Buying for PBS productivity: work backwards from the freight and the route
Story · October 4, 2026
More carrying capacity creates value when it can be used. Gavin Hill's productivity argument starts a practical equipment conversation.
By Chris Smith
The most useful question when considering a PBS combination is not simply how much it can carry. It is how much freight the business can legally and consistently move with it on the routes that earn its revenue.
Gavin Hill, Austroads/TCA General Manager Strategic Engagement and Performance, nominated Performance Based Standards vehicles as a major opportunity for freight productivity in his interview with WWTG.
His case was that higher-performing vehicles, supported by appropriate access and monitoring, could help move more freight with fewer vehicle movements. He also linked that opportunity to an industry facing driver shortages.
For an operator choosing equipment, that turns productivity into a task-specific buying decision.
Start with the work
Identify the freight, loading points, delivery sites and the route between them. Additional capacity only earns a return if the customer can use it and the combination can complete the job.
An extra payload allowance may be valuable for one task and offer little for freight constrained by volume, loading equipment or site access.
Hill said access and productivity benefits had to be evaluated case by case. There was no blanket return applying to every vehicle or fleet.
Confirm the road position before the build
NHVR guidance recommends confirming PBS Design Approval and road access before building a PBS vehicle. A Vehicle Approval alone is not permission to use the road network.
That places access beside the specification at the purchasing table. The intended mass, dimensions and configuration need to work across the actual route, including the links connecting the main network to the customer.
A productive combination on the approved road can lose that advantage if the job requires unloading, a different route or equipment changes elsewhere.
Price the complete arrangement
The business case needs more than the truck and trailer purchase price. It should include any monitoring or mass-system requirements, support, maintenance assumptions and how the proposed combination fits into dispatch and loading.
Hill argued that operators participating in productivity schemes accepted monitoring costs because there was a benefit. That argument needs to become an operating calculation for the individual buyer.
Compare the existing task with the proposed task: usable freight per trip, trips needed, hours required and the total cost of doing the work. No particular saving can be assumed without those inputs.
PBS productivity is therefore an equipment opportunity supported by access. The worthwhile purchase is the combination that produces a dependable improvement on the jobs the business actually has.