Page 22 - ATR 4 2015 web

“The process They have seT up righT Now is 180 from whaT we used To

have To do …Before, iT was make a call, carry a check dowN There, pay
for iT, waiT. Now we caN preTTy much do all ThaT oNliNe.”

—Jeff holT, vice presideNT, sTallioN TraNsporTaTioN group

The Office of Motor Vehicles is trucking is still an industry that prefers in the state.
one of 59 jurisdictions administering to do a lot of its business face to face. Holt would like to see more chang-
the IRP. Every interstate carrier operat- “Utilization is still pretty low,” she es. He’s looked at other states’ sites.
ing trucks in excess of 26,001 pounds said. “There’s some of them that will Indiana’s visuals, in particular, seem
must be registered under federal law. make the trip from every corner of the well-designed.
All states except Alaska and Hawaii state. Some of them will mail it; then “It would be a real easy fix for
are mandated to be involved in the IRP they’ll drive in and pick up their cre- Arkansas to just kind of retool that
and in IFTA, the International Fuel Tax dentials. Some of the ones that use it interface where it’s easier to use. ...
Agreement, which keeps track of fuel. online will still drive in and pick them There’s nothing complicated about it.
The Office of Motor Vehicles’ IRP and up instead of paying online.” It could just be, I think, a little more
IFTA registration systems are integrated Jeff Holt, vice president of Beebe- user-friendly to immediately go with
so carriers can register with both at the based Stallion Transportation Group, whatever you’re trying to accomplish
same time. said his 70-unit fleet has been regis- through the portal,” he said.
The IRP allows interstate motor tering online in Arkansas since 2010. Documents can be uploaded to
carriers to register and pay fees with Before that, it would hand-deliver its the Arkansas Office of Motor Vehicles
one entity, rather than dozens. Funds application. He said it’s a nice change. through an email address or faxed.
are disbursed to all the states where a “The process they have set up right Once staff members have reviewed the
carrier travels to pay for highways, with now is 180 from what we used to have applications, carriers can pay their fee
the money divided according to mileage to do …Before, it was make a call, carry online by electronic check or credit
and each jurisdiction’s rules and regula- a check down there, pay for it, wait. card.
tions. Because of the IRP, carriers don’t Now we can pretty much do all that Newton said the ATA is still work-
have to pay registration fees to up to online,” he said. ing with the Department of Finance
48 entities and can drive with a single Shannon Newton, ATA’s president, and Administration to improve the
license plate instead of dozens. said the association has been working system. For larger carriers, there are still
Earnhart said that 2,612 fleets for years on a strategy to improve the many reasons to register in other states.
renewed their registrations during registration process. In fact, one of the “As a product of our working with
calendar year 2014, and 14,677 power purposes of eliminating the sales tax on DFA on these issues, we have learned
units were registered. IRP renewals were commercial trucks and trailers — aside that the current system meets the
for the period of July 1, 2013, to June from the obvious one of lowering taxes needs of many small- to medium-sized
30, 2014. Carriers must keep up with — was to lure home Arkansas-based carriers in the state. Yet the system is
all the miles they have driven during a trucking companies that were register- not being utilized, presumably because
reporting period. ing in other states. While the ATA was companies aren’t aware of the new-and-
doing this, the IRP office was improv- improved system,” said Newton.
whO is using The new ing its technology in anticipation of “As an association we’d like to
sysTeM? increased use. help educate the trucking companies
Earnhart said the online IRP appli- in Arkansas about the current online
cations process was created in 2009, cOMpeTing fOr cOnvenience system. If we have members who aren’t
and online users began using it in 2010. Though the process seems to meet aware of the online platform or haven’t
Because mail is the slower option and the needs of medium and small carriers, considered using it since the updates
everything can be processed on the Arkansas’ registration site can’t current- were made, we’d like for them to know
spot when a carrier comes to the office, ly compete with what other states offer. that there is a more efficient and conve-
many have chosen to continue to do Thus, it isn’t attracting the registrations nient option. And also that we’re work-
it in person. She said that, as a rule, (and tax dollars) of the larger carriers ing to make it even better.” ATR

22 arkansas Trucking repOrT | issue 4 2015