Ontario to truckers: Go long on LCVs

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is issuing 30 more permits this summer, bringing the total to 80, with a limit of two permits per carrier.

Also, until this year, the Ontario LCV project has been considered a “pilot” project.

That designation has since been abandoned and now, according to the Ontario Trucking Association’s (OTA) vice president public affairs Doug Switzer, the LCV program is just a matter of routine government policy.

However, Switzer noted that the OTA’s long-term goal is to reach a stage where the government does not mete out a limited number of permits on a year-by-year basis.

As it is, Ontario carriers have a harder time predicting their purchasing strategies because they don’t know whether the Ministry will allow them to run an LCV or not.

“Eventually, we’d like to see an end to the ad-hockery of the program,” he told todaystrucking.com.

The LCV program remains severely restrictive; even though further east along the 401; Quebec is looking at having the long trucks run even longer; i.e., into winter.