KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 ― LRT commuters can soon look forward to a new payment method as Rapid KL and PayNet appear to be conducting trials for contactless MyDebit payment very soon. A couple of contactless card readers have been spotted at selected LRT stations including Wangsa Maju, Lembah Subang and Pasar Seni.
While the hardware can work with other contactless payments such as Mastercard PayPass and Visa PayWave, it appears to be configured for MyDebit for now. MyDebit is available on most ATM cards issued by Malaysian banks and it can work without a PIN for transactions under RM250. The folks at Lowyat.net had went to a station at Lembah Subang to try it out but it doesn’t seem to work with their Maybank Visa MyDebit ATM, RHB Visa credit card or Samsung Pay.
Upon closer inspection, it seems that the terminals are currently offline as the WiFi and SIM icons on the screen are showing a disconnected status. We are guessing that PayNet and Rapid KL have yet to start its pilot trial and they would reveal more details soon.
Hopefully, the contactless terminals will be implemented on all turnstiles at all stations including all LRT and MRT lines. If they expand the functionality to accept Mastercard PayPass and Visa Paywave, this would be convenient for international tourists. After all, offering more options apart from the physical Touch ‘n Go card is always a good thing.
Two years ago, Touch ‘n Go had conducted a trial run for its QR Transit which allows commuters to pay for LRT rides with a smartphone. It uses the Touch ‘n Go eWallet and you can enter and exit the stations by displaying the QR code from the app. During the trial, they have installed QR code scanners at 7 stations namely Kelana Jaya, Universiti, Kerinchi, KL Sentral, Dang Wangi, KLCC and Ampang Park. Unfortunately, the QR Transit feature wasn’t implemented and it has been removed from the Touch ‘n Go eWallet app.
You can learn more about the experience here. ― SoyaCincau
