Justin Tighe-Umbers: National Road Carriers Association Chief Executive on road user charges

The road freight industry is backing the Government's wish to have all vehicles paying electronic Road User Charges. 

It wants to do it by 2027. 

National Road Carriers Association Chief Executive Justin Tighe-Umbers says the current system means some pay less because they can afford more efficient cars. 

He told Ryan Bridge the current system isn't collecting enough revenue. 

Tighe-Umbers says we're missing out on billions for new roads and maintenance. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fueld taxes are out, road user charges are in for everyone.
The government scrapping the two tier system where petrol drivers
paid at the pump, diesel and EV's paid per kilometer
though not their fair share, and the new system will
be electronic and reflect our changing vehicle fleet according to
the government. Justin Tayumbas is the National Road Carrier Association CEO.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Justin good morning, Good morning Ran.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
What are truckies? And I know people don't like that
term anymore, but what do they think of it? What
does it mean for them?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, Look, I think what it means ultimately for truckies
road transport operators is going to be that we'll get
our roads paid for in a better way than what
we are at the moment. So there's a big leak
in the bucket, Ryan, and that's you know, we're just
not bringing in enough from the current system, from the
fuel tax at the pump where the numbers billions actually

(00:46):
in terms of what we're behind for what we need
to maintain our current network and hopefully build some better roads.
So no road freight industry will be pleased with us change.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Does it make it cheaper for road freight?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Look, we want to see the network paid for in
a fair share. And what happens when you move to
ruckers the road user charges. You start paying by weight
and distance traveled, which is actually fairer than paying for
what you pay for at the pump, because that just
depends on how efficient your petrol engine is. So road
freight will continue to want to pay for the fair share,

(01:23):
but absolutely plugging this gap, we've got cars that aren't
paying for the fair usage that will certainly make it better.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
None of this is coming until twenty twenty seven at
the earliest. Should the government be making it more of
a priority. Should it be happening sooner than that?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, you could argue that the challenges I guess is
that the government of the Crown is having to put
in grants, taxpayer money is having to go in to
prop up maintaining the road network. So certainly we need
to get on with it. That said, it's a once
in fifty year change. Every country around the world's actually
facing this problem were you've got evs and far more

(02:05):
efficient petrol engines just reducing how roading's paid for. New
Zealand's actually and we're in quite a good position because
we're world pioneers in road user charges. We were the
first to bring it out in the late seventies. We're
still a world leader on it with Electronic Rock for
how trucks pay for it, so we're actually in quite
a strong position compared to other countries.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Justin great to have you on the show. As always,
Justin taiamba's National Road Carry Association CEO.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
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