The Truth About E-Tolls — Part 1
The Truth About E-Tolls — Part 2
'Luthon64
Around 01:10- 2:00 (part 2) he talks about public participation which reminded me of another THG quote:
[spoiler]“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”
Douglas Adams in THG chapter 1[/spoiler]
Sorry
Zapiro. ;D
It looks like all of SA’s taxpayers may soon need to chip in to fix SANRAL’s presumption. If it happens, it’ll please the SA public mightily and mean more animosity towards SANRAL, making large-scale e-tolling even less salvageable.
(Besides all the current heat, hype and hypocrisy over assorted e-tolling aspects, there’s a pressing prior question that urgently demands an answer: How can it be okay with the government, even in principle, that developing and maintaining basic, essential infrastructure — a state function if ever there was one — can yield huge profits for a “private” company wholly owned by that government? Any truly privately-owned company that operated along those lines would very shortly be defending extensive charges of collusion and fraud.)
'Luthon64
Government’s sole raison d’etre is to govern…period. Business sole function is to generate profits that government will tax so as to fulfill its role. Once govt starts fudging it’s role and interferes with business or thinks that through nationalisation for example it’ll be in a better position to “serve the people”, the more shit will happen. State entities such as Telkom SANRAL, ESKOM, SAA etc are excellent examples of how incompetent governments can be when they try to do business. If they want to create jobs they need to privatise these state entities; break the power of the unions; simplify our draconian labour laws; downsize/abolish provincial governments; encourage small business development at local levels (instead of kicking over shiza nyama mamas on the pavements), encourage inward investment and beneficiation of minerals instead of exporting raw materials (neo-colonialism as practised by the Chinese especially) and so forth.
Lest we forget…this government is communist regardless of their posturing.
People will always exploit these things for their own benefit, case in point: Enron, but on the whole I agree, privatisation leads to better thinking, better utilisation of resources in a more effective and efficient manner, but yeah, I’d say the problem is people, but I won’t like to live in the Matrix either, except if we’re living in it now, in which case we’re screwed either way ;D
Recieved my first etoll bill today. We travelled in She who must be Obeyed’s car, and she say we must pay. I am sure some gantries are not on the bill. On this day we came in on the N12 from Middelburg, went onto the N3 north and came off at Marlborrow, but they are only charging us for two gantries.
Screenshot of Scamral’s own calculator. According to this my route should have cost R15.55 but the bill is for R32.55. Now what?
Judging by the rave reviews that their website attracts on HelloPeter, I don’t think that the route calculator is going to be worth the pixels that it’s written in. They probably have some sort of disclaimer that states that the calculator is provided for illustrative purposes only, and any estimates should, like the rest of the circus, not be taken too seriously.
Rigil
You right, it is there. >:(
'Luthon64
They tried to make me buy an e-Tag!
'Luthon64
An email I received this morning. Ouch!
SANRAL has gone from pushy to shirty with an SMS sent to us that reads, orphan comma and all, “Reminders to pay your e-toll VPC Tax Invoice for R****.**, Ref: ********** have been ignored. Call 0800 SANRAL (726 725), to avoid legal proceedings.”
Thank you again SANRAL but you’re still wasting your time and resources, on top of giving us some more useful ammo. We’ll wait for your summons.
'Luthon64
Oil sprayed on the plate, covered by dust. His licence disk turned facing into the vehicle. Apparently the gantry can read the barcode.
This is foolish. He should at least have spread the dirt on the adjacent areas as well, not just the plate. If the rozzers stop this oke they’ll arrest him.