E-tolls ‘not hurting the poor’
The South African National Road Agency said e-tolls do not put a disproportionate burden on the poor.
Claims that Gauteng’s e-tolls put a disproportionate burden on the poor have been rejected by Sanral as “nothing but cheap populism”.
The South African National Road Agency said a recent inquiry into the matter by a panel found that 98% of e-toll road users were middle and higher income earners.
“It is therefore not clear how the claim that e-tolling has a disproportionate impact on the poor can be made. Is it political expediency, plain dishonesty or simply a matter of ignoring those parts in the report which some don’t like?” asked Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona.
The advisory panel’s presentation showed that the low income groups with cars did not use other roads, while only 1% of taxis and buses, the preferred mode of transport for the poor, used e-toll roads.
Sanral said its own figures showed that 79% of the 5.2 million unique vehicles passing under gantries would have paid less than R100 per month had they registered an e-tag.
“This is actual data we are working with and not scenarios. Therefore, the perception that e-tolls are prohibitively expensive does not stand up to scrutiny. Yes, they are expensive for the non-compliant user and the one who has opted not to take up the 48% discount available to an e-tag registered user,” Mona said.
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