High-speed differentiated charges: will the cost of transportation drop? How to implement it?

Toll station and surrounding roads of Guangyang North Expressway in Guangxi.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Boan

Reporter Qi Hui
Recently, the Ministry of Transport, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for Comprehensively Promoting Differential Tolling on Expressways” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”). All regions will comprehensively promote differentiated tolling on expressways and improve the efficiency of expressway network traffic. , Reduce the cost of expressway travel, and promote the logistics industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
Whether differentiated charges can reduce high-speed tolls, and how to implement them, has become a hot topic that people are concerned about.
Let “good road” play a bigger role
Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country’s highway construction has achieved remarkable results. By the end of 2020, my country’s total highway mileage will reach 161,000 kilometers, and the main line of the national highway network will be basically completed, covering about 99% of the urban population. Cities and prefecture-level administrative centers with more than 200,000 yuan.
The rapid development of high-grade highways in my country, especially expressways, has greatly improved the capacity and efficiency of the highway network, met the strong demand of the logistics industry, reduced the comprehensive cost of road transportation time and other costs, and supported the reform and opening up and economic and social health. Rapid development. According to statistics, highways currently carry about 74.3% of the freight volume of the whole society. With 3.4% of the mileage, the expressway bears about 58.2% of the freight volume of the entire road network.
Although it has played a major role, the imbalance of expressways still exists.
Gu Zhifeng, deputy director of the Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, said that with the rapid increase in the number of motor vehicles and the rapid increase in passenger flow and logistics, the traffic volume in certain sections and periods of the expressway has exceeded the designed capacity, resulting in slow congestion. At the same time, some related road sections and time periods have relatively little traffic flow, and there are certain road resources that are idle.
For example, some truck drivers for long-distance transportation are more willing to choose national and provincial roads to transport goods because of higher tolls, which increases the pressure on national and provincial roads, idles the traffic resources of the expressway, and pays more for individuals. Time cost, and fuel costs have also increased, which is not conducive to cost reduction and efficiency increase in the logistics industry, and it is also not conducive to energy conservation and emission reduction.
“The differentiated expressway toll is to charge tolls for some vehicles on expressways using different standards, and use price levers to guide the scientific diversion of vehicles such as congested sections and congested periods to achieve staggered travel and further improve the traffic efficiency of the road network. Promote logistics cost reduction and efficiency enhancement.” Gu Zhifeng said.

The “Plan” clarifies the development of differentiated charging in six situations, including road sections, vehicle types (types), time periods, entrances and exits, directions, and payment methods, innovating service models, scientifically and accurately formulating differentiated charging plans, and comprehensively promoting differences The toll collection will allow the public to share more of the dividends of highway reform and development. Will not increase the burden of travel So, after the implementation of differentiated tolls, will some road sections increase tolls? In this regard, Gu Zhifeng said that the purpose of differentiated fees can be summarized in six words: flow adjustment, fee reduction, and efficiency improvement. The “Plan” also makes it clear that when formulating and implementing policies to promote differentiated expressway tolls, all localities must adhere to the principle of based on the current toll standards and the principle of downward differentiation; the current government pricing must be adjusted to guide prices, and existing government pricing must be adjusted to guide prices. Government pricing and charging standards are the upper limit, giving expressway operation and management units a certain degree of autonomy in pricing. Judging from the previous pilot situation, this principle has basically been realized. According to Gu Zhifeng, since 2017, the Ministry of Transport has guided many places to actively explore differentiated charges by time period, road section, and vehicle type in accordance with the actual conditions of the region, and carried out pilot work. For example, Shanxi Province offers a 30% discount on truck tolls from 8 am to 20:00 on 5 road sections including Tianda Expressway, and a 70% discount on truck tolls from 20:00 to 8:00 on the next day; Zhejiang provides Qianjiang Tunnel for passage. A 12% discount on tolls will be implemented for category 5 (5-axle) and category 6 (6-axle and above) trucks. These measures effectively played a role in cutting peaks and filling valleys, balanced the traffic volume of the road network, and did not increase travel costs. According to reports, Hubei Province began a pilot project in June 2018, and introduced measures such as extending the time for preferential tolls for passenger and truck tolls and increasing the margins of preferential tolls for two expressways, reducing logistics costs for enterprises by 600 million yuan each year. “From a practical point of view, the implementation of differentiated expressway tolls has resulted in a balanced distribution of traffic in pilot areas and sections, significantly improved road network operation efficiency, effectively reduced truck transportation costs, and effective protection of the legitimate rights and interests of highway investors, realizing multi-party mutual benefit. A win-win situation.” Gu Zhifeng said. Continuously optimize and improve the long-term mechanism According to Gu Zhifeng, according to the plan, the specific implementation steps of expressway differentiated toll collection are divided into three stages. The first is the plan formulation stage. Before the end of June, local transportation, development and reform and financial authorities will organize and coordinate expressway operation and management units, and on the basis of summing up pilot experience, comprehensive analysis and investigation, selecting qualified expressways, in-depth analysis and calculations, Formulate a differentiated fee plan scientifically and report it to the provincial people’s government for approval in accordance with the law and implement it. The second is the organization and implementation stage. Before the end of September, local transportation, development and reform, and financial authorities will supervise and guide expressway operation and management units, and earnestly organize implementation in accordance with the plan approved by the provincial people’s government, and strengthen dynamic tracking to ensure tangible results . The third is to summarize the evaluation stage. In mid-December, local transportation, development and reform, and financial authorities will organize third-party evaluations based on the implementation status, analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of the evaluation plan, optimize and improve relevant policies and measures in time, and establish and improve the differentiation of expressways. The long-term fee mechanism forms a summary evaluation report. Experts said that differentiated expressway toll collection is a reform and attempt, and the implementation of the plan will greatly increase the complexity of expressway toll collection. The tolls of different highways are different, and the tolls of different types of vehicles are different, and even the same car passing through the same section of highway will cause different tolls due to different times. Therefore, many experts suggest that, on the one hand, through continuous exploration, measures to local conditions, road conditions, and classified policies, further optimize and refine policies, establish long-term mechanisms, and enhance the effectiveness of policies; at the same time, clearly mark prices. Real-time check, so that highway users, especially car owners who don’t take the highway often, can learn about preferential information in a timely manner