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-   -   Touchngo and cashless road tolls (https://britishexpats.com/forum/malaysia-148/touchngo-cashless-road-tolls-874185/)

Gunnar45 Mar 12th 2016 10:38 am

Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
Sorry for a maybe stupid question, but I don't quite understand the new system with the cashless payment of road tolls for the expressways as well as the Penang bridges.

I am informed that the Penang bridge toll and some other road tollss no longer can be paid in cash.
So, how to proceed now when you are a very infrequent traveller??
As I understand, a Touchngo card needs to be purchased and loaded with a suitable amount of money and then be used.
BUT, for the infrequent traveller this seems to be a much more complicated and expensive option or am I wrong here, assuming that:
1. I need to load the card with a minimum amount so I will always need to have a surplus on the card.
2. I must use the card regularly to not let it expire.

Is there a way of finding out which roads now are 'cashless'?
If one is going from Penang Island to say Cameron Highlands, are there any cashless only road toll stations, except returning over the bridge? (One could still take the ferry and pay 7.70 in cash)
I have searched the web, but is seems difficult to get any straight clarification there. Or maybe I am not very effective in searching....

Last time when crossing from mainland to Penang Island I was sold a 'PLusmiles' card for RM 10. Not sure if I want to keep it, unless of course it is mandatory if one wants to drive on the expressways....

ex reg Mar 12th 2016 11:17 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
I use TouchnGo on the NS Highway when driving to Malacca and Desaru and last year up to Ipoh.
Quick easy and simple. Been using them for years.

But when we were up in Penang recently and hired a car to drive over the two bridges I didn't have my 3 TnG cards with me, left them at home.
So bought and loaded up a new one.

It's peanuts to buy and use.

And if it's like my 3 older TnG cards it doesn't have to be used regularly.
I use them maybe every 6 months.

Scuba Tyke Mar 12th 2016 12:02 pm

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
We use Touch N Go cards regularly now, the main incentive for me was beating the queues in the 'cash only' lanes on the highways. They must be used a minimum of once every 12 months or they expire.

CIMB bank do one that you can set up to automatically reload from your account once they reach a pre-determined level. We find them very useful and can be increasingly used for other payments; car parking at KLIA being one example.

PoolieAbroad Mar 12th 2016 12:18 pm

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
It seems they are heading to the point where every toll road will be cashless. But no worries you can spend with the card in many establishments.
If you have a new Tesco Clubcard it is also a TnG card.
From memory when we had a card 'die' they told us we needed to top up at least very 12 months or you go through all sorts of hoops to bring it back to life. The card automatically dies after 10 years.

Gunnar45 Mar 12th 2016 12:25 pm

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
Thanks for the responses.
Yes, no doubt that the cashless option is coming fast, so one has to be prepared.
I guess the CIMB option would be the easiest for me, but still a hassle due to that we rarely cross the bridge....

columbine Mar 12th 2016 4:15 pm

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
If you already have the old Tesco card it's only a few ringgit to get a new one with T&G function. Watson's new card also has the T&G function. Handy for Gurney and Paragon parking ;-)

Gunnar45 Mar 13th 2016 12:06 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
columbine,
Thanks for that, will check at Tesco when I visit next time.
Assume I can top up there as well?

columbine Mar 13th 2016 12:27 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by Gunnar45 (Post 11893878)
columbine,
Thanks for that, will check at Tesco when I visit next time.
Assume I can top up there as well?

No, not at Tesco. Most
7-11 and Happy Mart shops. I went to 7-11 at Fettis Park first, the guy tried but couldn't get it done. Walked down to Happy Mart and no problem there.

Gunnar45 Mar 13th 2016 1:31 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
Thanks for that info.

JC3 Mar 13th 2016 4:06 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
Other than road tolls I use Touchngo at the Gurney Paragon mall and Gurney Plaza mall carparks in Penang. Very convenient. I top up at one of the Sam's Groceria branches at Gurney Paragon or Straits Quay.

