Syahrunizam explaining that the RFID tag could in future be used to pay parking charges and petrol, among other things.
PETALING JAYA: Touch ‘n Go (TnG) is targeting to double the number of radio frequency identification (RFID) tag road users to two million by the end of 2020.“We would like to be more aggressive to actually get more people to use this RFID tag.
It is a faster cashless environment with this. Hopefully with the numbers we can have more RFID lanes with the help of the government and the highway concession companies to increase the usage, ” Touch ‘n Go Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Syahrunizam Samsudin said on the sidelines of the company’s Chinese New Year media luncheon on Thursday.
Its pilot test phase for the programme had seen TnG deploying the RFID tag onto one million vehicles so far.
It will also start charging for new RFID tag placements at a fee of RM35 from Feb 15 following the completion of its pilot test phase.
Syahrunizam said he believes the RM35 price tag is competitive when compared to other countries’ pricing for a similar product.
“Right now, we are pricing it as being the most price competitive compared to the other countries as we want to ensure everyone has access to it at a reasonable price. I think this is a fair price but it is up to the consumers to judge that, ” he said.
“The prices (for a similar product) ranges from RM400 plus in Singapore to RM58 in Taiwan, so there are different ranges. Generally it’s priced because of country specific requirements or different services offered, ” he added.
TnG said it aims to spearhead the country’s mobility agenda through inclusive technology that addresses the needs of connected communities in smart cities of today.
It noted in its press release that RFID is an important component of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and propels Malaysia to the level of countries such as Singapore, Taiwan and China.
Moving forward, the company is eyeing an expansion of service offerings with the RFID tag to eventually deploy them for usage on other platforms.
“Now it is time for us to move forward and continue to expand the use of RFID technology together with our partners across the mobility ecosystem. This includes fuelling, parking and retail drive-thrus, ” he said.
“For petrol stations, we are targeting deployment by the end of the year as we have to do additional tests on safety but it is being done in Brazil and Europe as well. So it is not something new, but we just have to ensure that it will work well in our environment (weather), ” he added.
Syahrunizam said TnG is working with a partner for the time being but hopes to deploy this with more petrol dealers moving forward.
It is targeting to deploy into selected mall’s parking lots in the third quarter of this year and in the first quarter of next year for drive-thrus.
“We expect the first announcement for deployments in parking lots by the third quarter. We are talking to the top ten malls which currently have the TnG access enabled, ” he said.
Bright future for RFID tag. Its use will go beyond paying toll.
He also assured that in the company’s new plan, there would be no more additional 10% surcharges on top of the parking fee and a 15-minute grace period when using this RFID tag.
“We will move away from the old plan and it is also a commercial arrangement that we will work on including the Consumer Affairs Ministry to ensure that the consumer will get the best service possible. We will have to impute all the business rules as at the end of the day, the car parks are also the companies’ assets and we have to take into account their business rules, ” he said.
“We want Malaysians to be part of a global RFID community. RFID technology will be a key enabler to access daily use-cases more conveniently, improve traffic enforcement and management capabilities, and support the government in providing better mobility services to Malaysians, ” Syahrunizam added.
The introduction of RFID is aligned with the government’s efforts towards multi-lane free flow and improving the highway experience for Malaysians, it said.
