On Monday, it will be three months to the day that government's largely resisted e-toll project went live and the SA National Roads Agency's (Sanral's) bullish stance that the system will succeed, despite widespread opposition, continues to be challenged in earnest.
On one hand, Sanral maintains the e-toll system was tried and tested for a two-year period prior to implementation - and that the list of logistical snags it has experienced in the past quarter year are mere teething problems. On the other, political and civil groups are adamant the system is doomed to fail due to non-compliance and "fatal flaws".
Although e-tolling has been a hot debate for over two years now, the system has only really had three months to prove itself. So far Sanral - the agency tasked with running the system - has come under fire for wrongful billing, alleged fabrication of e-tag sales numbers, inadequate online security mechanisms, a lack of customer engagement, and lack of transparency in general.
Sanral has repeatedly defended the system and its chances of success, and has downplayed the extent of public opposition. The agency concedes it faces challenges, but says the system is stable.
Despite the fact that 60% of Gauteng's 2.5 million road users are not settling their accounts, Sanral CEO Nazir Alli believes South Africans' rational and law-abiding nature will prevail at the end of the day.
Alli last week said e-tag sales indicated motorists were prepared to cooperate with Sanral in making the system work.
Checklist
But headline e-toll opposition group, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa), remains steadfast in its view that e-tolling in its current form cannot and will not work.
In a report compiled by Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage and consultant John Clarke, released yesterday, the alliance cites research by University of Pretoria academics Marlene Holmner and Erin Hommes, presented in a paper titled "Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS): privacy, security and societal considerations within the Gauteng case study".
According to the paper, there are certain fundamental factors that have proven to foreshadow the success of ITS systems, like e-tolls.
"Some documented success factors for the implementation of ITS include the presence of strong advocates and public support; weak opposition; a single agency overseeing the project; a good public transportation system in place; simple and affordable pricing systems using proven technology; environmental monitoring and protection; and comfort factors that create confidence among users (Carnevale & Crawford 2008; Jaras?niene 2010)."
Based on this, Outa has extrapolated eight "affirmative statements of importance":
1. Public support needs to be extremely high, with strong advocates promoting acceptance.
2. Oppositional forces must be weak.
3. Tangible comfort factors must be immediately felt to create confidence.
4. Alternative public transportation systems should be adequate and reliable.
5. The pricing systems should be simple and the billing system user-friendly.
6. The soundness of the technology and data needs to be extremely reliable.
7. Environmental benefits and costs must be monitored and managed.
8. A single agency with unquestioned legitimacy and authority should be responsible for implementation.
Outa believes Gauteng's e-toll project is not underpinned by these factors.
On point number eight, the alliance recognises that, at the outset of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) upgrade - which e-tolling was introduced to fund, according to government - Sanral was indeed regarded as a strong and credible agency.
However, Outa notes Sanral's strength in public opinion and ratings has taken a dip since the e-toll issue has flared up.
Security flunk
Fundamental holes in Sanral's security systems, managed by Electronic Toll Collection - a consortium especially set up four years ago to manage e-tolling - have adversely affected user confidence (point 3).
The system has been fraught with security flaws. The first identified flaw - reported in October last year - opened the way for attackers to capture personal information such as identity numbers, car registration details, physical and e-mail addresses, as well as cellphone numbers.
Weeks later, a hole emerged that allowed unregistered road users to check outstanding e-toll fees and allowed would-be snoops to track motorists' movements with just a vehicle licence number in hand. This has since been fixed.
The most recent user security issue - far more serious in nature and implication - was brought to Sanral's attention early in January. Through a security flaw inherent in the login process on Sanral's site, attackers could get into users' accounts, giving them full access to personal data such as car registration, phone numbers, physical address and other information.
Sanral has yet to notify users of that breach so they can change their PINs and, as of 17 January, did not know how many accounts may have been compromised.
Outa says "not only are the comfort factors absent, but many e-tag users have become very uncomfortable because of failure by Sanral to reassure them of the security of personal information".
The agency has also been hit with terrorist scares, after a substance suspected to be anthrax was found in its operations centre, a distributed denial of service attack and a bomb threat.
Overt opposition
Two other requirements - that of strong advocates and public support, as well as a weak opposition (points one and two) - are negated through the low level of compliance among e-road users in settling bills.
This week, National Treasury documentation showed the Department of Transport expects 72.9% of all users to not settle their accounts.
While the state says this rate is not that bad - and is on the up having moved from a 30% compliance level in December to the 40% range now - Outa argues the low level of payments shows the system is failing.
In the past two months alone, Outa has received almost 2 000 complaints about incorrect e-toll billing, which it has submitted to the public protector. Sanral says the billing issues only affect 0.3% - around 8 000 users.
Outa claims, in the absence of the requisite factors for success, Sanral is trying to create the illusion of public confidence.
On Sunday, Sanral said it had reached a milestone with regards to its e-toll user base - that of one million registered users. "[Sanral] is now sitting with more than 1.2 million e-tags that have been taken up."
The agency's spokesperson Vusi Mona said: "We would like to thank all Gauteng motorists who have responded positively to our call to register their vehicles for e-tolling. We appreciate what they have done and would like to urge other motorists to follow suit in order to enjoy the discounts associated with having an e-tag."
Outa has called on transport minister Dipuo Peters and Ruth Bhengu, chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport, to take "political courage" and put an end to SA's e-toll woes.
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