PLUS highway tolls go cashless

Traffic snarl: Motorists stuck in traffic jam on the first day of toll plazas going cashless.

KUALA LUMPUR: All tolls on PLUS highways are now fully electronic and no cash payments will be accepted.

PLUS Malaysia Berhad managing director Datuk Azman Ismail said as of yesterday, PLUS highway users were required to pay toll with PlusMiles card, Touch ‘n Go (TnG) Card, SmartTag, or MyKad equipped with TnG chips.

“The objective of a fully electronic system is to ensure a smoother and faster toll transaction and a more comfortable journey for road users,” said Azman.

“The electronic toll collection system is 300% faster than the manual cash system.”

A SmartTag lane can cater up to 1,000 vehicles per hour and a TnG lane, 600 vehicles per hour, compared with only 180 vehicles per hour at a manual cash lane, he added.

Azman said the migration to full electronic toll collection system was implemented by PLUS in stages since 2008.

The affected highways, which have a total of 94 toll plazas, are the North-South Expressway (NSE), North-South Expressway Central Link, New Klang Valley Expressway, Federal Highway Route 2, Seremban-Port Dickson Highway, Butterworth-Kulim Expressway, Malaysia–Singapore Second Crossing and Penang Bridge.

Speaking at a press conference at the Sungai Besi Toll Plaza, Azman said that feedback and the level of awareness from highway users on the cashless system have been positive, with a 92% penetration nationwide.

He added that PLUS has been running campaigns and advertisements to create awareness on the migration to the new system.

Lanes to top up and purchase TnG cards will be opened for 24 hours at all toll plazas.

PlusMiles cards are also available at all PLUS Customer Service Centres operating at selected toll plaza offices.

Meanwhile, Azman gave an assurance that all existing PLUS toll booth attendants numbering more than 2,000 would not be affected and that some would be redeployed to nearby toll plazas to assist with the new system.

Touch ‘n Go Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Syahrunizam Samsudin said there were no plans to reduce the price of the SmartTag (RM127.20) or TnG card (RM10.60, without pre-loaded value).

He also clarified that the service charge to top up a TnG card and the cap on the reload amount were business models of respective retailers, and customers always have the options to reload their cards elsewhere.