Research On Scheme And Implementation Of Weighed Tolling For Expressway Of Jilin Province

With the development of economy and society, the construction of expressway in Jilin Province has increased quickly. Until the end of 2006, 542 km of expressway has been constructed and put into operation. It is forecast that the total length of finished expressways will reach 2,000km in 2010. At present, on the aspect of operation management of expressway, as same as other provinces of China, Jilin province is also puzzled by serious overload transport, overload transport lowers the service life of expressway and seriously endangers running safety of vehicles, so to increase the operation cost of expressway in Jilin Province. Therefore, it is imperative to change the tolling manner of expressway in Jilin Province (changing the original tolling on basis of vehicle type to tolling on basis of total weight of vehicle and cargo), reasonably guide transport enterprise or individual to obey law, so to reduce the damage caused by overloaded transport vehicles to expressway in Jilin Province as far as possible.1.Sense of implementing weighed tollingBy charging toll on basis of total vehicle and cargo mass of vehicle passing expressway, the fair and reasonable tolling principle on basis of weight may be embodied(The larger the weight, the more the toll). For over-limit vehicles, by utilizing economic lever, the surplus part will be charged with toll, this is favorable for limiting the over-limit transport of vehicle, protecting the safety of such traffic facilities as highway and bridge, lowering traffic accidents arisen from over-limit transport and protecting the life and property safety of people.Simultaneously, the implementation of weighed tolling is favorable for breaking the over-limit & overload chain linked between cargo owner—transport business—vehicle manufacturer and refit factory by economic benefit, promoting transport price to return to reasonable level, it is also favorable for cargo transport enterprise to develop toward the direction of marketization, scalization and specialization, cargo transport will also convert to the development track of intensive operation. After weighed tolling is implemented, corresponding preferential policies will be formulated to guide transport strength to develop toward multi-axle large-tonnage vehicle encourage by the country, this is favorable for optimizing structure of cargo transport vehicles.2. Domestic and foreign present situations on the research and implementation of weighed tollingInternationally, since 1974 when USA started to implement management on highway overload, such countries as Britain, Canada, Germany and Holland have successively applied the manner of fixed weighing inspection station for overload management, the purpose is to restrict overload vehicle to enter expressway, delay the loss of expressway and elongate service life of expressway under the premise of not affecting the passing efficiency of expressway as far as possible. Due to strict overload management of these developed countries, massive over-limit transport groups and serious overload transport have not formed, therefore, there is not example of implementing weighed tolling in foreign countries.In China, in Nov 2001, the weighed tolling system of Rainbow Bridge in Tianjin Development Zone started to apply, until now, the expressways of 19 provinces and municipalities have applied weighed tolling. In Nov 2005, the Ministry of Communication issued"Guide Advice on Trial Operation of Weighed Tolling for Tolling Highway", which provides support and theoretical basis on the aspect of policy for standardizing and unifying the weighted tolling of all provinces and municipalities and pushing the reform on the charging manner of highway toll in China.3. Present situations of tolling manner of expressway in Jilin ProvinceSince the completion and operation of Changchun-Siping Expressway as the first expressway in Jilin Province in Oct 1996, the tolling operation of expressway in Jilin Province started, At the beginning, the artificial charging manner of charging at inlet and rechecking ticket at outlet was applied. With the increase of expressway length,"One-card Through"under paper card tolling manner (i.e. a driver applies card at the inlet, delivers card and pays toll at any toll station outlet in the network of expressway) was implemented. In 1998, expressway in Jilin Province applied pass card with noncontact IC card as medium, so to realize genuine computer-controlled semi-automatic tolling. The calculation on toll applies the manner of tolling on basis of vehicle type and rechecked load in vehicle running certificate, the manner has such advantages as simple judgment of vehicle type, simple toll calculation, single and fixed tolling. However, this kind of manner has the following deficiencies: toll is easily lost, not favorable for fathering of over-limit transport, easily causing traffic accident.4. Analysis on principle of weighed tolling and law basisIn such laws and ordinances as"Highway Law"and"Management Byelaws on Tolling Highway", there are corresponding regulations on highway tolling. Especially the"Notice on Issuing Guide Advice on Trial Operation of Weighed Tolling for Tolling Highway"(JGLF[2005]492) issued by the Ministry of Communication on Oct 26, 2005 is used to standardize and instruct the weighed tolling at each region, it is the programmatic document for