Ready for the MAUT

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EURO DRIVING FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
41

Alexx that EZ Pass system is not unlike the Austrian Go Box System. Gernany decided not to go with that sort of system as it would have required a lot more construction of readers on every junction in the Autobahn system to log when a vehicle left or entered the network. There would still need to be an alternative for those that did not have an OBU fitted which would either have been Toll Barriers with personnel to collect the toll via cash or credit card or machines were it would need to be booked in advance, much as they now have. The OBU is only another variation on the EZ Pass type system but instead of passing under a reader it is done by GPS. There are 300 ‘MAUT Brucke’ on the network but they are to be used for enforcement rather than billing.

There are a vast number of exits on the autobahn network and to put Toll Stations on them all would have been a massive undertaking, even needing the redesign of the exits in most cases. In France for instance whichever side of the Autoroute you exit from the road is designed so that you all pass through the same Peage barrier, German Autobahn exits are not designed in that way so it would have needed even more barriers or a reworking of the junction.

The other option would be, like the Austrian system to have a reader just after every junction and your vehicle is monitored as it passes along the network, if you are clocked on one reader but not the next you must have taken the exit. This would still have needed a vast number of gantries over the roads.

42

Oh, I was under the impression that the overhead things ran it all. Well, if you use GPS, then this system really could be used all over Europe. I hope other countries put their hostilities toward Germany aside and join in, should the system end up working properly.

BTW, a 98% accuracy rate isn’t too bad, provided that the other 2% is a relatively minor error, and that those errors even out after a while.

43

I think other countries will take this system on board Alexx. The UK had planned to introduce a system in 2006 but when the Germans had truoble with getting the system up and running, the start of the MAUT is 16 months late, the UK government postponed it until 2008 which makes me think that could be the system they want to adopt.

44

ok, coffee, you finally cleared it up for me. now i see why this is a cheaper system than let’s say ezpass or the go box. i too was under the impression that there were thousands of readers across the autobahn system. thanks for taking the time to explain this to a couple of americans

45

As of right now, all 1500 (approximately) trucks in my fleet have a Qualcomm unit, and this uses GPS as well. We can check where a driver is, although unless we specifically request a location, it only updates once an hour. We can also see whether the motor is on, and how fast the unit is going at that time. This unit is primarily for communication, but I’d bet it could be incorporated into some similar system here.

In the US, most states tax trucks by the number of miles driven, but we use all sorts of approximation methods to determine how this is allocated. My fleet alone hires 3 people just to sort this out, and another 2 who keep all the logbook submissions sorted. If we could combine all of these systems into one, it would make reporting to all the governmental agencies much easier. Can you imagine-a computer in each truck taking care of communications, logging hours of service, taking care of road-use taxes and paying tolls. I’m hoping the Germans make the MAUT work…

46

Something else to mention here, The system chosen by Toll Collect and the German Government is designed and operated by Daimler Chrysler

Is that American or German now? :stuck_out_tongue:

47

Listening to one of the German NRW radio stations here this morning and supoosidly the MAUT has reported no problems or equipment failures. They were talking quite fast for my standard of German but i’m sure i heard the figure of 100% mentioned in there somewhere!!

Also mentioned was that in the old West Germany (it’s a regional radio station) an extra 300 BAG ‘teams’ as they call them, are now operational 24 hrs. At present they are catching an average of 500 trucks per day that are falling foul of the MAUT system.

The only issues have been in the South at some border crossings, the ones used by mostly Balkans region trucks; it was something to do with their currency/bank cards not being accepted/recognised by the Toll Collect machines and so the drivers are having to first sort out currency exchange then pay the MAUT, which they weren’t expecting to have to do.

I guess for the size and complexity of the whole thing, so far so good!

48

On SWR3 the other day they were reporting about 8 - 9% of trucks were not paying the toll and as you heard on your radio station Marcus they were also reporting no major problems or queues. Having said that truck traffic was much lighter than normal this week which would have helped the situation.

49

I’ve just had my first week back on the road, my first trip was down to Augsburg Bavaria, 1000 k round trip and clocked up my first 100 euros on the Maut OBU.

