By December 2025, almost every toll plaza in South Africa will accept tap-to-pay for bank cards and smart devices, making passage through plazas faster and more secure.
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) revealed to MyBroadband that its 30 self-managed toll plazas will be upgraded to support contactless payments by the end of next year.
A phased rollout and live testing are expected to start in October or November 2025.
Toll plaza payments to become more secure
Contactless payments are not entirely new to South Africa’s highways.
The N3 Toll Concession (N3TC) and N4 Toll Route Concession (N4TRAC) completed their rollouts in 2024. This means all toll plazas between Johannesburg and Durban (N3) and Pretoria to Komatipoort (N4) already accept tap-to-pay.
The final and largest concession, Bakwena, is also in the process of installing tap-to-pay terminals. Bakwena manages 15 toll plazas on the N1 between Pretoria and Mookgophong, and the N4 between Doornpoort and Swartruggens.
It also plans to go live in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The tap-to-pay rollout will allow drivers to use:
- Debit, cheque, and credit cards (except American Express, Diners Club, and RCS)
- Mobile wallets like Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet, as well as Garmin Wallet
The move aligns with upcoming banking regulations requiring the phase-out of magnetic stripe cards, which are vulnerable to skimming and cloning.
South African toll gates have been flagged as hotspots for card fraud, making the transition to contactless payments both a convenience and a security measure.
How do you prefer to make payment at toll gates?
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