Introducing a road toll system for heavy goods vehicles would boost goods transport by rail and sea, according to a study commissioned by Transport & Environment and published on Tuesday 11 April.
The study, which was carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) and the Technical University of Madrid (known by its Spanish acronym, UPM), is based on an analysis of several German and Spanish regions carried out between March and June 2016.
Among the results supplied, the authors note that volumes transported by rail or sea tend to rise alongside the increase of road tolls for heavy goods vehicles.
In Germany, an increase of around 5% was noted for rail and sea transport, whilst a drop of just 1% was noted for road transport, a reduction described by the authors as “marginal”. They recall that the German PKW-Maut targets to support transfers from road to alternative modes of transport have not been met.
The Spanish case is biased towards rail, the study's authors point out, as track gauges are different from the rest of Europe. Even so, they calculated that extending road tolls could lead to an increase in rail freight of up to 12% in certain regions.
The study flags up other effects of road tolls for heavy goods vehicles. They lead to greater efficiency in the road haulage sector as, due to the increased financial pressure on operators, the number of empty runs falls slightly (1-2%). The same effect can be seen for the distances travelled, which are reported to stabilise rather than continue to rise.
The authors further note that there is little effect on the profits of the transport sector, with the exception of small operators. The same observation is made for economic growth, employment and product prices, which are reportedly affected only anecdotally (increasing transport costs by 15% seems to lead to overall price increases of 0.55 in Germany).
On a more negative note, however, the study concludes that the toll charges appear to cover only a fraction of the infrastructure costs and do very little to encourage the purchase and use of green vehicles.
On 31 May, the European Commission is to present a revision of the directive on the taxation of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructure (Directive 1999/62/EC) (see EUROPE 11671). T&E recommends differentiated pricing depending on distance travelled. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)