Proposed tollgates on a number of Cape Town freeways could cost the city’s motorists about R8 000 a year in fees.
Proposed tollgates on a number of Cape Town freeways could cost the city’s motorists about R8 000 a year in fees.
The South African National Roads Agency Limited has proposed that motorists pay between R1,50 and R5 for trips to the city centre in an attempt to raise money to pay for the maintenance of roads.
There are also plans to build tollgates on the R300, N2 and N1 highways leading into the city and the N7 to Malmesbury.
The reports that tollgates could be erected on the N1 at Sand Hill, the old Du Toit’s Kloof road and the Engen 1-Stop at Joostenberg Vlakte.
Tollgates are likely on the N2 at Khayelitsha, Cape Town International Airport, Somerset West and Bot River.
On the R300, tollgates are proposed in the Philippi farmlands, the Strandfontein Road, Vanguard Drive area and the Stellenbosch arterial road.
The newspaper said the fees at these tollgates were expected to range between R5 and R15 for motorists, while trucks could pay between R80 and R100 a trip. This means a commuter needing to use these freeways daily, paying a total of about R30 a day to get to work and return home, could spend just under R8 000 on toll fees a year.
But despite the high cost the Roads Agency feels there will be benefits for the motorist. “The road user will derive many benefits from the proposed upgrading, such as reduction in travel time and a safer, more comfortable journey on the upgraded roads,” the agency’s spokesperson Judith Annakie Eriksen told the .
CARtoday.com reported earlier this week Cape Town Partnership chief executive Michael Farr said the proposal would result in businesses moving out of the CBD. “The point is to reduce congestion by promoting the greater use of public transport. This only works when public transport is of a standard acceptable to car-based commuters.
“Instead, all that private commuters will do is shift their business from the CBD to other, probably private, space. Clearly, this is anti-investment and benefits no one,” he said.
What do you think of the plans?
