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New Registration System Simplifies Trucking 38 States Now Participate in Single-State Program

Posted on: Friday, 30 December 2005, 15:00 CST

By Julie Bisbee, The Daily Oklahoman, The Daily Oklahoman

Dec. 30--Kathy Thompson doesn't miss having to register tractor-trailers in every state where they might travel as part of the Groendyke Transport fleet. Revenue grows Trucking companies' revenue grew 10.4 percent last year to $186 billion, the Census Bureau said Thursday, providing a measure of the country's economic health. The jump from the 2003 total of $168.5 billion was the highest in six years of data provided by the agency as more trucks carried more goods over more miles. Trucks carry nearly 70 percent, by weight, of the nation's freight, including manufactured and retail goods, according to the American Trucking Associations Inc. Trucks hauling general freight, including everything from lumber to leather, generated $125 billion in revenue last year, or about two-third of the trucking total, according to the report. Trucks carried more of everything during the year, with increased revenues from all commodities. Specialized freight haulers, which require flatbed, tanker or refrigerated trailers, accounted for the remaining $61 billion in revenue. In 2004, there were 895,000 company-owned truck tractors -- big rigs or semis -- on the road, a 3.1 percent increase from the year earlier. Joining them were an additional 212,000 smaller trucks and vans used to haul loads, for a 1 percent increase. The numbers do not include owner-operated trucks. From Wire Reports The Enid-based trucking company has nearly 1,000 rigs that move cross-country. Before the single-state registration system was put into place in the early 1990s, the trucking company had to pay taxes to the states it would travel in and register in each state. The registration stickers were pasted on what was known in the industry as a "bingo card," since it often contained more than a dozen registration stickers pasted to a 9-by-11 card, Thompson said. "It was very hard. It took a lot of time pasting those cards," Thompson said. "Single state is wonderful. We fill out one form and send it to one state and they disperse the money. We don't have to carry extra permits or anything." Today is the last day that trucking companies can renew their registration before 2006. Starting at midnight Saturday, 2005 registration expires and trucks without current registration could be subject to fines. Trucks without registration can be fined $265. The fine for having registration, but not having a copy of it in the cab is $125. Trucking companies were sent notices this fall alerting them to the Dec. 31 deadline. Oklahoma Corporation Commission Motor Carrier Enforcement officers will be stopping trucks this weekend checking for proper registration. Across the country, 38 states participate in the single-state registration program. Starting in 2007, the federal government will require all states to take part in the program, said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Corporation Commission, which regulates trucking in Oklahoma. It costs Oklahoma trucking companies $7 per vehicle to operate in Oklahoma. The cost goes up, depending on how many states a truck will travel through. To operate in all 38 states, trucking companies will pay $229.95 per truck. Oklahoma is home to about 5,700 trucking companies, Skinner said. As home to several major roadways, Oklahoma sees high truck traffic. On Interstate 40 about 2 miles west of the Interstate 44 interchange in Oklahoma City, 13,415 trucks pass the location in a day, according to a 2003 Department of Transportation Traffic survey. Big rigs -- trucks with three or more axles -- make up more that 70 percent of that traffic. It's the job of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's Troop S to make sure trucks across the state aren't breaking traffic laws or traveling with overweight loads. "Single-state registration does make our job easier," said Lt. Greg Allen, troop commander for the patrol's commercial vehicle enforcement unit. "It gives us a quick way to check. They only have to show one piece of paper. Before they had single-state registration they had to carry what they called a bingo card and a huge packet of documents." Oklahoma's single-state registration program has been criticized in the past because of corruption at the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Other participating states claimed that they lost revenues because agents for the tax commission used incorrect mileage predictions when registering trucks. Several tax commission employees have been indicted since the fraud was uncovered. The Tax Commission issues tags and fuel permits.

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Source: The Daily Oklahoman

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