All toll plazas to go cashless from Aug 14

Gombak toll plaza - Filepic

TEMERLOH: Only electronic toll collection (ETC) payments will be accepted at all 177 toll plazas nationwide from Aug 14, said Malaysia Highway Authority (MHA) chairman Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.

This will happen once the 19 tolls on the East Coast Highway fully implement ETC payment, he said.

Starting from 12pm on that day, tolls from Karak to Kuala Tereng­ganu will only accept cashless payments, either PLUSMiles, Touch ‘n Go or SmartTAG. At present, only 158 tolls accept cashless payments.

ETC, he said, was the way forward, pointing out that manual transactions take 15 seconds, Touch ‘n Go in six seconds and SmartTAG, three seconds.

Dr Noor Azmi said cashless payment among highway users was more than 97% in the country.

“By using ETC, there is a decrease of between 15% and 20% in traffic congestion, and this reduces stress and anger of motorists on the road,” he said during a pre-ETC launch at the R&R Temerloh along the East Coast Highway.

Highway concessionaire ANIH Bhd will also provide toll lanes to purchase or top up Touch ‘n Go cards.

Alternatively, road users can also buy or top up these cards at customer service centres before the Karak, Temerloh and Kuantan toll plazas, said ANIH executive director Datuk Nik Fauzi Nik Hussein.

He said the service centres will be opened from 7am to 10pm

Also present at the ceremony was MHA director-general Datuk Ismail Md Salleh and Lebuhraya Pantai Timur 2 (LPT2) Sdn Bhd general manager Husni Md Yusuf.