KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — The Maju Expressway (MEX Highway) has begun to support credit and debit card payments starting today. It is essentially the first highway in Malaysia that allows the public to pay for their tolls using this method which is made possible through the implementation of the Open Payment System (SPT).

However, the card payment option at MEX Highway is currently being offered on a trial basis as the full implementation will only take place by the end of September. Hence, you can only use these contactless payment cards at selected lanes but credit to MEX Highway which has installed signboards so that users can spot such lanes easily.

With a total of six lanes altogether, they are each located towards the left end section of each toll plaza. MEX Highway has three toll plazas in total including at Salak Selatan, Seri Kembangan, and Putrajaya.

One of the major concerns that many have regarding credit and debit card payments is the processing speed. Even though the SPT implementation is meant to break Touch ‘n Go’s monopoly on toll payments for the past several decades, it would be a hassle to highway users if it takes too long to process the payment.

As per what you may experience when you shop at retail stores, there are usually several seconds of waiting time before your payment is cleared by the card terminal. On the other hand, toll payments made using Touch ‘n Go (TNG) cards are usually cleared instantly as it is a stored-value card that works without any connectivity required.

With that, we made our way to the MEX Highway earlier today to test out the new payment method. As part of our test, we used not only a traditional credit card but also Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and prepaid cards from various providers.

Positive outlook from our test results

First, let’s set some benchmarks with the existing TNG-based payment options:

* TNG NFC card with PayDirect – dedicated TNG lane, Salak Selatan: under 1 second

* TNG NFC card with PayDirect – SPT trial lane, Salak Selatan: under 1 second

* TNG RFID – hybrid TNG & RFID lane, Salak Selatan: under 2 seconds

Moving on to physical payment cards, here’s how they fared during our journey at MEX this afternoon:

* Maybank Visa credit card – Seri Kembangan: under 3 seconds

* BigPay Visa prepaid card – Putrajaya: under 2 seconds

* Malaysia Airlines Enrich Money Visa prepaid card – Seri Kembangan: under 3 seconds

* TNG eWallet Visa prepaid card – Salak Selatan: under 5 seconds

Last but not least, we have no problem paying for tolls using our smart devices:

* Apple Pay with Apple Watch Series 6 and AmBank credit card – Seri Kembangan: under 3 seconds

* Apple Pay with iPhone 11 Pro Max and AmBank credit card – Putrajaya: under 2 seconds

* Samsung Pay with Galaxy S21 Ultra + RHB credit card – Seri Kembangan: under 2 seconds

Based on our experience today, the SPT at MEX Highway definitely has no problem accepting our contactless cards. It is also good to see that the system works without any qualms with our smart devices too.

However, we would not recommend you pay for tolls using smartwatches though. This is not due to the devices themselves but it is more because of physical reasons as you can see how we struggled to pay using Apple Watch in our video.

In terms of processing time, the SPT payment definitely can’t beat the TNG NFC card and TNG RFID but it certainly is no slouch either. Once again, please note that the SPT at MEX Highway is currently still on trial and we performed our tests during non-peak hours. There’s only one lane with SPT and during one of our attempts, the lane was closed temporarily, so it is still best to have at least a Touch ‘n Go card with sufficient balance at all times.

At this point in time, things are looking quite good for the SPT. Of course, let’s see how things will go once the real challenge begins when the full implementation takes place on 87 toll lanes across 12 highways nationwide at the end of this coming September. — SoyaCincau