Should We Demand For Better Electronic Payment System For Tolls?

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Auto News | September 09, 2015 01:45 pm

So we count down the five tolls which switched its payment system to fully electronic like its the Y2K. Was that exciting?

Last Raya we published a story on toll booths being the cause of interrupting a highway's traffic flow. Of course, we are all aware that noon today, toll booths on the Penang Bridge Toll Plaza, Jitra and Bukit Kayu Hitam Toll Plazas (on the North-South Expressway) and Lunas and Kubang Semang Toll Plazas (on the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway, BKE) are no longer accepting cash and with more tolls to follow suit.

Payments at the toll will be conducted electronically via PLUSMiles cards, Touch ‘n Go cards, and SmartTAGs.

Forgive me for not jumping on the couch with this new implementation, I still can't process how the new system would smoothen traffic flow at toll booth plazas. There's still a requirement for us to stop and go. So what happens when there's a problem? Does the long line of eager drivers in the toll lane just reverse and scramble to cucuk into other lanes? Maybe my issues are just with SmartTAGs.

To be frank, I do own a SmartTAG and it's not SmartTAGs that I dislike, it's the uncertainty, the what going to happen? Will I get stuck? feeling I get when I go through the toll. Don't forget the device isn't exactly affordable either and the reload cards aren't free.

What I'm stating here is we need something more reliable, something more than the tambah nilai booth can offer us when we run out of money or worst, deplete the batteries in our devices. We want to advance to where we won't be held back by traditional toll booths, because honestly, if we have the exact change while passing through the toll it'll be as good as the current electronic payment system anyway.

Toll operators should really consider upgrading their toll system. The technology that we're currently using has been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth, so we really should step up in solving our traffic issues with more and more cars congesting our roads today.

Do you have a country in mind which has a great toll system that it's possible for us to adapt? Leave us some of your ideas and lets cross our fingers and hope that the hard working man and women who manages the toll plaza can pick it up.