1. 
Users’ needs, odometer reading data & Member States’ reporting obligations
Andreas Nägele
European Commission - DG MOVE
Meeting of the Task Force on the measurement of road traffic volumes in VKm, Luxembourg, 29 April 2010

2. Overview 1) Main policy projects with data needs
a) Construction/extension of TEN-T infrastructure
b) Road safety / Risk exposure data
c) Vehicle emissions, fuel efficiency & internalisation of external costs
d) Urban Mobility Action Plan
e) General transport and traffic flow modelling
2) Most important required vkm data breakdowns
3) Amendment of Directive 2009/40/EC (roadworthiness tests)
4) Current vkm data reporting obligations of Member States
5) Revision of Regulation (EEC) No 1108/70 to be used for mandatory vkm collection?
Conclusion

3. 1a) Construction / extension of TEN-T infrastructure
Every year, EU and Member States spend billions of € on TEN-T infrastructure – they need to know whether money is wisely spent
Data on vkm on TEN-T is essential input for any financing decision and for monitoring the success of the policy (DG TREN /MOVE has to issue regular reports on implementation of TEN-T Guidelines)
Review of TEN-T policy: Revision of Community Guidelines for TEN-T currently ongoing; new guidelines to be adopted in 2011

4. TEN-T Road Network (excerpt)

5. 1b) Road safety / Risk exposure data
Road safety data have to be put into proper perspective to enable meaningful comparisons
In combination with road safety data, traffic volumes may serve as indicator for risk exposure
by type of road (urban, interurban, motorway)
by area (regional data)
by type of vehicle
by age of vehicle
(by type/age of drivers on a given road / in a given region)

6. 1c) Vehicle emissions, fuel efficiency & internalisation of external costs
Road motor vehicles account for around 71% of all CO2 emissions from transport
Split between passenger and freight transport unclear: 60:40 (PRIMES) or 75:25 (TREMOVE)? We need real data to calibrate our models!
Vehicle emissions and fuel efficiency will be of particular interest for future transport policy (“de-carbonisation”)
Greening transport package adopted in 2008 paves way for internalisation of external costs: need for data on external costs – costs depend on amount of emissions which in turn, via emission factors and fuel efficiency, depend on the amount of vkm!

7. 1d) Urban Mobility Action Plan
Around 40% of all traffic is in urban areas, or so we keep saying: again, there is a need for real data to improve our knowledge and our models
Action Plan on Urban Mobility (COM(2009)490 of ) includes an action to share experience and knowledge that involves mobility data
Data on transport and traffic volumes in urban areas will be needed for policy preparation and monitoring
Fighting congestion is a top policy priority; congestion is above all an urban phenomenon; data on average speed would be good (use of GPS)

8. 1e) General transport & traffic flow modelling
Transport and traffic models such as TRANSTOOLS, energy models such as PRIMES and emission models such as COPERT and TREMOVE need reliable input data on traffic volumes to produce reliable output
Detailed vkm data provide valuable insight into main transport and traffic flows
Next to detailed traffic data, reliable and detailed vehicle stock data would also be needed

9. 2) Most important required vkm data breakdowns
By type of road (urban, non-urban, motorway, TEN-T road)
By type of vehicle (car, motorcycle, moped, bus, coach, van, lorry etc.)
By type of fuel (diesel/petrol/other)
By age of vehicle
By Euro emission standard (related to age of vehicle)

10. 3) Amendment of Directive 2009/40/EC (Roadworthiness tests)
Odometer reading data will provide us with a full and detailed coverage of vkm by vehicle type and age of the national fleet
Draft Commission Directive adapting to technical progress Directive 2009/40/EC on roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers foresees introduction of “roadworthiness certificate” covering among others “odometer reading at time of the test, if available” from 2014 onwards
PRAC (Regulatory Procedure with Scrutiny) ended on 26 April; no comments from EP received;
Adoption by Commission and publication in Official Journal expected some time in May/June
A more fundamental revision of Directive 2009/40/EC has been launched (the plan being to repeal it and replace it by a Regulation). It foresees the creation of an internal market for vehicles incl. inspections; a European data platform is to be created which should enable the exchange of vehicle-related data between national authorities. Data access for national authorities will be one of the elements to be specified.

11. 4) Current vkm data reporting obligations of Member States
Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 requires the collection of vkm data of road transport vehicles above 6 tonnes mplw; data collection only mandatory for laden journeys – data published on Eurostat website
Regulation (EEC) No 1108/70 requires the annual collection of vkm on up to 5 road types outside built-up areas for
1. Passenger vehicles with less than 10 seats
2. Vans with total permitted laden weight <3 tonnes
3. Goods vehicles
4. Goods vehicles with trailer
5. Tractors with semi-trailer
6. Buses and coaches
7. Other
In addition, every five years, Member States are to submit vkm data by up to 5 road types outside built-up areas for
3 categories of goods vehicles without trailer (2-, 3- and 4-axled ones)
5 categories of goods vehicles with trailer (by axle combination)
5 categories of road tractors with semi-trailers (by axle combination)
2 categories of buses and coaches (2- and 3-axled ones)
Only few countries still submit data according to Regulation (EEC) No 1108/70; most haven’t sent anything for decades. Data not published.

12. Revision of Regulation (EEC) No 1108/70 to be used for mandatory vkm collection?
Regulation (EEC) No 1108/70 needs to be revised anyway to adapt it to current user needs, to reduce the burden on Member States and to improve the response rate
Next to data on the use of transport infrastructure (vkm), it also asks for data on investment into that infrastructure (which is in fact its main purpose)
2 possibilities:
New, separate Regulation on collection of vkm data; revision of 1108/70 could then concentrate on investment data (vkm reporting requirements could be deleted)
Revision of both subject areas of 1108/70 (infrastructure investment data and vkm data) in one go; new Regulation would then replace 1108/70 (would require parallel task force on investment data…)

13. Conclusion
Data on vehicle use and infrastructure use are essential input for EU transport policy
Road passenger transport and vehicle traffic last big gap in European transport statistics
Individual motorised traffic accounts for lion’s share in traffic volumes – yet only sketchy data available
More comparable and more detailed vkm data and vehicle fleet data from Member States are needed
Odometer readings at roadworthiness tests may be one solution to get comparable detailed data

14. Thank you for your attention!
Thank you for your attention!