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Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Open Road Tolling in South Africa
1. What is open-road tolling?
At a traditional toll plaza or toll booth, you can stop and pay for your toll. In open-road tolling, gantries are erected over the road and vehicle details are captured through electronic and photographic means as they travel on the roads. Road users are billed electronically based on the vehicle details. This means that there is no need to stop or slow down to pay tolls, but it also means that road users need to pay their tolls through other channels and should maintain an account with the national toll operator. This registered account will be nationally interoperable with all tolling schemes and concessions.
2. What is being implemented in South Africa?
Right now, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) is implementing the Gauteng Open
Road Tolling Project (GORT). Over the last few years, significant amounts of money have been spent on upgrading the Gauteng freeway infrastructure and SANRAL will recover this investment by applying the user pay principle by means of tolling these upgraded roads. The toll initiative for GORT will be a phased approach with the first phase representing 185km of tolled roads by means of 42 gantries, many of which have already been erected. Tolling is due to commence in the second quarter of 2011, with account registrations starting three months prior to tolling commencement. You will be able to register more than one vehicle per registered account. Vehicles can be tolled via their license plate number, or may be fitted
with a Tag, an electronic device that helps the tolling system on the gantry to identify the registered vehicle. However Gantries are also equipped with license-plate recognition cameras and systems, so
vehicles can also be identified by means of license plates. The toll fee payable will be distance-based – ie longer journeys on the toll road incur higher charges. Gantries also contain equipment that measures the length and height of a vehicle, to arrive at a classification of the vehicle based on a volumetric measurement.
3. What will it cost me?
The definition of vehicle classes, the base toll rates applicable to these classes and any frequent user discount schemes will be announced by SANRAL in due course. However, the following is known at this time:
Should a road user default on the payment of toll fees the registered vehicle owner is deemed responsible under prevailing legislation to pay the toll for the specific vehicle in default. The default is administered by SANRAL through a violations management process where the vehicle owner becomes liable to pay the outstanding tolls as well as additional administration fees. Should SANRAL be unsuccessful in the recovery of the monies due the violation will eventually be transferred and managed as an infringement as defined under the Adjudication and Administration of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO). SANRAL has invested significantly in a specialised and dedicated collection and enforcement infrastructure to combat the current non-compliance culture demonstrated by road users in South Africa.
4. What do I need to consider as a Fleet Owner/ Manager
Located in urban areas
Cost impact (expect Gauteng toll costs to significantly increase that currently incurred in the entire rest of the country)
Massive increase in transaction volumes
Electronic process, where the billing process is separate to using the road
New avenues for fraud
5. Map of Tolling Points
At a traditional toll plaza or toll booth, you can stop and pay for your toll. In open-road tolling, gantries are erected over the road and vehicle details are captured through electronic and photographic means as they travel on the roads. Road users are billed electronically based on the vehicle details. This means that there is no need to stop or slow down to pay tolls, but it also means that road users need to pay their tolls through other channels and should maintain an account with the national toll operator. This registered account will be nationally interoperable with all tolling schemes and concessions.
2. What is being implemented in South Africa?
Right now, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) is implementing the Gauteng Open
Road Tolling Project (GORT). Over the last few years, significant amounts of money have been spent on upgrading the Gauteng freeway infrastructure and SANRAL will recover this investment by applying the user pay principle by means of tolling these upgraded roads. The toll initiative for GORT will be a phased approach with the first phase representing 185km of tolled roads by means of 42 gantries, many of which have already been erected. Tolling is due to commence in the second quarter of 2011, with account registrations starting three months prior to tolling commencement. You will be able to register more than one vehicle per registered account. Vehicles can be tolled via their license plate number, or may be fitted
with a Tag, an electronic device that helps the tolling system on the gantry to identify the registered vehicle. However Gantries are also equipped with license-plate recognition cameras and systems, so
vehicles can also be identified by means of license plates. The toll fee payable will be distance-based – ie longer journeys on the toll road incur higher charges. Gantries also contain equipment that measures the length and height of a vehicle, to arrive at a classification of the vehicle based on a volumetric measurement.
