Benefits of e-tolling can't be ignored

There are many key benefits to e-tolling which are being ignored in the current debate about the user pay system, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) said today.

"As SANRAL, we have research which shows that the Gauteng highway network is beneficial for motorists. There are cost savings, technological and fiscal benefits, which led us to believe that tolling remains the best and most sustainable way to pay for the upgrading and maintenance of this national road," said SANRAL spokesman Vusi Mona.

He said it was regrettable that the current dispute around the system has halted further upgrades on the network, which will eventually negate these benefits. "We don't want to be scaremongers, but the reality is traffic volumes are again building up and we are fast approaching unsustainable congestion levels which will cost the Gauteng economy."

Mona said previous studies conducted by the Automobile Association and the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry had revealed the huge costs for both motorists and the economy associated with congestion.

Among the benefits of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project which have been highlighted previously are: increased road safety thanks to SANRAL Intelligent Transport System (ITS), a decrease in congestion and travel times on the road, which have resulted in the added benefit of cost saving for companies and individuals who are now able to spend more time at work as opposed to on the road.

Speaking at a New Age business breakfast last year, SANRAL CEO Nazir Alli said: "If you do calculations in terms of the loss of production, the wear and tear to your car, vehicle operation costs which increase, the pollution we were creating... once you take that into account, the benefits far outweigh the tariffs."

In 2012, the TomTom South African Traffic Index showed that the upgrading of the inner Gauteng highways, the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), had led to a considerable easing of congestion. However, the latest Index, released in 2013, shows that Johannesburg is again the most congested city in South Africa and the 20th most congested in the world.

This, Mona says, is as a result in delays of further upgrades to other roads identified as part of the GFIP project.

"Toll roads ensure a high quality road network. In addition to contributing to improved road safety, they generally reduce travelling distances and result in substantial savings on the running costs of your vehicle and much valued travel time," Mona said. "The user-pay principle represents a fair and precise way of paying for transportation facilities."

In addition to this, the ITS makes for constant monitoring of road conditions, traffic flows and motorists' behaviour and rapid reaction when something does happen on the highways. It incorporates a traffic management system, which means there is pre-planning as to how to react when there is an incident on any of these roads, and when there is one, a set of co-ordinated activities kick in so as to minimise the direct and secondary effects of the incident and to restore the flow of traffic to normal conditions.

This includes traffic crashes, cargo spillage, inconsiderate driving causing a pile-up on the road - in effect, any incident which the constant monitoring can pick up.

"These benefits would not exist if not for e-tolling, and while we understand that it has become a sensitive issue, we would call for level heads when weighing up the pros and cons of the system," Mona said.

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