New e-toll tariffs will be effective from July
Sanral claims the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTAa) and the Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) are misleading the public over new e-toll tariff regulations.
According to Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona, the statements made by OUTA and the JPSA, claiming the new e-toll dispensation is ‘smoke and mirrors’ without tangible benefits, are patently incorrect and misleading.
“Sanral would like to point out that the naysayers such as OUTA and JPSA, who have no respect for our democracy, unfortunately continue to mislead the public with their statements,” he says.
The new and lowered toll tariffs for non-registered or non e-tag users and lowered monthly caps for registered users were gazetted on June 17, and will be effective from July 2.
“The assertion by OUTA that there has been no reduction in tariffs is a lie.”
In the previous dispensation, the 30c per kilometre tariff for light motor vehicles was only applicable to registered e-tag users.
In the new dispensation, this applies to all users, whether they have an e-tag or not.
The lower new caps will also come into effect as from July 2.
This is the first part of the new dispensation to be implemented as announced by deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa on May 20.
Ramaphosa made it clear in his announcement that implementation will be in phases, and provided indicative timelines.
The introduction of the lowered standard tariff that is now the same as the e-tag tariff, will provide relief to users that are not registered.
“In this regard, we are working with the Department of Transport and have already started with the administrative and legal processes to implement the new dispensation, the implementation requires software and operational changes that must be implemented in accordance with best practices,” says Mona.
Sanral is in the process of testing the changes to the system thoroughly to ensure a smooth transition.
The relief announced for road users will become applicable once these changes have been made to the system.
Other innovations such as the 30 free gantry passes per annum will be announced once the system and administrative requirements have been fulfilled.
“It is not true that the new dispensation is like a ‘new coat over the same rusty broken vehicle’ as described by OUTA,” says Mona.
“On the contrary, it is their criticism that sounds like a broken record.”
He adds the new e-toll dispensation has brought significant changes that will benefit all those who use the e-roads.
“OUTA and JPSA are not offering anything new in their criticism, like true ideologues, they are still stuck in the same position they were in three years ago,” he says.
“Even for those who have made a career out of criticising Sanral, selective reading of the Gazette is regrettable. It comes very close to scraping the bottom of the barrel.”
