RFA expects March launch for e-tolls

The Road Freight Association (RFA) is advising its members to expect tolls on Gauteng’s Freeways as soon as March 1 this year. While no official date has been communicated by government, this is the expectation based on Sanral’s determination to get the tolling system going as soon as possible, said RFA spokesman Gavin Kelly – and March is the end of the current government financial year. “Many of our members have started the process of getting tags ahead of March 1 to ensure they are ready should this be the launch of e-tolling in Gauteng,” he told FTW. He said the RFA had done a trial run with Sanral on the tolled roads in Gauteng in order to determine costs so that members can prepare for the financial impact. “If all the discounts are applied and the trucks are moving out of peak times, we are looking at around 81 cents per kilometre,” he said. “That is a massive difference in price from the first announced price of R3.96 per kilometre. The economic impact will be much less than what was initially estimated thanks to the newly negotiated tariff.” He said there was a huge saving for truck operators to not have their vehicles on the road during peak hours as the price increased to about R1.51 for the largest vehicles during peak traffic. “The RFA has always maintained that the fuel levy remains the best option for funding infrastructure as it is not only a guaranteed income, but also is not felt as heavily as a toll because theoretically a levy is carried by the entire country and not just a few people.” Kelly said through the trial run with Sanral they were able to establish that on the particular GFIP routes, taking into account the amount of freight moved, it would ultimately be cheaper for the transporter than an increased fuel levy. “At the same time many of the concerns and issues we raised with Sanral over e- tolling in Gauteng have been addressed and we are awaiting the appointment of an independent regulator to monitor the tolling as we maintain this is a necessity.”