Not All PLUS Toll Plazas Will Have T&G Reload Lanes, So You Better Credit Up!
Nicholas Chow
05/04/2017 03:50 MYT
05/04/2017 03:50 MYT
A fully-electronic toll payment system will take effect on all PLUS highways starting 26 April, and if you live in a small town that only has a small toll plaza, you better be prepared.
That's because the highway concessionaire announced on Tuesday that not all toll plazas along the PLUS highways will have Touch 'n Go reload lanes.
PLUS Malaysia Berhad Corporate Communications head Mohd Nizam Ismail told theSun that there are no plans to construct dedicated reload lanes for small toll plazas, especially those with only two or three toll booths.
The reason for that is to avoid congestion at the toll plaza.
So, drivers must make sure that they have enough credit in their Touch 'n Go cards before they use the highway, said Mohd Nizam.
“We have numerous locations where PLUS users can top-up their cards along the highways, including petrol stations and Touch ’n Go self-service kiosks,” he was quoted as saying.
Bigger toll plazas, according to Mohd Nizam, will have a dedicated lane for credit top-up as well as for purchasing of new cards.
The plan to go fully-electronic at all PLUS highways was first announced by managing director Datuk Azman Ismail on March 23.
Oh, the first toll plaza to fully adopt the cashless system was the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar toll plaza in 2008, in case you were wondering.
According to a study done by PLUS back in 2014, it takes an average of nine seconds for a driver to pay using a Touch 'n Go card, while SmartTAG users only require three seconds to clear the boomgate.
Those paying with cash take up to 15 seconds on average! Tsk tsk.
As such, the Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG lanes can accomodate up to 600 and 1,000 motorists per hour, while cash lanes can only cater 180 motorists.
That's because the highway concessionaire announced on Tuesday that not all toll plazas along the PLUS highways will have Touch 'n Go reload lanes.
PLUS Malaysia Berhad Corporate Communications head Mohd Nizam Ismail told theSun that there are no plans to construct dedicated reload lanes for small toll plazas, especially those with only two or three toll booths.
The reason for that is to avoid congestion at the toll plaza.
So, drivers must make sure that they have enough credit in their Touch 'n Go cards before they use the highway, said Mohd Nizam.
“We have numerous locations where PLUS users can top-up their cards along the highways, including petrol stations and Touch ’n Go self-service kiosks,” he was quoted as saying.
Bigger toll plazas, according to Mohd Nizam, will have a dedicated lane for credit top-up as well as for purchasing of new cards.
The plan to go fully-electronic at all PLUS highways was first announced by managing director Datuk Azman Ismail on March 23.
Oh, the first toll plaza to fully adopt the cashless system was the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar toll plaza in 2008, in case you were wondering.
Image: Oneduasan
So, how effective is the electronic toll collection system?
Well, as it turns out, it's actually pretty effective.According to a study done by PLUS back in 2014, it takes an average of nine seconds for a driver to pay using a Touch 'n Go card, while SmartTAG users only require three seconds to clear the boomgate.
Those paying with cash take up to 15 seconds on average! Tsk tsk.
As such, the Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG lanes can accomodate up to 600 and 1,000 motorists per hour, while cash lanes can only cater 180 motorists.