South Africa’s Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) applauds the decision of the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) to call upon its members to boycott the e-tolling system operating in the country’s Gauteng province.
SANTACO last week said members would not pay any e-toll bills until the Department of Transport in Gauteng issues taxi drivers with operating licences – taxis with licences exempted from e-tolls – in line with a court settlement of December 2013.
OUTA said the e-tolling system requires too many administrative elements to take place to function efficiently, making the system “unworkable”, while the decision of taxi drivers to boycott e-tolls is “logical”, the alliance said.
“There is simply far too much burden in the cumbersome e-toll system which adds to the high costs of administration, making it more irrational than initially envisaged,” said Wayne Duvenage, chairperson of OUTA.
“SANTACO’s call for a boycott of e-tolls last week is the most logical approach for them to take.
“They would be joining the ranks of well over a million other freeway users who have not purchased e-tags and who have ignored SANRAL’s ill-conceived plan.”
OUTA said the fact the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) has set 60 per cent compliance as its target for e-toll payments proves the agency accepts and is content with compliance by limited numbers of road users.
“Our projections reveal that more users will remain untagged than tagged and that is a formula for disaster for e-tolls,” said John Clarke, spokesperson for OUTA.
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