minimal considering that large trucks did most damage on roads, responsible for a third of spending on road repairs.
"This is about fairness," Ms King said.
She acknowledged that there could be changes to the system in the future.
Ms King said their rates were raised so they would pay their fair share of the Government's $2.7 billion commitment to land transport infrastructure.
She said she did not give notice this time because when she did in 2007 there was a $17.5 million mass pre-purchase to beat the deadline.
Road Transport Forum chief executive officer Tony Friedlander said the organisation's members were outraged.
The minister had previously promised a month's notice of any increases.
"I have never known members to be so angry over any issue," he said.
The protest would disrupt commuters going to work.
Further protest action could be taken, he said.
Mainfreight managing director Don Braid said he had never seen so much anger against the government in the road transport industry.
"The lack of understanding and the lack of knowledge of what is going on in the transport scene right now by this transport minister is just unbelievable. I just don't think she understands the industry at all," he said.
Mainfreight controls one of the largest trucking fleets in the country, typically dispatching more than 100 trucks out of Auckland a day, but participation in the protest tomorrow will be a decision taken by individual owner-drivers.
"We are as angry as they are about it but it is not for us to tell a driver to forgo revenue to be in the parade. We support them if they do," Mr Braid said.
Toll NZ, the company which this week sold rail and ferries back to the government, is another big operator of trucks.
- NZPA
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Hi Annette King and the labour govt
I would like to send you an invitation to come and work the hours working our flat deck truck in the rain etc and trapping up. Become a truck driver and see the real life instead of the load of old rubbish you push thru govt. Trying to feed a family with the ever increasing costs of fuel, rucs, maintainence and interest on mortgages. I would like you to try and live on our turnover??? Sorry Annette you did promise to the road transport association back in May 2007 that the govt would give notice of another increase in rucs. Are you trying to put small business people out of business and put us on the umeployment benefit, well it is starting to get like that. OH BY THE WAY IS IT GOING BACK THIRTY YEARS TO THE RAILWAYS AND FREIGHT ONLY??? NO OWNER DRIVERS ALLOWED!!! Well you pack of back stabbers you won't be getting my vote.
Ms King makes an excellent point about drivers of petrol vehicles who have to pay for any increases in petrol prices once higher prices are announced. Is this fair on you and me who drive petrol vehicles? No its not. Yes the Transport industry is having a bad time right now, but so are Mr and Mrs Joe Blog who are struggling to even buy just the basics for their family as other prices like petrol and food keep rising weekly thanks to inflation. Ms King is right about trucking companys wanting notice so they can pre-purchase and avoid any price rises for several months. If this new RUC prices helps remove trucks from the roads and puts freight onto trains, then its a good thing as they cause more road damange which in turn is the reason councils and LTNZ are paying more for road repairs. Trucks are also a safety issue. I think the new instant price rise is very fair considering how petrol drivers are struggling to live with constant price rises.
Have New Zealanders really become so short sighted? Fuel costs are going up everywhere - there's a world fuel/food crisis. Petrol prices aren't going to come down, no matter how much you winge at the government. NZ's transport system is poor and the government is attempting to rectify this by purchasing the rail systems. Trucks do the majority of damage on the roads therefore shouldn't they pay the majority of maintenance costs, costs will get put onto the consumer eventually. Protest is fine but disrupting other people's ability to get to work isn't fair!
We support you truckies, but why not go a step further, hold a strike, cripple the country for a few days!
One would hope that fire engines an ambulances will be able to travel unimpeded.
Perhaps the added charges are there to decrease the supply of trucks used for transport to encourage more carbon efficient forms of transport?
If you think you can be a better politician than the current bunch why not give it a go?
Just exactly who is tossing their toys? The truckies didn't get 30 day warning of a piddling increase in charges - oh dear, how sad - so now they're going to stuff the rest of us up and cause major disruption and loss of productivity. This reaction helps nothing - the rate rise stays in place. Just what positive effect will it have? None I can think of. As a display of how much a minority can disrupt the majority it'll be quite impressive - pity it won't achieve anything useful. Think it through truckies, don't be sheep.
Go the TRUCKIES! Ive had enough of this SICK goverment. Its about time someone stood up to them! excuses excuses they keep shelling out! The economy is heading steadily down!
about time truck drivers paid there way
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What are the Govt thinking?! Most of NZ's goods are distrubuted by trucks. This effects everyone in NZ. So the price of fuel and road users go through the roof, and transport companies have to pass this. Its hard enough now the way things are going. This is just going to make things even worse. Then we have owner drivers trying to keep there heads above water. Transport companies put there rates up but this doesn't filter through to the poor old owner drivers! Escalating fuel prices and now this from Annette? When is it going to stop? Most owner drivers can't even break even with mortages against there business. I hope the Govt think of the poorer NZ'ers who can't afford to live now. Hardly, good ridence Labour!