PUTRAJAYA: The road transport department’s (JPJ) digitalisation plan for vehicle identification could lower the price of RFID stickers for electronic toll payments on highways.
Transport minister Wee Ka Siong said JPJ had been studying new technology for vehicle registration such as RFID tags, QR codes and chips.
“The RFID system will allow enforcement to be carried out through automation to ensure accurate readings (of vehicle registrations) and, in turn, minimise costs,” he said.
At present, RFID tags are sold at RM35 each for the purpose of the Touch ‘n Go eWallet for use on the North-South Expressway and other highways.
“If JPJ adopts the RFID technology, we will ensure that it is compatible and can be used for other purposes, including toll payments, to avoid the need to have many RFID tags on one vehicle,” he told FMT.
Wee said there were 33.1 million registered vehicles in the JPJ database and 16.2 million driving and motorcycle licence holders nationwide. The country’s population is estimated at 33 million.
The proposed digitalisation programme could assist the ministry and the Malaysian Highway Authority’s (LLM) blueprint to implement multi-lane free flow (MLFF) tolls by 2025.
“We will bring it to the Cabinet for approval. We hope to provide a solution to the LLM and the rakyat,” he said.
Works minister Fadillah Yusof confirmed that his ministry was involved in the discussions.
“Yes, that’s part of the plan (for MLFF),” he said in a text message to FMT.
It is, however,unclear whether the transport ministry will consent to JPJ’s proposal to standardise the production of number plates to support the automated number plate recognition (ANPR) technology under MLFF.
It is also uncertain whether the 21-year-old policy of blue stickers as road tax discs will continue under JPJ’s digitalisation plan.
The blue security sticker was adopted two decades ago to improve JPJ’s revenue collection to emulate the practice of Australian authorities to deter fraud.
The RFID sticker for all vehicles was mooted in 2005 by the transport ministry. Under an earlier plan in 2018, it was touted as a system which would assist police and other authorities to track down criminals. It was also intended to facilitate the MLFF rollout, including enabling real-time monitoring on road traffic situations.
The RFID and ANPR technologies were applied from 2016 until 2019 under JPJ’s vehicle entry permit exercise for Singaporean cars at immigration checkpoints in Johor Bahru. - FMT
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