BVRLA calls for road pricing rethink
The BVRLA has welcomed the Transport Select Committee’s call for urgent progress to be made on the future of road pricing as the vehicle parc moves towards net zero.
However, the Association has reinforced the need for immediate improvement in the systems that will make any new road pricing solution a success.
BVRLA director of corporate affairs, Toby Poston, who gave evidence to the Committee in October, said: “Road pricing involves a total rethink about the way we tax motorists and incentivise transport behaviour. It is a controversial topic, and one that successive Governments have chosen to avoid.
Rapid transport decarbonisation and the 2035 Phase Out means that policymakers have to get off the fence and start providing a roadmap for the future of motoring taxation. BVRLA members have set out their road pricing principles, and we are delighted that the Transport Select Committee agrees with so many of them, particularly the need to make any system revenue neutral and think about the needs of essential road users.
“Like the Committee, we think the work should start now and the fleet sector is ready to help explore the technologies and policies that will deliver an efficient and effective road pricing system. A key role in the implementation of the required technologies sits with multiple government agencies. We need to see them working in close collaboration, receiving additional support in order to meet the challenges of this monumental shift.”
