Prasarana installing debit card readers at LRT stations, testing to begin by end 2020

Train stations may soon allow commuters to pay via debit card, with debit card readers spotted at several LRT stations. — MENG YEW CHOONG/The Star

Commuters may soon have another way to pay for their tickets, as debit card readers have been spotted at several LRT stations.

A spokesman for Prasarana Malaysia Bhd – which owns and operates the country's urban rail services including three LRT networks and the KL Monorail, in addition to operating the MRT line – confirmed that the new programme was still in an installation stage, with testing slated to start towards the end of the year.

He added that it was still on a trial basis, with more details to be revealed later.

Twitter user @Orangsalji83 had earlier spotted a card reader for MyDebit – a contactless payment solution under Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet), the national payments network and shared central infrastructure for Malaysia’s financial markets – at the Wangsa Maju LRT station.

An image in the tweet showed an entry gate with an ATM card reader where it usually would have a transit card reader or train chip slot.

Perasan benda ni kat LRT Wangsa Maju tadi. RapidKL pun dah boleh buat direct payment guna kad ATM. Touch n Go pulak nak tunggu tahun 3030 baru boleh topup online agaknya. pic.twitter.com/YJhGyTwu7Z — snowman (@orangsalji83) September 22, 2020

The sign read “wave your ATM card on the card reader”, though @Orangsalji83 noted it did not yet work.

A local tech portal reported the card reader being in two more stations – Lembah Subang and Pasar Seni – and tested the device, discovering it showed different error readings for debit versus credit cards.

Debit cards registered an error stating debit cards were not able to complete a transaction, while credit cards stated that it was not allowed.