Sanral’s offer to discount e-tolls by 60% in a bid to get more Gauteng road users to adopt the system has failed, with the road agency missing its collection targets by some margin.<\/p>\n
According to Sanral’s latest figures, in May 2016, when the 60% offer expired, the group collected only R109 million (R36 million of which was from the discount) from a target of R195 million.<\/p>\n
In April, where there was a reported “rush” from motorists to take advantage of the discount, Sanral collected just over R125 million in e-tolls (R59 million of which was from the discount) from a target of R130 million.<\/p>\n
This means that Sanral only collected 72% out of the targeted amount of R325 million for April and May – and only 30% of that was from the discount.<\/p>\n
Anti-tolling and civil action group, Outa, revealed in June that\u00a0Gauteng motorists who took advantage of the e-toll dispensation plan paid an average of R1,100 each.<\/p>\n
In a Parliamentary report on the uptake of the dispensation plan, it was revealed that a total of R145 million was paid by 130,000 motorists \u2013 averaging R1,115 per motorist.<\/p>\n
Test case in the pipeline?<\/strong><\/p>\n E-toll collection has been a massive headache for Sanral, which has consistently missed collection targets over the past few years. The roads agency started issuing legal letters to road users who were not paying.<\/p>\n Outstanding e-toll debt has risen even further since September 2015, and is now estimated at around R8 billion \u2013 and climbing.<\/p>\n However, Outa has stood firm in its position that e-tolling would not stand up in court, and has approached Sanral to do a test case – with a goal of saving time and money, and not putting more pressure on South Africa’s already-overburdened courts with thousands of cases.<\/p>\n According to a report by Moneyweb<\/a><\/strong>, Sanral and Outa have met on a number of occasions to flesh out a possible test case for the ongoing e-toll saga, where the two groups could possibly determine test the legality of the system without mass court action against road users.<\/p>\n However, no agreement has been reached, and Sanral said it will continue to tackle e-toll collection as it has been doing until there is a good legal reason not to. A test case, while not off the cards, can only go forward if the two groups agree to the terms.<\/p>\n This may be the best reason why you should vote for the DA next week<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n E-tolls not going anywhere: transport minister<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n 5 reasons why e-tolls failed in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on e-tolls<\/h3>\n