On October 15, 2015 in each region of Russia, 103 Customer Service Centres of the federal “Platon” toll collection system were opened. Another 35 similar offices will be opened within a month in the areas of automobile checkpoints on the border of the country. On the same day, the state acceptance of the toll collection system began with the official opening of its key facilities: Centre for Management and Monitoring, Data Processing Centre and Centre for Monitoring Violations, which are located in Tver.
The first Russian customer in one of the Service Centres opened today was a carrier from Vladivostok, who came to the office of the “Platon” system at 9 am. At the same time, the opening of the Centre was the most long-awaited event for the owner of the HGV exceeding 12 tonnes of gross vehicle weight from Rostov, who came to the office of the System at 7.30 in the morning. In total, according to data at noon Moscow time, more than 500 carriers visited the centres across the country.
“The system was fully ready for operation a month before its official launch. Service centres are another opportunity for carriers to register, but now personally. For large logistics companies, pre-registration was opened in August. From the beginning of October, any carrier can pass this procedure through the Customer Portal – a convenient service on the official website of the System www.platon.ru. We do this specifically not to disrupt business processes of the freight forwarders so that everyone has the opportunity to calmly go through the mandatory registration in the System and ask all of their questions in advance to the Operator. For this purpose, we opened a 24-hour call centre, there is an opportunity to send requests through the Customer Portal,” said Alexander Sovetnikov, General Director of RT-Invest Transport System LLC.
According to the Federal Road Transport Agency, 56% of the total damage to the Russian federal highways falls precisely on heavy freight transport. Mikhail Blinkin, Director of the Institute for Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the Higher School of Economics, noted that “freight transport both damages the top layer of the coating and, most seriously, destructs the road structure and, as a result, the country’s road network.” According to him, “a single scheduled repair and re-laying of asphalt will not fix this problem, it will actually be necessary to build the road again.”
The amount of the fee to offset the damage caused to Russian federal highways by HGVs exceeding 12 tonnes of gross vehicle weight is calculated depending on the actual mileage. The funds received will go to the Federal Road Fund and will be used to ensure the maintenance of federal highways. At the moment, the amount approved by the Government of the Russian Federation is 3.73 roubles per kilometre.
