A trip from William Nichol to the OR Tambo airport could cost you a cool R38 - just in new toll fees
The cost of the Gauteng highway improvement project will have “horrific” implications for motorists, the Automobile Association says.
Spokesman Gary Ronald said: "We’re likely to see alternative routes becoming gridlock areas where back roads offer a toll free substitute".
"A trip from William Nichol to the airport could cost you a cool R38."
Ronald said South Africans may need to re-look public transport options.
The move would also put a “nasty dent” in the freight industry’s pocket, the AA noted.
Making the announcement on Friday, the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said the Gauteng highway improvement project will cost motorists 66 cents a kilometre and heavy duty lorries R3.96 a kilometre.
However, this was before discounts were applied, said SANRAL chief executive officer Nazir Alli in Pretoria, at a presentation where he unveiled the tariffs for the 185-kilometre Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP).
Motorists who purchase the e-tag system will pay 49.5 cents a kilometre, while medium-sized vehicles with the e-tag system will be charged R1.49 a kilometre. Heavy duty vehicles with an e-tag will be charged R2.97 per kilometre.
Alli said that motorists would get further discounts depending on when they used the highway and on whether they were frequent users.
Users of the 185-kilometre system will not have to stop at a traditional toll booth, but will drive through booths known as gantries, which have electronic equipment as well as cameras, which photograph the vehicle’s number plate and measure its size.
Each time a vehicle passes underneath a gantry, the toll will either be deducted from the amount that has been loaded onto the e-tag. If a user of the network does not have an e-tag, the bill for the toll will be sent by post to the registered owner of the vehicle.
Gantries are between 5 kilometres and 14 kilometres apart — an average of 10 kilometres.
One Sanral official said the system was expected conservatively to generate revenues of about R300 million a month.
Most of this revenue will initially have to go towards operating the system and paying off the loans that were secured to finance the project which will cost an estimated R20 billion.
Vehicles with an e-tag qualify for an automatic 25 percent discount. Additionally there will be discounts depending on what time of day a person travels. This can range between five and 25 percent.
The e-tags are not transferable between vehicles and if a user has an e-tag for a light motor vehicle the system will raise an immediate alert if a lorry passes through the gantry on that e-tag.
Public transport operators with e-tags can get a 50 percent discount while frequent users can get discounts depending on usage.
Alli said the e-tags would be available at numerous locations, including the e-toll customer service website, www.sanral.co.za, e-toll customer service kiosks located in shopping malls, e-toll customer service centres situated along the freeway network and by contacting the e-toll call centre.
Alli said the system would enter a test phase in April and that Sanral planned to have it operational by June 23.
Roads included in the GFIP are the N1 from Pretoria East to Golden Highway south west of Johannesburg, the R21 from the N1 to the N12 near Rondebuilt Road, the N3 from Buccleuch in the north to a little beyond Barry Marais Road south east of Johannesburg, and the N12 from near Putfontein east of Johannesburg to where the N12 joins the N1 near the Golden Highway.
No matter how fast motorists sped through the 47 gantries, the equipment would still be able to read either the e-tag or the registration number.
It was not immediately envisaged that the gantries would be used for speed trapping, Alli said.