Maribyrnong Truck Action Group goes calls for toll relief
Date
February 25, 2015 - 6:18PM
Matt Cram
A truck in Francis Street, Yarraville.
Photo: Joe Armao
Truckies booted from the western suburbs have found an unlikely ally.
The Maribyrnong Truck Action Group - the very lobby that campaigned to keep trucks off residential streets - are now calling on Transurban to exempt truck drivers from paying tolls on CityLink during the times of a new evening curfew in Yarraville and Footscray.
The trucks wreck our roads more than cars do, so why would they get freebies for CityLink?
An unimpressed 3AW Drive caller
In a bizarre twist, they've urged to Transurban to become a 'better citizen' and save everyone else money.
"It would be a win-win situation," the group's secretary, Martin Wurt, told Tom Elliott on 3AW.
"Unfortunately for some of these truck drivers, they're doing it pretty tough - they get paid about $40 a container run.
"The goods in those containers is the stuff you mean are wearing, the phone we're talking on. So Transurban, by waiving those tolls, would be giving back to the community.
"To waive those tolls at night time wouldn't be much cost to Transurban because they make their money from commuters during the day."
