KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Maju Expressway (MEX Highway) will become the first highway in Malaysia to publicly support toll payment via credit and debit card starting today, 3 August. This is made possible through the implementation of the open payment system which already in the works since last year.

As the system is still going through trials, not all MEX Highway’s toll plazas are immediately able to support credit and debit card payment though. For starters, it can only be performed at six lanes in Putrajaya Toll Plaza at the moment.

However, the exact rollout schedule was not announced to the public although the Ministry of Works (KKR) has said that all of the existing 25 Touch ‘n Go lanes throughout the MEX Highway will eventually support card payment. Aside from Putrajaya, the 26km highway also has toll plazas in Seri Kembangan and Salak Selatan.

One of the concerns that many may have regarding credit and debit card payments at toll plazas is the transaction speed. While we definitely have to experience it ourselves before we can provide a verdict on it but a video released by Works Minister, Alexander Nanta Linggi showed that the card payment was cleared in less than 1.3 seconds.

Alexander has also said that the open payment system will only be available to Class 1 vehicles at first. Furthermore, he added that the full rollout of the payment system at 12 other highways is expected to take place by the end of September.

Aside from MEX Highway, other locations that support the open payment system are Besraya, DUKE, NPE, AKLEH, GCE and Penang Bridge, along with PLUS’ Butterworth-Kulim Expressway. Also part of the list are Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP), SPRINT, KESAS, and SMART.

It is not known for now whether the toll open payment system is able to support eWallets. The image above which was posted on the KKR’s Facebook page seemed to suggest that it can but there is no official announcement regarding e-wallet support at the moment.

The payment terminals we spotted at NPE back in June already have the hardware to support QR-based eWallets. So, we believe that users will eventually be able to pay for their tolls using e-wallets although ultimately, what we really want to see is the deployment of Multi-Lane Fast Flow (MLFF). — SoyaCincau