Members of the Southern African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (SAVRALA), representing over 450 000 vehicles, have decided not to register for e-tolling.
At the association's AGM, in Johannesburg recently, members said they will not register their vehicles for the controversial e-tolling system until their concerns have been addressed.
“The lack of clarity regarding the enforcement of tolling, the burden of additional administrative costs on Gauteng road users, and the risk posed to road users by cloned registration plates are only some of the outstanding concerns, which present yet undetermined consequences to both members and all Gauteng road users,” says SAVRALA.
For the same reasons, the Road Freight Association (RFA) encourages the same stance, saying e-tags can always be acquired at a later stage.
“A number of organisations are now actively advocating not registering for e-tags until Sanral has resolved the operational challenges still facing the system.
“The RFA is concerned that the roll-out of the tolling system is taking place irrespective of the concerns raised by many fleet operators regarding operational issues,” the association says.
Fraudulent e-tags?
In addition to the concerns raised above, RFA says there is no process for querying transactions that accountholders wish to challenge.
The association also highlights that the standard contract contains clauses that allow Sanral to blacklist accountholders irrespective of possibilities for fraud.
Cloning of e-tags is a likelihood that should be addressed as well.
The RFA also raises concerns regarding Sanral's requirement for the full settlement of tolls within seven days of the transaction, while business practice is 30 days.
“Despite all major fleet operators in the freight, passenger, vehicle hire and tourism industries having voiced their concerns on numerous occasions - there has been no response from Sanral relating to the... issues.”
Exorbitant waste
SAVRALA says the recent statement by finance minister Pravin Gordhan to “use the resources we have far more effectively”, strongly resonates with its concerns about the planned implementation of urban tolling in Gauteng.
“The expected administrative costs, conservatively running into billions, could be replaced almost overnight by an additional fuel levy without any wasteful administrative costs.”
“The cost of administering and implementing the collection of tolls through the gantry system remains an exorbitant and fruitless expenditure that the country should reject outright. Spending between R6 billion and R14 billion to collect R21 billion just does not make financial sense,” says the RFA.
Smoke and mirrors
“The argument against toll roads continues to pile up. The reality is that these expensive tolls have to be paid for by everyone,” says Democratic Alliance shadow deputy minister of transport Manny de Freitas.
He adds that this will lead to a loss of jobs. As the cost to conduct business increases, businesses will have no option but to lay off workers or even move out of Gauteng to more economical provinces.
“Don't be fooled by the clever spin and smoke and mirrors coming from the Department of Transport (DOT) and Sanral. The toll roads system in Gauteng is going ahead - the fight is not over. We need to fight it all the way.”
Include Gauteng
He is referring to recent statements by transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele halting all work on the tolling of national roads.
However, this does not include e-tolling in Gauteng, which will go ahead in February as planned.
But the DOT still says it would like to hear alternative views from the public on the best possible model of financing the debt incurred for the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, for which e-tolling was established.
SAVRALA welcomes Ndebele's instruction, but says the intent to implement tolling in Gauteng should also be halted.
Registration tomorrow
The RFA says Sanral will begin registering and issuing e-tags from tomorrow so that a reasonable number of vehicles are registered for the “go-live” test phase of the e-toll system.
However, neither Sanral nor the DOT responded to ITWeb's requests for confirmation on this.
The e-tolling project is an open road, multilane toll infrastructure that allows tolls to be charged without drivers having to stop. There are no physical booths.
Motorcycles (Class A1) with e-tags will pay 24c/km; light vehicles (Class A2) will pay 40c/km; medium vehicles (Class B) 100c/km; and “longer” vehicles (Class C) 200c/km.
Qualifying commuter taxis (Class A2) and commuter buses (Class B) are completely exempt from the e-toll system.
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