{"id":77349,"date":"2015-01-15T14:10:17","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T12:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=77349"},"modified":"2015-01-15T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T12:18:10","slug":"e-toll-review-panel-findings-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/77349\/e-toll-review-panel-findings-everything-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"E-toll review panel findings: everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Gauteng provincial government has released its <a title=\"http:\/\/www.gautengonline.gov.za\/Publications\/Summary%20of%20recommendations%20made%20by%20the%20Advisory%20Panel.pdf\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gautengonline.gov.za\/Publications\/Summary%20of%20recommendations%20made%20by%20the%20Advisory%20Panel.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">findings of the e-toll review panel<\/a>, which suggests alternative funding mechanisms and fee structures as part of an e-toll review.<\/p>\n<p>The panel&#8217;s report, released by Gauteng Premier David Makhura on Thursday (15 January) found that the e-tolling system, in its current form, was unaffordable and unsustainable.<\/p>\n<p>The report called for a review of certain elements in the system, including the funding mechanisms and the wider social impact it has on the province.<\/p>\n<p>Recommendations made in the report include how to deal with funding infrastructure and the Gauteng Freeway Infrastructure Project (GFIP) in both the short and long terms.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Funding E-tolls<\/h3>\n<p>The report recommended that a &#8220;hybrid&#8221; funding option be adopted, not only to pay for phase 1 of the GFIP (which e-tolling forms a part of), but also phase 2 and 3, which are yet to be developed.<\/p>\n<p>A hybrid system would still include e-tolls, but to a lesser degree than the current format. It would include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Funding from the provincial fiscus;<\/li>\n<li>A reduced-cap e-toll;<\/li>\n<li>A ring-fenced national fuel levy;<\/li>\n<li>Increasing and ring-fencing the cost of advertising on toll routes;<\/li>\n<li>Increasing and ring-fencing vehicle license fees;<\/li>\n<li>Increasing fees for tyres;<\/li>\n<li>and recovering funds from the construction industry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The panel stressed, however, that phase 1 of the GFIP should be paid for through provincial sources.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">What about e-tags?<\/h3>\n<p>The panel also recommended that e-tags become, to an extent, compulsory.<\/p>\n<p>It suggested that e-tags be issued when vehicle licences get renewed, &#8220;possibly credited with a capped fee for the first month&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>In order to make this option more appealing, the panel suggests:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Prepaid&#8221; methods of reloading the tab that people are familiar with;<\/li>\n<li>Eliminating all &#8220;alternative tariffs&#8221; and making each gantry a flat rate;<\/li>\n<li>Removing all past and future penalty fees;<\/li>\n<li>and removing all postal administration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The panel also suggested switching off gantries that provide access to low income areas, and allowing all non-compliant users an opportunity to back pay usage based on e-tagged rates with no penalties.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Exemption status extension<\/h3>\n<p>The panel recommended that complete exemption be provided to the following groups:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Low-income vehicle owners (based on presented evidence and a possible check with SARS);<\/li>\n<li>Taxis;<\/li>\n<li>Scholar transport;<\/li>\n<li>People with disabilities;<\/li>\n<li>NGOs doing charitable work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Government should also consider switching off gantries for periods of time on weekends, the panel said.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the panel also suggest that a new &#8220;transport authority&#8221; be established to manage dedicated funding and the improvement of all modes of transport &#8211; with priority attention given to public transport.<\/p>\n<p>This authority would regulate tariffs across the transport sector, create a positive investment climate and protect the public interest.<\/p>\n<p>Provincial government is working with Tshwane, Johannesburg, and Ekhuruleni to consider the best funding model moving forward, Makhura said.<\/p>\n<p>Makhura said he would hold a consultative meeting in February to determine the best funding method.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe take the view that every next step must be working with the people of Gauteng,\u201d Makhura said.<\/p>\n<p>An official announcement will be made by government after the consultation process.<\/p>\n<p>In the mean time, Makhura said road users should keep paying e-tolls.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">More on e-tolls<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to E-tolling needs to be reviewed: official report\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/general\/77315\/e-tolling-needs-to-be-reviewed-official-report\/\">E-tolling needs to be reviewed: official report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"E-toll panel rejects fuel levy: report\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/general\/77031\/e-toll-panel-rejects-fuel-levy-report\/\"><strong>E-toll panel rejects fuel levy: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"The perfect way to scrap e-tolls\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/general\/76883\/the-perfect-way-to-scrap-e-tolls\/\"><strong>The perfect way to scrap e-tolls<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"E-toll costs may come down: report\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/general\/76983\/e-toll-costs-may-come-down-report\/\"><strong>E-toll costs may come down: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Gauteng provincial government has released the findings of the e-toll review panel, suggesting alternative funding mechanisms and fee structures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":70473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[427,9389,26],"class_list":["post-77349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-e-toll","tag-e-toll-review-panel","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77349"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77365,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77349\/revisions\/77365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}