Toll Road Debates Heating Up

There is no doubt that Jozi people are not happy with the new tolling system in Johannesburg. Yesterday Sbu said if people are not happy to pay the toll they must make use of taxis which was met with revolt by readers who said Sbu must try the taxi himself. Such a response from the Minister of Transport is not well thought me thinks and has to do with our Minister's arrogance. Surely Sbu knows how well taxis are hated in South Africa because of their perceived un-road worthiness, he could have came up with a better response. 


Nazir Alli, the CEO of SANRAL, an agency of the Department of Transport responsible for the implementation of the tolling of the roads is also not providing the public with satisfactory answers. Not that there are any that he can give to the public...people are mad that the taxes that they are paying are not being used to maintain the roads and there are just no alternative public transport available to their disposal. Its true...Gautrain, which was being tainted as an alternative to those who don't want to pay toll roads is not accessible to every Tom Dick and Harry, as Cosatu says. Sbu's response: "You are not forced to make use of alternative Routes". Sbu, are you aware of the extra costs this will have on CoJ?  At the moment JRA can't even fix a pothole within the specified time period. Anyway If you want alternative routes people, see the map below;



View New Roads to be Tolled and Alternative Routes in a larger map 

SANRAL New Toll System

What is your take on the new toll system? Are you going to pay or not?

Road agency closer to introducing toll roads

The day that will make some South African car users residing in Gauteng not to remember is getting closer. That day will be when SANRAL finally start charging each car owner who chooses to make use of their national roads (see map below). That day is somewhere in the second quarter of 2011.

View New Roads to be Tolled and Alternative Routes in a larger map

For those (including me) who argued that there will be an exodus of traffic to secondary roads as a result of the new Toll Road, here is what SANRAL had to say;

Van Niekerk - (Project Manager - GFIP ) noted that he did not believe that there would be an exodus to secondary roads once tolling was implemented, as there was “no magic alternative available to the road network”. Also, commuters tended to divert from new toll roads initially, but then always returned to the ease afforded by travelling on a toll road.

And the concern that the toll fees to be paid will increase transport costs?

The agency believed that “at least 50%” of users on the 185 km of upgraded highways would spend less than R350 a month on toll fees. Also, only 1% to 2% of users would pay more than R1 000 a month. CEO of SANRAL Nazir Alli denied that the toll roads will increase the cost on transport. Instead, he asserted, the agency will reduce the costs of transport by providing good quality roads.

How much of the other 47% of users will pay is unknown.....

How much will it cost per kilometer?

The final toll fee structure should be available for public consumption before the end of the year.

Any discounts?

Yes. Frequent users/Public Transport Operators and those who use the road off peak hours will get discounts but this information will be available soon.

How much will the tag be and who will carry the cost?

The cost of the tag is not known yet but the vehicle owners will carry the costs of the tag while SANRAL will be responsible for installing the technology to read them.

What if you don't stay in Gauteng?

According to the Arrive Alive web site - "Road signs will warn visitors to Gauteng to phone or visit the Customer Care centre to register or to obtain a Day Pass. Should a road user make use of the network without registering, they will receive an invoice and be given a set time to pay the toll fees. Should the toll fees not be paid within the set period, additional debt collection and enforcement actions will take place."

Sources:

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/around-50-of-users-to-pay-less-than-r350-a-month-toll-sanral-2010-10-08

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=122336

http://www.environment.co.za/gauteng-transvaal-developments/johannesburg-pretoria-freeway-improvement-project-toll-road-gate-sanral-gfip.html

http://www.arrivealive.co.za/documents/GFIP_WhatUNeed2KnoReprnt.pdf

N.B These interviews answers where taken from the articles sourced. The author did not interview the respondents.

Gautrain marks 1 million passengers - a success or failure?

Last Wednesday, 22 September 2010 Gautrain reached its 1 million passengers mark since its inception few days before the FIFA World Cup. According to Gautrain, the milestone coincided almost exactly with 100 days of operation. It is not known if the 1 million is based on the number of passengers who made use of the train or the number of tickets bought. If it is the latter, then it should be a concern because we all know that not everyone who buys a ticket to the movies do not necessarily watch the movie.

Now, lets check how many people were transported (average) in each day the trains operated;

1 million/100 days = 10 000 average passengers per day. As expected, most of the passengers were carried during the World Cup when 400 000 passengers were carried between OR Tambo and Sandton in its first month. This translates to 13 000 average passengers carried per day in the first month.

With international trains carrying more passengers than what Gautrain is carrying currently, can this be considered to be a failure? Considering that it was estimated that 104 000 passengers per day will be carried and the link between Hatfield to Malboro and from Braamfontein to Sandton City is not yet operational, then one should not be quick to think that. Assuming that the average 10 000 passengers carried currently remains, the questions to be raised is whether the remaining lines will carry the remaining 94 000 passengers.

For now, I can not tell and we will have to wait until the line is built. But a quick guess tells me that the 94 000 passengers will be hard to be achieved. Here are the reasons why I think so;

• First, most South Africans just love being in their cars, so convincing them to get out of them to shared seats will be a mountain to climb even when roads are going to be tolled;
• I am not sure how many people get sponsored by the companies via car subsidies, but those who are will not leave their cars as new toll roads will be easily be absorbed;
• For those who will be burdened by toll roads will find alternative routes to avoid the toll roads - which lead to more damaged local roads (what are the local authority planning to do about this is not known) - see map below;

View New Roads to be Tolled and Alternative Routes in a larger map

But like I said before, one should wait for April 2011 (note: Gautrain's website list the operational date as 06/2011), when the second phase of the Gautrain is completed.