Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Geoff Upson: Rodney Local Board member and roading campaigner on the potential introduction of widespread road user charges

Transcript

Geoff Upson: Rodney Local Board member and roading campaigner on the potential introduction of widespread road user charges · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Government shifting all light vehicles off fuel excise and into
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the road user charges system the rucks from as early
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: as twenty twenty seven. There's a bunch of other stuff
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: going on too, like more toll roads coming your way,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: new toll roads, I should add, so it's not like
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: they're going to toll existing ones. And also council is
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: going to get more power to up parking fines. Jeff
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Upson is the Rodney Local board member and road safety campaigner.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: He's with US Live this morning.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Jeff, morning, right, how are you doing? Good?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Good, Good to have you on the show. What do
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: you reckon about everyone? It's an even playing field with
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the rucks, I suppose.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean it's a fear system. So what
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: it means is that it doesn't matter how big your
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: engine is, you're now going to be paying per kilometer traveled.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: And this is a system that we've had for years,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: for decades for all diesel vehicles, and obviously all the
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: battery powered cars have now moved to the system as well,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: where where they pay a rate per kilometer t on
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: the roads. And and so this way we will be
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: able to collect the money will still be collected for
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: road maintenance, you know, fixing potholes. Unfortunately, when labor gets
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: back in, it'll be used for building speed bumps. Again,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not looking forward to that part of it,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: but in the meantime it will be used for road maintenance. Yeah.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: What about the if you're filling up a lawn mower
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: or a boat or something at the petrol station, would
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: that be cheaper then?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Well? Absolutely, yeah, because at the moment, if you're filling
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: up your boat or your law mower or you know,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: your you're whatever you're filling up, you're paying road tax
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: on that. And so, so what what it means is
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: that once this shift happens, it'll be cheaper to mow
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: your lawns, It'll be cheaper to take the boat out fishing,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: It'll be it'll be when quad bikes on the farm.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: So so farming will then become a little bit cheaper,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: which which will obviously help the the food production costs.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I suppose the worry would be people who can't afford
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to pay them. You know, I can't apport forward to
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: pay the road user charges.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this is something that I've been talking
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: about since March when Simon Brown originally announced it in
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the government policy statement on Transport, and I have heard
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: from from certain people that it will be quite difficult,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: you know, especially the lower socio economic areas. It'll be
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: quite difficult for people to manage manage their spending, you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: because at the moment it's very simple. You know, you
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: fill up your car at the pump and everything is included.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Whereas this new system, it does mean that people will
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: have to pay for the petrol at the pump and
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: then they have to pay for their kilometers separately. I
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: have heard there's a bit of issue there, and I've
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: heard that people are going to try and steal from
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: the government, you know, which already happens with diesel vehicles,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: where people wind their speedos back to try and get
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: away without paying the road user charges and things like that.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: But I think, I mean that that is a reality
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: that is going to happen. But I think with modern
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: technology now it's a lot more difficult to wind your
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: speedo back. And also every time a vehicle goes in
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: for a war on a fitness that they'll be checking
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: the kilometers and if a vehicle is at arears, this
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: is it already happens with diesel vehicles, if a vehicle
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: is in areas the transport agency simply sends an invoice
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: for the different kilometer, So wherever you're overdue, yeah.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Kind of comes out in the wash. Jeff, thank you
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: for that. Jeff Upson, Rodney Local Board member, just the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: guy that is to draw giant penises on the road
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: to identify where the potholes were so that they would
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: get fixed. He is now with the Rodney Local Board.
• 3:36
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• 3:39
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• 3:42
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