Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 6 (Reporter Wei Yukun) In view of the phenomenon that some car owners reported an increase in tolls after the cancellation of provincial toll stations on expressways, Li Aimin, vice president of the Highway Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, said on the 6th that the overall burden of vehicle tolls would not increase after the "withdrawal of stations".
Li Aimin introduced that China’s expressways are charged on a provincial basis. Before the "withdrawal of the station", the closed charging system was mainly adopted. The bus was charged according to the model and the weight of the truck, according to the path and mileage, and the account was split by sections. Specifically, vehicles entering the expressway will get a pass card with their vehicle and station information at the entrance or write the entrance information into ETC, and after the exit returns the pass card or reads and writes ETC information, they will pay the toll according to their mileage, vehicle type or weight.
Li Aimin said that except for Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sichuan and other provinces, which have realized accurate toll collection and account dismantling, most provinces adopt the shortest path toll collection. In other words, no matter how far you actually go, you will collect the toll according to the shortest path between the starting point and the end point.
"For example, from Anyang in the north of Henan to Nanyang in the south, you can access it through multiple highway paths, and you can take any road you want, but when charging, you will charge according to the mileage of the shortest path and multiply it by the rate standard. This is the shortest path charging." Li Aimin said that as the scale of the road network becomes larger, it is difficult for this charging system to reflect the principle of fairness in how many roads to take and how much to pay.
Li Aimin said that after the "withdrawal of the station", new portal frames were built along the expressway whenever the traffic volume changed, and each portal frame was responsible for collecting the fees of the section where it was located, which realized accurate charging by sections, that is, how much money was paid for how many roads it took. Therefore, the toll of vehicles that walk a long section between two points will increase compared with the toll charged according to the shortest path before.
"In addition, the rounding rule of the toll amount has also been adjusted from the original rounding to’ 0 yuan and 5 yuan’ to the rounding of ETC vehicles to’ points’ and the rounding of manual toll vehicles to’ yuan’, and the corresponding toll amount will also rise and fall." Li Aimin explained that, for example, from the original place A to the second place, the toll rate was multiplied by the mileage, and the actual toll was rounded up to 10 yuan, and if it was 12 yuan, it would also be rounded up to 10 yuan. After "withdrawing the station", 8 yuan will accept 8 yuan, and 12 yuan will accept 12 yuan. Compared with the original charging system, accurate charging is more accurate and fair.
Which models’ charges will change after the "withdrawal"? Li Aimin said that the charging standards for some buses have been significantly reduced, and the overall burden of charging trucks by vehicle type has not increased.
In May 2019, the Ministry of Transport issued the revised Classification of Toll Vehicles on Toll Roads, which clarified that the classification limit value of Class 1 and Class 2 passenger cars was revised from the approved number of passengers of 7 to 9 and the vehicle length was less than 6 meters. In July of that year, the Ministry of Transport issued a notice, clarifying that the new charging standard will be implemented from January 1, 2020.
Li Aimin said that since January 1st, 8-seat and 9-seat minibuses have been charged according to Class I bus, and the charging standard has been reduced by 1/3 to 1/2 on average, and the toll burden has dropped significantly. There are also some provinces that implement downshifting charges for passenger cars. For example, class 2 buses in Shanghai are charged according to class 1 buses, while class 4 buses in Guangdong Province are charged according to class 3 buses, and the charging level of the corresponding buses in these areas has also been significantly reduced.
In the aspect of freight car charging, from January 1st, the freight car charging method was adjusted from charging by weight to charging by car (axle). The Ministry of Transport, together with relevant departments, has issued a notice to urge and guide all localities to take the total weight of local vehicles and goods weighted by mileage in 2018 as an important basis, and organize forces to conduct in-depth research and analysis on the rate adjustment schemes of all localities, and urge all localities to realize that the truck charging standard is at least 10% lower than the full load.
"After charging by vehicle type, the same charging standard will be implemented for vehicles with the same axle, no matter how many vehicles are loaded. For fully loaded vehicles, the fee will be significantly reduced; For no-load vehicles and light-load vehicles, the fee may increase. It is recommended that relevant enterprises strengthen the transportation organization and enjoy the policy dividend of adjusting the charging method by increasing the actual load rate. " Li Aimin said.
Li Aimin introduced that, on the basis of continuing to implement the "green passage" policy for the transportation of fresh agricultural products, the Ministry of Transport has jointly issued a notice with relevant departments, explicitly requiring all localities to comprehensively promote preferential policies and measures such as differentiated expressway charges, so as to comprehensively improve vehicle traffic efficiency and reduce the burden of vehicle tolls.