PLUS to speed up vehicle pass-through rate through toll gates

PETALING JAYA: Highway operator PLUS Malaysia Berhad is implementing technology that enables users to drive through tolls faster when using touchless payments.

It announced that Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) would make the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cashless toll payment system run more smoothly, allowing users to pass through at up to 30kph.

This is compared to the more widely used SmartTag system, which has a 20kph pass-through speed.

The system will be used along the Hutan Kampung-Sg Dua closed highway, which runs from Kedah to Penang. It had previously been tested there since July 2020.

PLUS managing director Datuk Azman Ismail said the system uses high-resolution cameras at both entry and exit lanes to recognise the passing vehicles’ number plates and works with its Toll Validation Centre (TVC) to seamlessly process customers’ payments.

He said the Hutan Kampung-Sg Dua stretch was currently the most-used closed toll highway in Malaysia, and expected to see 30% more users in the next few months following the lifting of inter-state travel restrictions.

Thus the system was expected to enable travellers to get through the busy toll faster.

The operator was also working with the Works Ministry, the Malaysian Highway Authority and Touch ‘n Go Sdn Bhd to expand RFID toll payments at all its highways from Juru, Penang to Skudai, Johor by early 2022.

The new tech was part of an effort to create a barrier-less, multi-lane free flow highway, where drivers make contactless payment by driving under gantries equipped with scanners, rather than through toll plazas with barriers.

This is similar to Singapore’s Electronic Road Pricing system that also uses gantries to detect and charge road users passing through, which works at speeds from 20-30kph on arterial roads and 45-65kph on expressways.