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Outa: No user say, user pay in e-tolls

Cape Town - The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) and the governing authorities did not heed the warnings and concerns over Gauteng's e-tolls raised by various sectors of society, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) said on Tuesday.

"Instead, they forged ahead with a system on the basis that ‘if the law was in place and the technology was sound, it ought to work’. 

“What they failed to take into account was, for a law and the scheme to be effective, it needs to be reasonable and have undergone the scrutiny of the people.

"Without ‘user say’, the ‘user pay’ principle is flawed and gives users strong grounds for defiance, which has now become evident in the e-toll debacle,” said Outa joint spokesperson John Clarke.

“We are not surprised that e-tolling has failed, as a result of Sanral’s inability to get the people to support the system, due to the irrationality, the lack of transparency and Sanral’s dismal public engagement programme,” said Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage. 

Read: E-tolls failed, Outa tells public hearings

“They have also attempted to introduce a scheme that is far too complex and filled with too many challenges to be efficiently applied into this environment.”

Academic-backed research shows where and why electronic tolling systems work, listing the aspects and reasons for their successes. Virtually all of these were glaringly missing in Sanral’s e-toll scheme, which fails on almost all the factors it required for success, said Outa.

"We maintain that the e-toll declaration was made unlawfully and unless the system can be effectively enforced, the high levels of defiance can never be managed. This in turn undermines the legitimacy of the state.

"We have proposed a few alternatives, which have zero administrative costs and 100% compliance, something the e-toll scheme will never achieve."

Read: Fuel levy better way to fund e-tolls - union

It would be a wise move on the part of authorities to stop the "failed scheme" sooner rather than later, to prevent continued waste of funds and stop more unintended consequences that may arise if they "continue to force this unjust system into place”, said Outa.

Now read: E-tolls failed, Outa tells public hearings

 - Fin24

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