New system to collect toll next March

From my observations of related news articles since last year, whenever this new technology is mentioned, our kiasu neighbour will be left out from the list of countries adopting this system. Now, who is more kiasu?

There are so many things that we could learn from our nearest neighbour instead of spending huge amount of tax payers' money making 'study visits' to Australia, Europe or America. Let us start with public transport. Singapore's MRT system may be more than one decade older than our [LRT + monorail + KTM Komuter] systems (sigh), but many times more efficient and integrated than ours. Even London has adopted the Oysters from Singapore not too long ago.

A pilot project to ensure smooth traffic flow along tolled highways is expected to be implemented in March next year.

Under the multi-lane free flow (MLFF) electronic toll collection system, the toll charges will be deducted electronically as vehicles bearing transponders pass the tollbooths.

However, the area where the project is to be implemented has
yet to be determined.

A committee comprising officials from the Works Ministry,
Malaysia Highway Authority (MHA), toll concessionaires and Rangkaian Segar, the
operator of the Touch ’n Go electronic payment system and SmartTAG, have been
meeting since May last year to work out the finer details.

In a paper presented at a recent seminar on intelligent
transport system in road network operations, MHA’s Ismail Md Salleh said the
MLFF was expected to reduce congestion at toll plazas, be environmentally
friendly and increase road safety.

The system is extensively used in Australia, United
States, Chile and Canada.

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