Outa warns new e-toll deal will lead to driving of unlicensed cars

JOHANNESBURG: The new decision on Gauteng e-tolls, announced by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, will lead to motorists driving unlicensed vehicles, says the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa).

“It will also force many road users to drive unlicensed vehicles. Cars will be licensed in other provinces, and several other problems for the vehiclelicensing authorities will arise out of this decision, not to mention the reduced licence revenues for the region. There is also bound to be a legal challenge mounted against this decision.”

The government is looking at changing legislation to ensure that those who do not settle their e-toll accounts can’t renew their vehicle licences. Licence discs would be withheld.

On Wednesday, Ramaphosa said that the user-pay principle for e-tolls in Gauteng would remain in place.

He also announced halved tariffs for most categories of vehicles in terms of a new payment structure.

“A single reduced tariff will be applied to all motorists. As an example, the standard tariff of 58 cents per kilometre for light-motor vehicles will be reduced to 30 cents per kilometre. This is almost a 50 percent reduction,” said Ramaphosa, who headed a government task team looking into e-tolls in the province.

Those who do not settle their bills within 30 days, however, would not qualify for the discounts.

Ramaphosa also said there would be a 60 percent discount for motorists who had not been paying since e-tolling’s inception in December 2013.

Outa said the government did not reduce the fees, but removed the punitive tariff. “They have merely removed the punitive tariff, which no one was paying anyway. And if the public were paying in the past, they would have purchased an e-tag for the same rate of 30c per kilometre.

“The reduced cap from R450 to R225 a month only applies to less that 10 percent of the motorists, as over 90 percent of users would not have exceeded that cap in the past anyway,” the organisation said.

“Reducing the outstanding bills by 60 percent is a carrot the public will not fall for.”

The new fee structure will lead to a funding shortfall for the SA Roads Agency Limited to recover the costs for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.

The funding gap will be met by transfers from the national and the Gauteng provincial government.

E-tolling was implemented on Gauteng highways in December 2013, despite several court challenges to halt the project.

Reducing the outstanding bills by 60 percent is a carrot the public will not fall for