the tolling highway in China to implement trial operation of weighed tolling at present and in the subsequent days.The issuing of the following laws and ordinances further provide sufficient law basis for weighed tolling:"Highway Management Regulation on Running of Over-limit Transport Vehicle"( No.2 Order of the Ministry of Communication of PRC in 2000),"Notice of the Office Department of the State Council on Further Strengthening Vehicle Over-limit and Overload Management"(GBF[2005]30),"Notice on Issuing the Implementation Scheme for Carrying Out Vehicle Over-limit & Overload Fathering throughout China"of seven ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Communication (JGLF[2004]219),"Notice on Issuing National Overload-Fathering Emphasis in 2005"of eight ministries and commissions(JGLF[2005]89) and"Guide Advice on Trial Operation of Weighed Tolling for Tolling Highway"(JGLF[2005]492),"Overall Size, Axle Load ad Mass Limit of Road Vehicle"as national mandatory standard"(GB 1589-2004).Principle of weighed tolling: Wheels of vehicle pass the weighing platform paved inside lane pavement in sequence, the multi-group electric bridges constituted by resistance strainometer at sensor inside weighing platform lose balance, instantaneous imbalance output signal will be generated, signal is transmitted to wayside lane weighing data collecting & processing unit through signal cable, by the processing of special program, axle weight, weight of axle group will be calculated, these weights are added in sequence and total weight of vehicle may be calculated. Tyre detector arranged in the front of weighing platform may be used to detect vehicle type, infrared vehicle separator installed at wayside or ending coil installed on lane may be used to accurately judge if vehicle completely passes or not. When vehicle has passed completely, such information as weighing results will be transmitted to lane tolling computer, which calculates the toll of vehicle on basis of rate of weighed tolling, so to complete weighed tolling.5. Raise of scheme on weighed tolling for expressway in Jilin ProvinceAccording to the requirements of"Overall Size, Axle Load and Mass Limit of Road Vehicle"as national mandatory standard GB 1589-2004 and the"Notice on Issuing Guide Advice on Trial Operation of Weighed Tolling for Tolling Highway"(JGLF[2005]492) issued by the Ministry of Communication, on basis of the principle of easy implementation, simple operation and excellent link with adjacent provinces, the over-limit confirmation criterion on vehicle passing expressway of Jilin Province and the preferential limit on international standard container transport vehicle were determined.By the utilization of the investigated sample data on freight vehicle, sample analysis was conducted and such data as assembly of vehicle axle type, weight distribution, transport zero-load rate and over-limit were acquired, mainly in consideration of the principle of providing preferential treatment for large multi-axle vehicle, in combination with the type-based tolling level of expressway in Jilin Province, the starting tonnage of weighed tolling and preferential section for weight of freight vehicle were determined. The starting tonnage for weighed tolling of expressway in Jilin Province is 5 tons, the preferential section is 5 tons ~49 tons, the stop point of toll rate is 49 tons.According to the model of formula used for calculating vehicle toll in weighed tolling given by"Advice"of the Ministry of Communication and the actually established calculation model for weighed tolling of expressway in Jilin Province, five rate schemes for weighed tolling of expressway in Jilin Province were prepared. By the investigation and research data, the proposed schemes were compared and analyzed, so to determine the rate on weighed tolling for expressway in Jilin Province. The emphasis of the scheme is shown as follows: Preferential section: 5—35 tons, the toll rate is linearly reduced to 0.035 yuan from 0.07 yuan; 35~49 tons, the toll rate is linearly reduced to 0.025 yuan from 0.035 yuan.6. Organization and implementation on weighed tolling of expressway in Jilin ProvinceAccording to the determined scheme on weighed tolling for expressway in Jilin Province, the organization and implementation measures on weighed tolling were raised, in addition, for some issues that may be met in the implementation of weighed tolling, solution and emergency scheme have been raised.7. ConclusionAfter the implementation of weighted tolling for expressway in Jilin Province, by the application of such manner of"For standard vehicle type and standard loading, standard tolling is applied; for overload of standard vehicle, extra toll will be charged", fair and reasonable bearing principle is embodied, this not only protects the just benefit of law-obeying transport enterprise or individual, but also restrict and regulate over-limit and over-load transport by economic manner. With the implementation of weighed tolling, by economic means, vehicle owner will be guided to change operation strategy, operate legally, correct over-limit and overload behavior consciously or gradually consciously.As mentioned above, it is quite necessary and feasible for the development of economy and society, especially for the operation management of expressway and increase of operation efficiency by implementing weighed tolling for loading vehicle and changing present type-based tolling manner.