Budget reflects need to curb oil thirst {writer: Staff reporter}

One of the clearer but somehow least noticed messages from this year’s Budget introduced on 17 February in Parliament by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, is that fiscal measures increasingly will be used to dampen South Africans’ thirst for oil-based fuel – and in the process, change their commuting patterns.

In line with what is transpiring internationally due to the duel squeeze of climate change and dwindling global oil reserves, the message from the minister was clear: If you do not drive less and/or more economically – and do not go for fuel efficiency when you replace your vehicle – it will cost you more to get from point A to point B.

In the meantime, it has been announced by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) that toll tariffs across the country were set to increase from 1 March this year.

After the hike in toll fees, the newly upgraded Tsitsikamma toll tariff will be among the most expensive in the country.

This, however, is in line with Minister Gordhan’s statement in his Budget Speech that while the government will continue its drive to upgrade infrastructure, users eventually will have to pay for it.

Sanral spokesperson Priya Pillay explained that last year, there was only one mainline at the Tsitsikamma toll point on the N2. She added, however, that two ramps since had been introduced this year.

Last year, the fee for the one mainline was R13 for light class vehicles, R33 for second-class heavy vehicles, and R80 for heavy vehicles – which fell in the third class. In the last class for heavy vehicles, the fare was R110.

After next month’s hike, motorists will pay R33 for light vehicles. Heavy vehicle prices will be R83, R198 and R280.

Along the N1 at the Huguenot Tunnel, the fee for light vehicles climbs from R23 to R25. In the second class, for two-axle heavy vehicles, it will increase from R60 to R66. The fare for three and four-axle heavy vehicles rises from R93 to R104. For five-axle heavy vehicles, the fare is now R168 – up from R151.

The cost of private day-to-day commuting will rise as from 7 April, with an increase in the petrol price of 25.5 cents per litre.

The additional income will be split in part between funding of a new pipeline between Durban and Gauteng, and the Road Accident Fund.

The increase brings the combined fuel taxes on petrol and diesel to almost a third of its price at the pump. This move, economically, to force people out of their cars, goes hand in hand with massive spending over the last number of years – and still ongoing – in upgrading the public transport infrastructure.

The drive toward alternative commuting patterns was enhanced further by the declaration that the previously announced ad valorem carbon emissions tax on new passenger cars now will come into effect on 1 September this year as a specific tax, and not an ad valorem.

New passenger vehicles will be taxed based on their certified carbon dioxide emissions at R75 per g/km for each g/km above 120 g/km. This tax could add between R5 000 and R10 000 to the purchase price of the average new passenger vehicle.

The Treasury plans eventually to extend the emissions tax to commercial vehicles, once agreed standards for CO2 emissions for these vehicles have been set. The Treasury further noted that it would continue to research potential options to expand environmental levies and taxes further.

In line with the efforts to establish more fuel-efficient and sustainable commuter transport in the country, authorities at all levels of government have been spending billions over the last number of years to upgrade and expand public transport infrastructure in just about every metropolitan area in the country.

Many of these upgrades and expansions were targeted to be done by the time of the Fifa Soccer World Cup by the middle of this year. Reports from across the country are that most of the schemes, including rapid bus and integrated rapid transit schemes well and truly will be up and running by June.

Although not a 2010-linked project, the latest indications from the Gautrain rapid – and mostly underground – rail network is that its first phase is likely to also be ready for the start of the World Cup tournament.

It is clear that the dual influence of the costs attached to private car commuting and the availability of cheaper and efficient public transport is set to bring South African commuter patterns more in line with those in most other cities in the world.