On the interactive stand of the System in the metropolitan complex “Gostiny Dvor”, visitors of the exhibition were able to get information about facilities for registered users provided by Online Customer Portal, obtain toll tickets through the website and toll collect terminals. An on-board unit completely developed in Russia was presented at the stand of the System, as well as a mobile application that will be available for use in the near future.
The forum hosted a roundtable on the following topic: “Implementation of the toll collection system for HGVs exceeding 12 tonnes of gross vehicle weight” In his report, Alexander Sovetnikov, General Director of RT-Invest Transport System LLC, said that more than 123,000 owners of about 651,000 vehicles had already registered in the System, and they obtained more than 1,123,000 toll tickets within two and a half weeks of the System’s operation.
Sergey Ten, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Transport, thanked the Federal Road Agency and the System Operator for their openness, the desire to get in touch with all participants of the freight transportation market, and said that the most important event in the transport industry over the past five years was the introduction of the toll collection system for charging HGVs exceeding 12 tonnes of gross vehicle weight, which launch began in 2011. Sergey Ten stressed that the revival of the system of road funds implied the basic “user pays” principle. He also said that the State Duma adopted amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, according to which the penalty for traffic on federal highways without payment for Russian HGV owners was reduced to 5,000 roubles for the initial violation and to 10,000 roubles for a repeated violation.
According to Valery Alekseev, the Vice-President of the Russian Motor Transport Union, the introduction of the state toll collection system revealed many problems that exist in the transport sector, such as the mass registration of several HGVs for one private individual, those people who do not possess a driving license, for example, pensioners who in principle cannot manage and use them for personal purposes, the inability of carriers to shift the cost of paying for roads to the consignment spruce, in connection with the basis of its work in the market of transportation using dumping prices, working through dispatchers for cash, inefficient logistics schemes using large runs without cargo.
Pavel Brusser, Head of the Directorate for Infrastructure Projects of Gazprombank, concluded at the end of the roundtable that the “grey” segment of the market was one of the causes of inflation. He recommended that analysts consider both direct inflationary effects from the introduction of the toll collection system, but also the economic effect of legalisation of those participants in the freight market that work on “hidden” schemes, and noted that the legalisation of transport will have a certain effect in terms of an increase in GDP. Pavel Brusser stressed that Gazprombank did not conceal its involvement in financing the toll collection system and is proud of this project. According to him, the loan agreement, coordinated with the Federal Road Transport Agency and the concessionaire, is strict; every sample of cash, and not a single penny from the federal budget has been invested in the project, is accompanied by a detailed technical report.
