Imaginenation: just drive, don't worry about how to pay that toll

So many ways to pay, so much confusion ... Malaysia needs a central authority to implement a single system that can be used to pay tolls as well as for parking and public transportation. — SHAARI CHEMAT/The Star

When is “free” not actually free? When it’s the “Multi-Lane Free Flow” (MLFF) toll collection system in Malaysia, according to Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi. He recently suggested that the system should no longer be called “Multi-Lane Free Flow” but instead be named “Multi-Lane Fast Flow” to avoid confusion among users.

“Can we just change the words ‘free flow’? he said recently. “Because I do not want the users to think it’s free!”

This sentiment touched a chord among highway users in Malaysia who are well aware that the MLFF system is not free. Similarly, confusion has also arisen about the Touch ’n Go (TNG) Visa card, which recently faced criticism from Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, who suggested the company change the name of the product to avoid confusion among customers.

Confusion? I think it was already there even before the recent kerfuffle. Just ask my relatives: “Why is there no money on the card when I just topped up the wallet?”, “Why can’t I pay for my groceries with the card?” Or in my case, “Why can’t I use this card for the train if I’m already using it for parking?”

I’ll try to explain, but I must warn you I myself find it hard to understand everything.

For those who have driven a vehicle on highways in Malaysia or taken public transport in the Klang Valley, TNG is a contactless smart card linked to a prepaid account that makes paying for tolls, public transportation and parking quick and easy. In fact, it is currently the only electronic toll collection operator for all highways in Peninsular Malaysia. This form of TNG was launched way back in 1997.

TNG is also an ewallet and online payment platform with 17 million users and over 1.7 million merchant acceptance points (according to its website). It can be used for tolls and parking, but you cannot just wave your phone at the toll gate to make it work. You also cannot use it for public transport. This version of TNG was launched in 2017, but only took its current form in 2018 and grew its base significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic beginning in 2020, along with other ewallets.

TNG is now also a Visa debit card released last month that you can use to spend the money in your ewallet, but cannot be used for tolls or public transport (but might be usable for certain parking spots, even if they don’t have the TNG logo on them). This simple omission took users by surprise, and led to the government asking for a meeting with the company.

There is also TNG RFID, which currently can only be used at some tolls if you have an ewallet and is permanently stuck to your car. I could go on, but I think the point I am getting at has been made.

Many users have questioned why TNG, a brand so closely associated with transportation, would create a card that has nothing to do with it. According to the company, the technical challenge of including both Visa and TNG computer chips in one card caused interference between the two systems. However, now that the government seems to be looking into the matter, I hope that all these systems can be integrated properly and confusion will no longer be an issue. With a unified system, users should be able to spend and top up credit, stored in the same place, using any of the different TNG products. Right?

Unfortunately, while the government recognises the potential for confusion caused by the new TNG Visa card, it has drastically underestimated the public’s understanding of the differences between the various TNG products. Which just shows me that ministers clearly need to turun padang more often.

Consider this real life example: I parked my car at a shopping mall, entering using one card; I then used the same card to take a train to the centre of Kuala Lumpur and back. When I tried to exit the car park, the system wouldn’t let me. The parking attendant said it’s because I used the card for the train before trying to exit the parking. He said, “It’s a common problem”.

It’s been years since both systems were introduced, yet there seems to have been no effort made to integrate them. Spending money within Malaysia shouldn’t be like travelling between countries and trying to make sure you have the right currency in your wallet.

In fact, even this is no longer true. Credit cards have made spending seamless among countries (including TNG’s – oops, sorry, not TNG’s Visa card).

Furthermore, there have been agreements among South-East Asian nations to link QR code payments. Malaysia and Indonesia now have a cross-border QR payment linkage enabling consumers in both countries to make retail payments by scanning Malaysia’s DuitNow or Indonesia’s Qris (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) QR codes. Similar arrangements also exist between Malaysia and Thailand, while Malaysia and Singapore have been working to link DuitNow and the island’s PayNet since 2021.

In fact, if you use ewallets in Malaysia, you have probably used DuitNow without even realising it. It’s that pink QR code you now see in shops, which can be scanned by many different ewallets. This was something that was driven by PayNet (Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd) the national payments infrastructure provider, rather than by a single ewallet provider.

We need something like that for highways and public transport and parking, and it needs to be driven by a central authority. The Multi-Lane Free Flow system for highways has strong endorsement by the government, and if it is operational by 2025 as planned, it will be the first time since 1997 that cars in Malaysia will not have to slow down to pay for highway use.

Instead you can just drive and not worry about how payment is made. For that to happen, you can’t suddenly be wondering if you’ve topped up the right ewallet or not.

So sure, free doesn’t always mean free. But, hopefully, it means you are free to pay for things any which way you want.

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In his fortnightly column, Contradictheory, mathematician-turned-scriptwriter Dzof Azmi explores the theory that logic is the antithesis of emotion but people need both to make sense of life’s vagaries and contradictions. Write to Dzof at [e-mail]. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.