The highway operator wants to hear from you, the customers
Following last week’s public outcry over the faulty RFID system, which caused massive traffic congestions at several toll plazas in the Klang Valley, PLUS is looking to get feedback from its customers through an online survey form.
In a Facebook post, the highway operator said that the survey would help them identify weaknesses in its services and ultimately improve customer experience.
PLUS had earlier issued a formal statement of apology in which the company promised to reinstate SmartTAG lanes to address grievances raised by road users. In addition, the company said it will also install double barriers, deploy on-the-ground personnel and mark detection zones to speed up traffic at the RFID lanes.
As you may already know, PLUS’ move to implement RFID at all its highways is in line with the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Blue Print which includes Multi Lane Free Flow (MLFF). MLFF is essentially one step above from RFID as it allows road users to make toll payment transactions at normal driving speeds because there are no barriers.
The commotion we witnessed last week indicated that there are just a few things that need to be ironed out first before we can even think about implementing MLFF.
Despite acknowledging the inconvenience caused to its customers, PLUS made no mention of the actual causes that led to the malfunction of its RFID system. However, looking at the comments on social media, the issue may have stemmed from RFID tags, which are fragile and can be easily damaged, according to some of the commenters.
Not only that, some road users also lamented the closure of SmartTAG lanes, which contradicted the statement made by the Works Ministry which said Touch ‘n Go and SmartTAG lanes will be gradually phased out.
Also, we initially thought that the increasing number of RFID users was partly responsible for the system’s failure to work properly but this does not seem to be the case as PLUS only recorded a 10% migration rate after its implementation on 15 January. And keep in mind that that is for the entire North-South Expressway, not just Klang Valley.
