Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 7, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Touch ’n Go Sdn Bhd, which is planning to expand the use of its radio frequency identification (RFID) tag beyond highways, targets to double tag users — which number one million now — by year end.

According to chief executive officer Syahrunizam Samsudin, there have been about 55 million transactions registered under the RFID system in the past 18 months, with total transaction value hitting RM110 million.

The company aims to grow transaction volume by 10% by end-December, Syahrunizam told reporters at the company’s Chinese New Year luncheon here yesterday.

Touch ’n Go, he said, has achieved 3% of that targeted growth.

Meanwhile, he said, all highways will be RFID-enabled by this April. Following that, Syahrunizam said, Touch ’n Go will expand its RFID ecosystem to parking lots, petrol stations and drive-throughs.

“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,” he added.

The parking lots in 20 of the largest malls in Malaysia will be RFID-enabled by the third quarter of this year, said Syahrunizam. By the end of this year, Touch ’n Go plans to have the ecosystem ready in selected petrol stations.

As for enabling drive-throughs, that target is set to be achieved by the first quarter of next year.

“For petrol stations, we are working on additional safety tests. This technology is not something new, but we just want to make sure it works well in our environment. We will work with one partner first, and all the other petrol stations later,” said Syahrunizam, adding that looking for synergetic partners are important.

For retail drive-throughs, he said, the company is looking to partner with companies such as Tealive, McDonald’s and KFC.

But nothing is firm yet, he stressed.

To date, Touch ’n Go’s RFID electronic payment system is available across 22 highways, such as the Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway, the Besraya Expressway, Butterworth-Kulim Expressway, the Butterworth Outer Ring Road and the Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway.

The system uses the Touch ’n Go’s RFID tag to pass through tolls. It has an embedded radio-frequency chip and is affixed to either the windscreen or the headlamp of a vehicle. As the vehicle passes through the RFID toll lane, an overhead scanner reads the radio frequency from the RFID tag and deducts the toll fare. The RFID tag is linked to the user’s Touch ’n Go eWallet account.

 

RFID tag installation to cost RM35 starting Feb 15

From Feb 15 onwards, Syahrunizam said, it will cost drivers RM35 to install the RFID tag — which has been free during its promotional period — on their vehicles across all fitment centres nationwide.

“We are the most competitive in terms of pricing compared with other countries. We want the rakyat to get access to the RFID at a reasonable price. I believe it is a fair price,” he said.

For comparison, he said, the installation costs up to RM400 in Singapore, though he explained that the price of the technology depends on the services that are coupled with it.

In conjunction with the launch of the sale of its RFID tags, Touch ’n Go also announced that from Feb 15 to April 15, 40 lucky winners will walk away with the Ultimate RFID toll pass worth RM2,500 each in their Touch ’n Go eWallet.

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