How new road toll fees work

Cape Town - Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele explained on Tuesday how the new electronic toll collection system will work on the country's soon-to-be expanding network of fee-paying roads.

In a written reply to a question from the Democratic Alliance, Ndebele said all users will be given the opportunity to register as an account holder for toll plazas where electronic toll collection (ETC) will take place.

He said that two types of accounts can be set up, namely a prepaid account and a guaranteed post-paid account.

The prepaid account does not require a road user to be banked.

"It works on the same principle as a cellphone or electricity prepaid account," he said. "Account holders will be informed when their accounts are reaching low balances, in order for the account holder to top up the account. This option is available for any road user, whether banked or not. The account holder will have several options to top up the account, including at a point of presence (kiosk, satellite centre), internet banking, or an ATM."

A road user may also set up a guaranteed post-paid account, but may elect that the toll fees are directly subtracted from the account holder's banking account, such as a credit card. For this option, the account holder must have a credit card.

If a road user is making use of the Gauteng freeways where the concept of open road tolling is implemented (tolling without any physical toll gates), it will be a requirement that users set up accounts before using the network, or identify themselves within a grace period post usage of the network.

The toll system records a toll transaction for every vehicle passing the electronic tolling point and records whether an electronic tag was detected and read successfully. It will take front, back and top photographs of the vehicle and calculate the dimensions of the vehicle in order to classify it as a light or heavy vehicle.

The information recorded at the roadside is processed and it is then determined to see if it matches the information of any registered account.

If an account is matched, the transaction takes place. If no account is matched, or if users do not identify themselves within the grace period allowed, the following actions will take place:

Non-compliance procedure

From the number plate information recorded, an address of the user will be determined via the e-Natis system. An invoice will be forwarded after 14 days to the registered owner of the vehicle, whereafter the registered vehicle owner will have 30 days to pay the outstanding invoice.

Non-payment of the invoice will result in an infringement notice to be issued in terms of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) legislation. Thereafter, the non-payment of toll, any fines and administration fees are dealt with in terms of the Aarto process.

All outstanding fees and fines needs to be paid before the annual vehicle licence can be renewed.

- I-Net Bridge