No more monopoly by Touch ‘n Go on highways

 

Works minister Fadillah Yusof said that the Touch ‘n Go card for highway tolling would be retired in 2025 and that the Smart Tag lane would be phased out.

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will soon allow the public to pay highway tolls using any digital payment provider, not just Touch ‘n Go.

Works Minister Fadillah Yusof said this would however depend on when the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) penetration reached a satisfactory rate and when highway concessionaires were ready to link up with additional online payment providers.

He also said highway concessionaires had been instructed to be ready to implement a multi-lane free flow (MLFF) system by 2025.

The MLFF is a barrier-free tolling system, without toll booths and no dedicated lanes. It uses a gantry structure equipped with automated number plate recognition (ANPR) at specific locations.

Fadillah Yusof.

“Soon, it will be up to the public to use any digital mode of payment – whether you want to use Touch ‘n Go e-wallet or debit or credit card or Visa or Mastercard or any kind of (electronic) payment system as long as there’s a link available on a (particular) highway,” he said, adding that only one RFID tag would be required for the purpose.

In an exclusive interview with FMT, Fadillah confirmed that the Touch ‘n Go card for highway tolling would be retired in 2025 and that the Smart Tag lane would be phased out.

It is estimated that there are more than 20 million Touch ‘n Go cards in circulation, with close to 91% of transactions being done on the 31 highways in the country.

The works minister said the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) was trying to make sure it would be convenient for the public to embrace the online mode of payment.

“We have been listening to the people’s demand to open more (online payments) and we are aware that people have been complaining that they have to pay in advance for Touch ‘n Go whether they are using (the highway) or not,” he said. “We have to balance all this (issues).”

Saying highway concessionaires had been told to be ready for the implementation of the MLFF, he added: “If we feel there will be some delay by some highway concessionaires, we may consider a private investment model or private finance initiatives to take over (the MLFF system).

“The private investment model is for an open system. As you can see there are many highways in the country and all the systems need to be integrated. If we look at Singapore and Taiwan, they have single authority control (over the system).”

Fadillah said the MLFF system was a key factor in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) blueprint for future highway networks.

“The pilot stage of ANPR is underway at the Kajang-Seremban Highway (LEKAS),” he said. “We are also looking at a proposal for a public-private partnership or PFI, subject to further discussion with the LEKAS concessionaire and another pilot project at Besraya Highway soon.”

While admitting that the RFID rollout had been behind schedule for several years, Fadillah stressed that there were some elements that LLM had to finalise before launching MLFF on a big scale.

“We have to look into the regulations aspect, enforcement procedures, infrastructure development, RFID penetration rate and communication plan for MLFF implementation,” he added. - FMT