3. What will it cost me?
The definition of vehicle classes, the base toll rates applicable to these classes and any frequent user discount schemes will be announced by SANRAL in due course. However, the following is known at this time:
- There will be three vehicle classes, rather than the four currently defined for conventional toll plazas.
- For class 1 vehicles (light motor vehicles), SANRAL has indicated that the rate will be approximately 50c per kilometre in 2007 Rands; factored for inflation, this would translate to a rate somewhere between 55c and 65c per kilometre when tolling commences in the second quarter 2011. SANRAL will provide discount schemes and it is expected the actual rate paid by frequent users can be a fair amount lower than the base rate after factoring for these discount schemes.
- The base rate for class 2 and 3 (medium and heavy) vehicles is uncertain at this time. The Road Freight Association and other industry representative bodies are engaging with SANRAL in this regard.
- It is envisaged that various discounts schemes will be available, but may include time-of-day discounts, providing cheaper tolls for travel in off-peak periods, and tiered discount schemes for frequent users, meaning that the more a vehicle travels for a defined period , the lower the actual toll rate paid.
- It is possible that different base toll rates might apply to vehicles fitted with tags and those without. If this transpires it is envisaged that vehicles without Tags would pay a higher base toll rate, as SANRAL wishes to incentivise Tag uptake.
- SANRAL intends to provide a Daypass product for infrequent users which will entitle the vehicle to 24 hours of unrestricted travel on a defined portion of the GORT network. The number of Daypasses per user will be limited per calendar year.
Should a road user default on the payment of toll fees the registered vehicle owner is deemed responsible under prevailing legislation to pay the toll for the specific vehicle in default. The default is administered by SANRAL through a violations management process where the vehicle owner becomes liable to pay the outstanding tolls as well as additional administration fees. Should SANRAL be unsuccessful in the recovery of the monies due the violation will eventually be transferred and managed as an infringement as defined under the Adjudication and Administration of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO). SANRAL has invested significantly in a specialised and dedicated collection and enforcement infrastructure to combat the current non-compliance culture demonstrated by road users in South Africa.
4. What do I need to consider as a Fleet Owner/ Manager
Located in urban areas
- Corporate fleets will incur a much greater proportion of toll than before Vehicle owner ultimately responsible for payment of toll
- Companies need to get their asset registers in order prior to registrations commencing
- Vehicle and Tag Registration processes need to be well run – heavy penalties are payable in the event of failures (eg not registering a vehicle & using the toll road without paying)
- De-registrations from vehicle sales need to be carefully handled, including confirmation of Natis ownership change
Cost impact (expect Gauteng toll costs to significantly increase that currently incurred in the entire rest of the country)
- Planning processes need to provide for the cost increase prior to toll commencement – impact on internal costs and customer pricing needs to be assessed.
- Fleets will require a much higher level of scrutiny and control of toll costs
- Some fleets will require a finer level of allocation of costs down to contract or trip level in order to correctly bill the end-users
Massive increase in transaction volumes
- A single vehicle could generate hundreds of transactions in a month
- Sheer volumes of transactions will be very difficult to review
- Advanced reporting systems will be required.
- Fleet owners should seek ways to achieve a high level of confidence in the transactions they must pay for
Electronic process, where the billing process is separate to using the road
- There is now no immediate relationship between using the road and toll payment. Rather than controlling by means of drivers, control needs to move into the back offices or administrative functions
- Management of paperwork for VAT purposes becomes simpler
- Tracking costs to trips requires a different process
- Reconciliation of statements/invoices becomes more important and onerous
New avenues for fraud
- License-plate duplication could become a major problem
- Theft and abuse of Tags could cause additional costs and complexities to businesses
- Employee abuse of company vehicles could cause additional costs to businesses
- Substitution of vehicle owner details or other abuses within the eNatis system could open up new avenues offraud.
5. Map of Tolling Points
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