Operators pay Road User Charges (RUCs) based on weight and the distance their vehicle covers.

While heavy trucks make up less than 2.5% of all the vehicles on the road, the RUCs they pay provide about a third of the money needed to maintain the country’s roads, improve existing routes and build new ones.

The New Zealand Transport Agency budgeted $1,743 million for New Zealand’s local, regional and state highways in the 2007/08 year and anticipates receiving $897 million over the year in RUCs to pay for them.

Road users collectively meet the costs of the roads they use, but on a per-vehicle basis, truck operators pay more than their fair share. In 2008 heavy trucks paid over $10,000 on average in Road User Charges. The average motorist paid just over $300 in petrol tax.