On the second anniversary of the launch of e-tolls, a road tax for users of Gauteng freeways, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) looks back at a system it says “was doomed from the outset”.<\/p>\n
Gauteng’s e-toll scheme was launched exactly two years ago, on December 3 2013. This, said Outa, took place “despite overwhelming public dissension and warnings that it would not be an effective \u2018user-pays\u2019 mechanism to service the Gauteng freeway upgrade bonds”.<\/p>\n
The anti-tolls body said its research studied international examples of both failed and successful electronic tolling schemes, and identified eight critical factors required for e-toll systems to succeed.<\/p>\n
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) failed on all counts, said Outa. It highlighted five of these areas:<\/p>\n
A high degree of public support<\/strong><\/p>\n “This was not the case with Gauteng\u2019s e-tolls, which peaked at R120m per month by June 2014, less than half their original target of R260m,” said Outa. According to the civil rights body, less than 10% of road users were generating about 23% of e-toll revenue levels required by Sanral.<\/p>\n Weak opposition forces<\/strong><\/p>\n Outa pointed out that on the contrary, the public’s outrage has been supported by all political parties – with one exception – as well as labour movements, civil action groups and most business associations, “all of which have overwhelmingly opposed the e-toll scheme”.<\/p>\n Adequate public transport alternatives<\/strong><\/p>\n Outa said that in Gauteng – apart from the Gautrain which caters for a mere 6% of regular commuter traffic between Pretoria and Johannesburg – “public transport alternatives have fallen dismally short of catering for the vehicle-bound commuters in the province”.<\/p>\n User-friendly pricing and billing systems<\/strong><\/p>\n From the very beginning, said Outa, the e-toll scheme’s complicated tariff and payment structures confused most users. “Even the 46 000 Gauteng taxis that were exempt from paying e-tolls were never fitted with e-tags or properly registered with the scheme, giving rise to more doubt about the scheme\u2019s workability.”<\/p>\n Reliable and trusted technology and data<\/strong><\/p>\n E-tolls are generally not regarded as trustworthy because of many billing errors and the scheme\u2019s reliance on e-Natis, said Outa. It added: “This was compounded by a court dismissal of the system\u2019s information, which was found to be inaccurate.”<\/p>\n Outa identifies other incidents it said dealt additional blows to the integrity of the e-tolls scheme by further alienating the public and businesses. Some of these were:<\/p>\n “Over the past year, the e-toll scheme\u2019s collection process has literally being kept on life support by government vehicles and a handful of large logistic and fleet based organisations, who are fed up with the scheme but do not have an appetite to rock government\u2019s boat,” said Outa.<\/p>\n It added that it expects Sanral to launch “another costly propaganda drive, in an attempt to paint another false impression of the public\u2019s uptake of their latest dispensation. However, all indications point to a low uptake of their latest offer which has fallen well short of the billions of rands of outstanding e-toll bills they had hoped for.”<\/p>\n In a strong response to Outa’s statement, Sanral general manager: communications Vusi Mona has debunked some of Outa’s claims. “Outa is an organisation that has no respect for the pronouncements of the judiciary or for our democracy,” Mona told Fin24 via email.<\/p>\n Government to pay half of the e-toll fee shortfall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Sanral in new push to \u2018criminalise\u2019 those not paying e-tolls<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n E-tolls collapsed a long time ago: Outa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nFurther blows<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Kept on ‘life support’<\/h3>\n
Sanral hits back:<\/h3>\n
More on e-tolls<\/h3>\n