After months of public outcry and opposition, the South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) has gone ahead with its e-toll programme, prompting a Twitter tirade of anger and frustration from a lot of disgruntled Gautengers. While it’s been reported as being wildly unpopular, Sanral has said more than 700 000 e-tags have been sold to Gauteng motorists. How does this affect us here in good old KZN? Well, over at the BDLive website Nicky Smith reports that the Automobile Association (AA) are pretty convinced that the Gauteng e-tolls are just the beginning, that it’s only a matter of time before electronic tolling goes viral and spreads to other parts of the country, including Durban. Earlier this year Sanral had to ‘reconfigure’ a proposed N2 Wild Coast toll road after backlash from a public grown wary from watching the Gauteng business, so e-tolls would most likely prove as unpopular in KZN as they have in Gauteng. But even if Sanral has no plans (yet) for e-tolls in the province, KZN motorists travelling to Joburg will have to get day passes for the e-tolls or they’ll have to pay six times the discounted e-tag rate.
