Last month in my column, I touched on projections from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials – AASHTO. The study pointed out that logistics costs are rising and that one third of the higher costs can be attributed to delay and inefficiencies in the transportation system. It is estimated that another one third is attributed to increases in fuel prices.
Just within the last few days, two major cities have made announcements that they are looking at a “congestion toll” or “congestion fee” for vehicles utilizing certain areas of the city. New York City’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, wanted to charge $21 per truck that entered Manhattan below 86th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. He has since suggested a discount for trucks that “meet new federal guidelines for diesel engines.” That means the discounted rate would be $7 versus $21.
I’m sure that there will be many questions to answer before this idea gets off the ground. Some of them might be: do gasoline powered trucks pay $21 or $7? How are E85 vehicles affected by the toll? Can hybrid trucks get an even larger discount than the ’07 diesel powered trucks? Does the toll apply to all class of vehicles to include non-commercial trucks used for personal transportation? Do automobiles that operate diesel engines pay the same as gasoline or E85 powered vehicles? Where and how is the toll collected? And so on.
I mention that two cities made announcements. The other is Chicago, where a city councilman has introduced a resolution calling for a “hearing on the feasibility of levying a congestion fee.” No spec-ifics were mentioned, but the councilman noted that New York had made a proposal and that London, England is already doing it.
The big question is whether it will really reduce congestion or push it into another time slot. Or, is it just another way to tax the trucking industry? I just wonder if the councilman realizes how much he depends on the trucking industry to keep bread in stores and clothes on the racks. The mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, is very aware of the conflict. He was quoted by the Chicago Tribune as saying, “Let’s not rush to that and scare everybody off. We are trying to keep business here and … move business into the city.”
If you have a fleet operating within a major city, you may want to keep on top of new emissions regulations and start to think about what a congestion fee would mean to your fleet composition. Will you own more ’07 diesel engines and/or some hybrid vehicles? Nobody said your job was going to be easy.
Bob Dorn,
Publisher
