TCA unveils new three-tier pricing framework for IAP and the ability for operators to use existing in-vehicle systems
April 9, 2013
A new pricing framework for the Intelligent Access Program (IAP) will be rolled out as part of changes to the scheme that include the option for carriers to use existing in-vehicle tracking systems.
Transport Certification Australia (TCA), which governs the IAP, has unveiled a new three-tier pricing model that will determine monthly operational fees based on how often a transport company uses higher mass limits (HML).
Trucking firms that only take one HML trip per month will pay nothing, while those that use a HML route up to five times in one month will pay $10. The figure rises to $33 for consistent users after unlimited usage.
“The new pricing framework, which is being introduced by TCA and IAP service providers, recognises transport operators have different needs when it comes to utilising HML access made available through the IAP,” New South Wales Roads Minister Duncan Gay, who has led the push to make IAP more attractive to the industry, says.
“The framework identifies three broad levels of HML use and introduces ways for TCA to play its part in reducing the costs of the IAP to transport operators.”
TCA Chairperson Stephen Golding says the group settled on a cap of five HML trips because the industry indicated that is the point when the cost of IAP enrolment would be covered.
“However, we recognise the diversity across the road transport sector and, for this reason, TCA will review the flexible pricing framework at the end of 2013 to make sure that these new arrangements are providing benefits to the largest possible number of transport operators,” Golding says.
“I call on all IAP service providers to pass on the cost savings that will be made available by TCA for infrequent and occasional HML use, and to offer transport operators with pricing that reflects the diverse needs of the industry.”
The change also coincides with an expansion of TCA’s entry options initiative. Initially, Toll, Boral and Simon National Carriers were given the opportunity in 2012 to present their existing in-vehicle monitoring systems to be certified to save them the need to install IAP-approved units.
“Based on the feedback received from the road freight industry, I asked TCA to open up the initiative to a wider audience,” Gay says.
Under the plan, operators will present the systems for TCA to certify against the national IAP specification. If they come up to standard, companies can keep using their own units. Gay says transport operators will not be charged for the certification process.
Gay, who has opened up 1,739km of road to HML in NSW since April 2011, says the changes will make IAP more flexible and cost effective for transport operators.
He says more than 21,270km of state, regional and local roads are now open to HML and that 827 operators were enrolled in IAP at the end of March this year. It represents a marked increase in enrolments over the space of two years, with Gay saying the figure was 591 in April 2011.
“The IAP is a national program and was introduced in NSW in 2006 to enhance road freight productivity by providing an option for truck operators wanting to operate at higher mass limits,” he says.
“It acts as both a regulatory and business tool designed to increase route and mass compliance to better help protect and preserve pavements, bridges and culverts, and to make sharing roads with heavy vehicles safer.”
