Launch of Road Usage Charge Driving Report

Launch of Hawaii Road Usage Charge Driving Report

By: Scot Urada

The HDOT is conducting a three-year, federallyfunded research project into per-mile road usage charges as a possible replacement of the 16-cents per gallon state gas tax.

As the vehicle fleet in Hawai’i evolves and become more fuel efficient - moving toward other types of alternative fuel, we need to start planning and look at other possible options to pay for our roadways.

We are excited to announce that the Hawaii Road Usage Charge Demonstration, HiRUC, officially kicks off the live demonstration phase in November 2019 as we mail Driving Reports to thousands of households. for our public roadways.

To help make up for that, the legislature has increased other funding sources like weight tax and registration fee, which drivers have to pay annually, and more recently, increased the rental car surcharges.

But the diminishing gas tax revenue puts pressure on our ability to deliver our critical mission of providing safe and maintained roads to the public.

It is likely that you and many others will get one between now and the end of 2020.

What are Driving Reports? Driving Reports provide a comparison about how many miles you drove between your last two safety checks and how much you probably paid in gas tax, versus how much you would pay instead under a per-mile charge for one vehicle in your household.

The Driving Report is not a bill and please don’t pay it. Instead, we are asking everyone to complete the survey about highway funding on the project website at www.hiruc.org.

Background. The state gas tax used to provide half our funding for state highways, but today is less than 30%. Our gas tax revenue is lower now than it was in 2007 and is declining so we need to look at a fair and sustainable way to pay How can you help? The HiRUC project could use your help by telling your family and friends about the Driving Report and the importance of completing the survey.

We want to hear from everyone so that we provide information on how you feel, and useful recommendations to our elected leaders.

Any questions, please get in touch with our project help desk at contact@hiruc.org, visit the project website https://hiruc.org/why/ or contact the HDOT Project Manager, Scot Urada at scot.t.urada@hawaii.gov.