Liberalise PLUS toll payment systems

 

Proposed changes by the government-linked PLUS highway concessionaire and the Touch ‘n Go toll payment system owned by CIMB bank may not be as simple as they seem. They may also lead to higher costs and more inconvenience for Malaysian highway users.

The picture that is being painted is of a multi-lane free flow system that will lead to less congestion at toll plazas.

While there is a global trend away from stored-value cards such as Touch ‘n Go towards direct payment cards like debit cards, the question that should be posed is why should one entity control a specific payment need.

The government should allow competition among all payment operators, namely banks to improve services so that if all bank debit cards are acceptable at toll plazas, there would be no need for the Touch ‘n Go monopoly anymore.

The next challenge is to make it a smooth journey through the toll plaza, whereby there is no need to slow down almost to a stop when passing a toll gate. Near Field Communication technology can handle this. Eventually, we should do away with toll booths altogether and go the same route as Singapore with big gates that track cars.

At stake is an ambitious project to convert a combined customer base of five million Touch ‘n Go cardholders and SmartTAG device owners into opening a Touch ‘n Go e-wallet account. CIMB is the majority owner of the Touch ‘n Go toll payment system.

About five years ago, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, then CIMB Group’s CEO, launched the joint venture between CIMB and Alipay and said that Touch ‘n Go’s leading position combined with Ant Financial’s Alipay capabilities would allow all Malaysians to participate and access secure payments and digital financial services for the long term. Tengku Zafrul is the current finance minister.

The Austrian technology provider of the infra-red (IR) toll collection system on Malaysian highways said that the current system is well-positioned to help speed up implementation of multi-lane traffic free flow and help reduce congestion at toll plazas.

Helmuth Blasch, the director of EFKON Asia Sdn Bhd, said recently that the IR system (such as used in the SMARTag) “is the ideal and much more advanced staging point to achieve the congestion-free highway compared to the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) payment system”.

He said around 75% of the 270,000 new passenger cars and commercial vehicles registered in Peninsular Malaysia until September 2021 were delivered with either a SmartTAG compatible built-in toll reader or portable device.

He said most highway users prefer the active RFID-IR system, which has been in use in the country since 2005.

Blasch believes that the authorities and highway concessionaires should look at increasing rather than reducing SmartTAG lanes if the objective was to reduce congestion at toll plazas.

He said Germany’s truck tolling system on all highways caters to more than two million trucks travelling at up to 100 km/h, using a similar IR technology as in Malaysia.

He said the system will enable Bluetooth connections with personal devices, smartphones and car media systems. “Connection to an e-wallet for easy top-ups will also be possible,” Blasch added.

Here are four takeaways for the authorities:

1. Give more choices to motorists in terms of payment options including debit cards and e-wallets from more than one bank.
2. Provide more lanes to accommodate e-payment, debit cards and SmartTAG lanes.
3. Enforce standardisation of car number plates so that the video camera fall-back system for the proposed RFID system is entirely computerised. The number plates of Sabah and Sarawak cars are 99% standard, and so why can’t PDRM (Police) and JPJ (transport department) ensure a similar standard of compliance for motor vehicles operating in Peninsular Malaysia?
4. PLUS, as a government-linked company (GLC), should cultivate goodwill and a positive perception by being thrifty with capital and operating expenses. A system change that renders SmartTAG obsolete without compensating users who have purchased SmartTAGs and their equivalents will not be appreciated.

 - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.