Simple ways to reduce toll congestion using the current system

 

I think we needn’t go into the technicalities of improving the traffic flow at major toll plazas when Malaysian motorists leave the Klang Valley en masse to celebrate festivities, such as the major traffic congestion during the Chinese New Year celebrations.

The fact that the dominant toll payment concessionaire, Touch ‘n Go (TnG), has introduced a new contactless payment system in conjunction with a dedicated RFID lane, doesn’t mean that this new technology will solve the traffic congestion for Christmas, Chinese New Year, and the coming Hari Raya Puasa five-day holiday stretch starting on April 30.

That congestion is caused when 20+lane toll plazas narrow down into 3 lanes further down the highway. Even with the latest toll technology with all the bells and whistles such as facial identity, automatic number plate recognition system (ANPR), passive RFID, inboard active RFID, or microwave or infrared systems, there will still be congestion once the volume of traffic overwhelms the installed capacity of traffic flow.

If TnG and PLUS Malaysia, the North-South highway concessionaire, want to improve traffic flow at major toll plazas for the two traffic surges a year, then it should address the problem from a cost-and-benefit perspective rather than imposing a new engineering solution that will probably cost much more than the cost of improving the existing system.

A new system will make obsolete the existing 84 million TnG cards sold and the 5 million SmartTAG active RFID devices is going to make losers of the motorists who supported PLUS and TnG in the past.

The solution should be to make the daily weekday traffic flow faster at all the major toll plazas, 365 days a year rather than the two traffic surges for 5+ days a year.

This can be achieved by retrofitting each SmartTAG lane with an RFID reader for a dual-use system. In fact, this is already being done. From my observation using our Proton Satria test bed fitted with both an RFID sticker and an inboard-mounted SmartTAG, there is no system conflict. The toll plaza transaction prioritises the RFID system, and the fall-back is the SmartTAG.

Equally, all the exclusive RFID lanes should be upgraded into dual-system lanes for existing SmartTAG users. Many of the dual lanes have also been engineered for high-height clearance and this is already improving traffic flow.

For TnG users, there was a time when TnG cards could be automatically reloaded by Maybank Kawanku account holders. This automatic reload feature should be returned to TnG users who have on-line accounts with major Malaysian banks rather than exclusively to one or two banks.

The third step is to upgrade the automated lanes into barrier-free zones. New laws have already been drafted so that the penalties will discourage highway toll dodgers, including those that tailgate your car entering a contactless toll lane.

Fourthly, this will be an opportunity to remove toll operator booths where they are redundant and use the extra width for additional lanes.

The congestion that motorists suffered at the main toll plazas last month was the culmination of a three-year pilot RFID programme along the DUKE and a few other low-traffic highways.

Following the front-page stories of the congestion in the print and social media, the works ministry responded by directing PLUS and TnG to find a more inclusive solution including providing motorists the facility to upload their toll devices on-line with a variety of banks and e-wallet providers.

Let’s hope that TnG will retain the millions of existing users of TnG tags and SmartTAGs.

TnG Digital should do its part to expand its new system by offering the RFID sticker at a promotional price of RM5 for those who show proof of ownership of a SmartTAG and who are willing to sign up for its TnG e-wallet.

In this way, there is an offer of choice rather than the element of coercion when a company employs its market dominance.

TnG should maintain its traditional TnG stored value card for the rural population who rarely use toll highways on a daily basis. Even East Malaysians on a motoring holiday to Peninsular Malaysia will be happy to have the choice of using a simple and robust traditional TnG card rather than an e-wallet linked card. - FMT

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