On my way back from Bavaria I stopped off for a coffee at the reasonably new Max Truckstop, Malsfeld on the BAB7 south of Kassel, whilst there I chatted to other drivers to pass the time and one told me that his firm has already received a fine because of the Maut (this was Tuesday afternoon). What happened was … the truck in question had had its route pre-booked via the Internet (the truck has no OBU fitted), and the person who booked the route planned the route to start Sunday night 22:00, exactly when the Sunday truck road ban stops … unfortunately the driver set off before the ban expired and was caught out by the Maut Autobahn Bridge Sensors, he was filmed driving before the pre-booked time… as far as the Maut computer is concerned, the truck had no Maut until 22:00, according to the grapevine the fine was €170.

The Maut isn’t such a bad idea, but it is too expensive and its unfair to charge “Strassensteuer” (road tax) as well as the Maut.

50

Slackmack:
The Maut isn’t such a bad idea, but it is too expensive

It could have been worse, it is half the price of the Austrian toll, around a third of the Swiss tax and cheaper than French motorway tolls.

51

Slackmack:
unfortunately the driver set off before the ban expired

Isn’t that ‘self-inflicted’ then Mac??

52

Martin, it is just unfortunate. I have set off many times before the ban actually expires due to the geographical position of Paderborn.

The Ostwestfalen area is really the Mecca of German furniture production, should we all set off at the same time we would all hit the Kasseler berge at the same time (for those of us going south). If I’m going south I can still set off early because the Maut Bridge sensors will recognise my OBU and I’ll not be flagged as running without the toll being paid.

I’ve been in the situation where we have had 4 trucks going up the Kassel hills side by side, not a fun situation when you are in the middle. :open_mouth:

53

Coffeeholic:

Slackmack:
The Maut isn’t such a bad idea, but it is too expensive

It could have been worse, it is half the price of the Austrian toll, around a third of the Swiss tax and cheaper than French motorway tolls.

Today I read that the German Green Party are already demanding that the toll charge is increaed from 12.4 to 15 cents per km.

www.expatica.com:
Germany only imposed a highway toll on trucks last week, but calls surfaced on Tuesday for an increase in the levy from within Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s coalition.

Reinhard Loske, deputy parliamentary leader of the junior coalition partner Greens, told the Die Welt newspaper his party wants the toll pushed above 15 euro cents per kilometre.

Ernst Ulrich von Weizsaecker, a Social Democrat who chairs the parliamentary Environmental Affairs Committee, said he backed the bid to raise truck tolls because it would force more freight to be transported by rail.

The present toll paid by trucks weighing over 12 tons is 12.4
cents per kilometre travelled on federal highways.

Loske said his proposed increase would add around EUR 800 million to annual government revenue of nearly EUR 3 billion.

I also heard on one of the radio stations (sorry, can’t remember which one :blush:) that there is a noticeable increase of LKW using the B-roads to avoid the MAUT and that some previously quiet villages now have much more (heavy) traffic passing through them.

I know of an example of the above situation; the company that empties our skips & recycling points is based in Bielefeld and the same contract that brings them to us in Paderborn, also takes them to Gutersloh, Munster, Osnabruck, Detmold, Hameln and Herford. The drivers now keep off the Autobahns totally and use the B-roads all the time. It is quite feasable to do but I don’t think it was the German government had in mind :unamused: .

An ex colleague now runs a car/van hire business and he is saying that the demand for 7.5 tonners is far greater than the supply. That ties in with the rumour that a few companies are moving their transport set-ups to vehicles less than 12 tonnes, thus avoiding the MAUT. There has also been some ‘re-plating’ of vehicles to less than 12 tonnes. I guess that’s the basis for the statement below :open_mouth:

www.expatica.com:
In a related development, Germany’s Federal Environment Agency is calling for the toll to be extended to trucks weighing over 3.5 tons.

54

Marcus, it has already been said that where they find trucks using the nationals, to avoid the Autobahn and the toll, weight limits will be imposed on those roads so it will only be a short term solution I think.

55

Do you think they will, at some stage, make the MAUT applicable to lower weights i.e. less than 12 tonnes??

Some of the scare mongerers would have us believe that the Toll Collects will be used for cars by 2008!! :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

56

Not sure Marcus but anything is possible. I’m sure the Green Party in Germany would be happy to see it brought in for cars.

57

It has been reported by more than one firm that hires out 7.5 tn

lorrys that demand exceeds the supply, it seems that more of the local

work is being put onto smaller vehicles to save the paying of the maut

when the autobahn is used.