Freight industry relieved over reduction of e-toll tariffs | Infrastructure news

Despite the fact that the freight industry in South Africa has fought against the introduction of the e-tolling system, there is a positive side in the e-toll saga with the reduction of the tariffs, including the monthly caps for heavy vehicles.

On Friday, the Government Gazette published the proposed monthly cap for heavy vehicles with class B paying R1 750 and class C R3 500.

Motorists who are registered and have e-tags will be paying 30c/km at a monthly cap of R550, while non-registered motorists will be paying almost double that.

“We’ve done our industry research on our classes of vehicles on the fuel levy against e-toll tariffs and we have found that the current level is cheaper than the cost of fuel would be using the same routes if the fuel levy was introduced,” said Gavin Kelly, a technical and operations manager at the Road Freight Association.

“We’ve lobbied Sanral (SA National Roads Agency Limited) and the government, and they brought the tariffs to a level that makes it affordable for freight. Obviously we can still try to get it lower.”

The public has 30 days to comment on the proposed tariffs. For ordinary motorists, e-toll fees remain unchanged from figures published in April.

A judicial review on the e-tolling system is scheduled for November 26 and the final Government Gazette will be published two weeks later.

Gary Ronald of the AA said: “We are still advocating not buying e-tags until the judicial review process is completed and we have a definite answer from the high court.”

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