Gautengers may be feeling a sense of d'ej`a as the commencement of e-tolls on the province's highways is now set for the holiday season.
The Department of Transport (DOT) has marked this week as the period it will Gazette e-toll tariffs, after which 14 days will be given for public input before a solid start date will be set and published. The tariffs will be publicised for a one-month period.
While the DOT said last week that open road tolling would go live in about a month - putting the start date at the beginning of November - transport minister Dipuo Peters yesterday said e-tolls would commence by the end of the year.
Around this time last year, publications were decked with headlines to the effect of "E-tolls for Christmas", after the DOT and SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) announced the contentious open road tolling system would commence around Christmas Eve.
However, just short of a month later, the system was immobilised by the withdrawal of the vital Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill (e-toll Bill) after Business Unity SA, the Congress of SA Trade Unions and municipalities group the SA Local Government Association presented verbal submissions on e-tolling in Parliament.
Since then, the unprecedentedly controversial road system and Sanral, the body that is tasked with operating and maintaining it, has seen a court case, mass protest, financial jeopardy and public outcry.
Today, DOT spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso said e-tolls, which have been running for two years already - but without charge to motorists - are all systems go and motorists can expect the system to go live as soon as the remaining obligatory formalities have been taken care of.
"Last week, the minister approved the e-toll regulations and we will be publishing them this week, just for the purpose of informing the public. Then the toll tariffs will be published for a period of 30 days, during which the public can offer input. When the period is up, we will collate the input we have received and the minister will make a final determination after considering it."
The last leg, says Rikhotso, is the issuing of notice of commencement - after which the DOT is required to let 14 days lapse before going live with the e-toll system. "So you can do the maths. I don't want to commit to a date."
Ready to roll
Rikhotso says the system has been successfully trialled during the past two-year running period, and that any challenges that may arise over the commencement period and holiday season will not be insurmountable.
"The system has proven to be efficient and we have had no major incidents. It's proven to be very reliable on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project network. We have been using it for incident management, to do a travel demand management survey and to capture the number of vehicles on the road network.
"On the N4 highway -the Bakwena toll route - the e-toll system has been live and collating since September last year. Those who travel that road (about 50 000 motorists) have been using their e-tags on that network."
He says Electronic Toll Collection, contracted by the DOT to coordinate and administrate toll payments, employs at least 1 400 people on a permanent basis at the e-tolls operations centre in Samrand.
"Some of these employees are responsible for call centre duties, while others are responsible for technical support. When e-tolling starts these people will have to be there around the clock. We can assure the public we have sufficient capacity to run e-tolls and deal with any problems that may arise."
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