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| Motor Carrier Division programs set new records | ||
| 02/26/2008 | ||
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Two Motor Carrier Transportation Division programs turned in a remarkable 2007, setting new records for online activity and weigh station preclearance.  Oregon Trucking OnlineOnline activity was up again last year as Trucking Online handled 7% more transactions than it did in 2006. It also handled 24% more records inquiries. For one particular activity at year-end, trucking companies topped the previous year record for the number of weight-mile tax credentials renewed online. Activity ended February 25 after companies went online to renew 136,332 trucks. This represents a 15% increase in renewal activity compared with the previous year. Oregon companies set the paperwork aside to go online and renew 8% of their Commercial accounts and 5% of their Apportioned accounts. But it's the out-of-state companies who again embraced Trucking Online for renewing 45% of all tax credentials they need for trucks that will operate in Oregon in 2008. That’s up from 2006 when 39% of all tax credentials were renewed online. This year, Trucking Online offered all companies with large fleets the chance to use a "Bulk Tax Renewal" application through which they could submit everything electronically and complete all transactions at once. This feature was used to renew twice as many credentials as the previous year when just a pilot group of six companies tested it. As a result of all online renewals, the Motor Carrier Division saved 272 reams of paper (a stack of paper that would reach 57 feet high), plus over $14,000 in postage and staff time to process and mail renewal-related materials for 2008. Visit OregonTruckingOnline.com for more information. Green Light Weigh Station Preclearance  Truckers traveling in Oregon saved an estimated 124,800 hours of travel time and $14.7 million in fuel, wear and tear, and other operating costs last year as they took advantage of the Green Light preclearance system to bypass weigh stations 1,498,042 times. Preclearance activity was up in every quarter and finished with a new record total that is 11% greater than 2006 and 8% greater than the previous record in 2005.A total of 21 Green Light systems were operational throughout 2007. For the second year in a row, the Wilbur weigh station on I-5 in Southern Oregon was closed and could not contribute to preclearance numbers. That station and its Green Light system is still scheduled to be relocated at some point in the near future. The southbound I-5 Woodburn Port of Entry was the busiest of the Green Light sites in the state in 2007. It had more than twice the activity of the next busiest site, the northbound I-5 Ashland Port of Entry. Oregon opened the first Green Light site in October 1997. It started keeping track of activity in January 1999 when it had four weigh stations preclearing an average of 51 trucks a day. In 2007, the 21 stations with Green Light systems precleared an average of 4,100 trucks a day. The program is now on track to preclear its 10-millionth truck in August 2008. Green Light now serves 4,013 companies with 40,606 transponder-equipped trucks. Visit the Green Light Web page for more information. |
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