Major upgrade for toll gates in South Africa

Nearly all toll gates in South Africa will support tap-and-go payment functionality by the end of 2025.

The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) recently confirmed to MyBroadband that all of its toll plazas will support tap-to-pay by December.

Sanral stated that it will begin a phased rollout and testing of tap-to-pay terminals at its 30 self-managed toll plazas in October and November 2025.

The roads agency is responsible for all toll booths on the N2 and N17, nine locations on the N1, two on the N4, and one on the N3.

Tap-and-go payment options are already supported at toll gates run by the N3TC and N4TRAC concessions, which introduced the service in 2024.

This includes all of the plazas found on the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban, and on the N4 between Pretoria and Komatipoort.

The last remaining concession, Bakwena, stated that it will introduce tap-to-pay at its 15 checkpoints in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Bakwena’s toll booths are located on the N1 between Pretoria and Mookgophong (formerly Naboomspruit) in Limpopo and the N4 between Doornpoort and Swartruggens.

Bakwena’s plazas are rolling out the same system from FNB and Verifone that is used by two other concessions.

“The necessary infrastructure has been installed across the entire Bakwena route, some of our toll plazas are already in the live testing phase,” Bakwena said.

“This enhancement will allow real-time contactless transactions, improving both security and convenience for road users.”

Tap-and-go allows motorists to pay with cards and smart devices such as phones or watches, which is a faster and more convenient alternative to cash exchanges.

Another advantage of this system is that it supports debit cards, in addition to cheque and credit cards.

Digital wallets, such as Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet, and Garmin Wallet are also accepted.

The only payment options that are not usable include American Express, Diners, and RCS cards.

The following table shows how many toll gates in South Africa are managed by Sanral and other concessions, and when each of them launched or plan to introduce tap-to-pay:

Warning over card cloning

The introduction of tap-to-pay services is part of an ongoing effort to comply with future banking regulations, which mandate the phasing out of magnetic strip (magstripe) payments.

Magstripes are being retired because they are highly susceptible to card skimming and cloning attempts, effectively turning toll gates into hotspots for fraud.

The South African Banking Risk Information Centre has warned consumers that these payment methods pose the risk of card cloning.

However, Sanral has disputed the allegations, arguing that the real issue is that cloned cards are sometimes presented at for payment at toll gates.

In any case, banks generally discourage their members from physically handing over their cards unless absolutely necessary.

One reason why toll gates are particularly risky is because of the layout of the plaza itself.

The booths tend to be fairly tall with small windows, which means drivers in lower-riding vehicles like sedans have difficulty seeing what is being done with their cards.

Several businesses in South Africa have adopted contactless payment solutions in recent years due to their convenience and improved security.

Sanral stated that motorists will still be able to pay with cash, and that e-tags preloaded with credit can still be used as a convenient alternative.

E-tags failed to take off for several years due to their association with the controversial overhead tolling gantries in Gauteng, which the majority of motorists boycotted.

However, now that the e-toll system has been shut down, e-tags have seen a surge in interest as a convenient payment option for travellers who frequently pass through toll plazas.