PBS for road managers

What is the Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme?

The Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme offers the heavy vehicle industry the potential to achieve higher productivity and safety through innovative and optimised vehicle design.

The basic principle of PBS is to match the right vehicle to the right freight task. PBS vehicles are specifically designed to have a high level of performance and meet strict safety and infrastructure standards to ensure they are suited to the road network.

PBS vehicles fall into one of four levels and have corresponding levels of road networks they can access.

For a detailed overview of the PBS scheme, including its benefits, the pre-advised design and vehicle approval processes, access, quad-axle group combinations, the PBS standards, and common PBS vehicles and configurations, see the Performance Based Standards e-learn module.

For more information on an introduction to PBS, see PBS - A guide for road managers (5.6MB).

What are the benefits?

By working with the NHVR to expand non-permit networks for high-performance vehicles, councils reduce the administrative burden for themselves and industry. See PBS: The Big Picture for providing better access for heavy vehicles.

PBS benefits

In Australia, over 75% of non-bulk domestic freight is transported by road. With population growth expected to reach 30 million by 2030, the national freight task will continue to grow, placing increased pressure on the freight network. Introducing more productive and efficient vehicles, such as PBS combinations, will help ease this pressure by reducing the number of heavy vehicle movements required to complete the freight task.

More productive trucks on our roads bring significant safety, productivity, environmental and infrastructure benefits to the Australian community, as well as direct economic benefits, including increased investment in local communities and employment opportunities.

When considering an application for access, it is important to understand that most PBS vehicles are designed to meet a specific freight task that already exists.

If access for a PBS combination is not granted, the task may be completed by prescriptive combinations instead, requiring a greater number of trips, resulting in increased traffic, reduced area amenity and more emissions.

Infrastructure benefits

The impact a heavy vehicle has on road infrastructure can be influenced by many different factors, including pavement and vehicle type, axle configuration, vehicle length and total combination mass.

There is a common concern that the increased mass of a PBS vehicle will accelerate pavement wear and result in increased damage to infrastructure. However, PBS vehicles are designed in a way that minimises these potential impacts.

For example:

The increase in vehicle mass of a PBS vehicle is achieved by increasing vehicle length and including additional axle groups. This means the load on a PBS vehicle is distributed among a longer combination and a greater number of axle groups, meaning the pavement effect of each individual axle group is often less or comparable with existing prescriptive combinations.
PBS vehicles are designed to have increased payload capacity, meaning the same freight task can be completed in fewer trip numbers. This results in less pavement and infrastructure exposure to heavy vehicle movements and may reduce overall infrastructure maintenance costs.

Productivity benefits

PBS vehicles are designed for the task they need to undertake, rather than their conventional counterparts, meaning more freight can be moved in the same number of trips more safely.

PBS combinations offer significant productivity benefits, including:

Productivity improvements of 15-30%
Up to 260 million fewer kilometres travelled annually compared to conventional vehicles.

Safety benefits

PBS vehicles are involved in 46% fewer major crashes per kilometre travelled than conventional heavy vehicles, and they continue to meet higher safety standards using innovative design and the latest safety technologies.

PBS combinations are more productive as they have the capacity to transport more freight per trip, reducing the total number of heavy vehicles on our roads. Fewer trucks on our roads means road users have less exposure to heavy vehicles, reducing the risk of crashes, lowering potential road trauma incidents, and creating safer roads for everyone.

PBS Design and Vehicle Approval process

Some vehicle designs have been pre-advised by the PBS Review Panel and are therefore exempted from submission to the PBS Review Panel however more complex applications will be sent for consideration. The Panel consists of representatives from each jurisdiction and the Commonwealth and they determine whether or not a vehicle meets the standards approved by the Transport and Infrastructure Council and the national conditions under which a vehicle is to operate to ensure that it continues to comply with the standards once it is on the road.

The PBS Approval process is a strict procedure to ensure PBS vehicles are designed and built to operate as productively, safely and sustainably as possible on networks appropriate for their level of performance.

What are the different PBS levels?

Based on on-road performance, PBS vehicles are classified into one of four levels in accordance with the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules (NTC, 2008).

In accordance with the PBS Network Classification Guidelines (NTC, 2007), a vehicle that is approved at a particular level is eligible to operate on the road network of the same classification level or higher, subject to road manager approval.

	Equivalent prescriptive vehicle configuration	Network access
PBS Level 1	19m prime mover and semitrailer	General access
PBS Level 2	26m B-double	26m B-double network
PBS Level 3	36.5m Type 1 road train	36.5m Type 1 road train network
PBS Level 4	53.5m Type 2 road train	53.5m Type 2 road train network

General access for Specified PBS vehicles

The HVNL allows Specified PBS vehicles (also known as Level 1 PBS vehicles) general access on all roads when operating at General Mass Limits (GML), as stated in the Heavy Vehicle (Mass Dimension and Loading) National Regulation (MDL).

A Specified PBS vehicle:

has a current PBS Level 1 Vehicle Approval
is no longer than 20 metres
is not a bus, road train, A-double or B-double
is loaded to GML masses as per Schedule 1 of the MDL Regulation.

The following mass exception limits do not apply to Specified PBS vehicles:

Concessional Mass Limits (CML).
Higher Mass Limits (HML).
Quad-axle Mass exception Limits (QML)
One tonne tri-axle mass transfer allowance.

The following GML mass limits apply to the corresponding vehicles, as per Schedule 1 of the MDL:

43t for a complying steer axle vehicle that is neither a B-double nor a road train
46.5t for a prime mover with a twinsteer axle group towing a tri-axle semitrailer
42.5t for a vehicle that is not mentioned above and that is neither a B-double nor a road train.

Responding to a PBS access request

The NHVR receives access permit applications through the NHVR Portal, reviews them for accuracy and completeness, and then forwards them to the relevant road manager for consent.

The HVNL requires a road manager to respond to a PBS access request within 28 days of receiving the application. The road manager can request an extension of time for complex applications.

If a route or network assessment has been undertaken and is determined to be unsuitable for the requested combination and/or mass limits, road managers should consider the following before refusing access:

Suggest an alternative route (only if the route does not affect another road manager’s road infrastructure).
Consider reduced mass if no alternative route is available.
Request a business case from the operator, so the benefits to the economy and local community can be weighed against the risks. The business case may include the following:
- The commodity being transported.
- The number of trips required per week.
- How the PBS vehicle will improve the efficiency of the freight task compared to the use of prescriptive vehicles (for example, the anticipated reduction in trip numbers).
- The local business involved and benefits to the community.
Request a route/bridge assessment (in some cases at the operator’s expense).

For more information on PBS technical assessment results for road managers, see PBS Performance Assessment Results – Road Manager Information Sheet. For more information on how to deal with access requests, see Access permits.

Road Access