JC3

Shih Mar 13th 2016 5:46 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
I top up my TAG card at CIMB ATM machines (look for machine with Touch and Go logo). FOC for CIMB customers.

I presume U can do it with other banks as well.

columbine Mar 13th 2016 6:52 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
I don't feel safe linking the TnG card to bank acc. Maybe I'm paranoid esp in M'sia.I'd rather go and top up rm100 each time it gets to rm20 which is the minimum you need in the card for parking at Gurney and Paragon ( saw a notice some where in parking area regarding the rm20). The rm100 lasted me a long time for parking. I went to top it up for trip to KL and that was enough even for return trip.

columbine Mar 13th 2016 6:59 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by JC3 (Post 11893946)
Other than road tolls I use Touchngo at the Gurney Paragon mall and Gurney Plaza mall carparks in Penang. Very convenient. I top up at one of the Sam's Groceria branches at Gurney Paragon or Straits Quay.

JC3

Great Sam can do it! thanks for info JC3

eCdD Mar 13th 2016 7:51 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
Almost every 7-11, KK Mart and other small shops can do the top up. So far I did it only there.

Here in the KL area it now is almost everywhere cashless payment for the road tolls.

teejaydee Mar 13th 2016 9:27 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by JC3 (Post 11893946)
I top up at one of the Sam's Groceria branches at Gurney Paragon or Straits Quay.

So do I. They do make a small charge for this. They will give you a receipt showing balance details, so you know how many RMs are stored on the card.

Somebody told me it is possible to top-up at the toll booths, but I have never done that. If this is true, it saves any worry of finding you have an insufficient balance on the card when at the toll. I was told I would need to park the car, go inside the office and do the top-up.

JC3 Mar 13th 2016 9:36 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by teejaydee (Post 11894042)
Somebody told me it is possible to top-up at the toll booths, but I have never done that. If this is true, it saves any worry of finding you have an insufficient balance on the card when at the toll. I was told I would need to park the car, go inside the office and do the top-up.

I've not done it. But I believe you need to take the exit on the left before the toll gates and top up in the office, i.e. not at the actual toll booth.


JC3

eCdD Mar 13th 2016 10:13 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by teejaydee (Post 11894042)
So do I. They do make a small charge for this.

Oh! I was told by a local that it does not matter where to top up because charging a fee for it is illegal.

teejaydee Mar 13th 2016 10:29 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by eCdD (Post 11894063)
Oh! I was told by a local that it does not matter where to top up because charging a fee for it is illegal.

I added RM100 and was charged (if I remember correctly) 50 cents. The cashier at Sam's told me about the charge in advance and it was printed on the statement he gave me.

I've just looked at the TnG website, and there are two lists of "reload locations", one with a reload fee and one without.

Touch 'n Go :: No Reload Fee

Touch 'n Go :: With Reload Fee

The reload fee is small, but to avoid it, the answer is to choose one of the locations that do not charge it. I notice Watsons and Guardian are examples where there is no fee, so they would be a convenient choice.

Sam's Groceria is on neither list, so they are perhaps a little out of date :(.

patr Mar 13th 2016 11:33 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
I think you can top up your touch n go at the tolls so long as you chose the lane marked tambah nilai. There's one at every toll I believe. It's usually the one with the longest queue!

SushiFan Mar 13th 2016 11:54 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by Gunnar45 (Post 11893479)
So, how to proceed now when you are a very infrequent traveller??
As I understand, a Touchngo card needs to be purchased and loaded with a suitable amount of money and then be used.
BUT, for the infrequent traveller this seems to be a much more complicated and expensive option or am I wrong here, assuming that:
1. I need to load the card with a minimum amount so I will always need to have a surplus on the card.
2. I must use the card regularly to not let it expire.

What a coincidence: I investigated this one week ago (I am also an infrequent traveller). I found it difficult to find a place where they sell the TnG cards. It appears much easier to find locations where you can recharge it. In the end it turned out the easiest solution for me was to buy the TnG card at Watson (Gurney Plaza shopping mall B1). Basically it is a Watson loyalty card with additional TnG functionality. Charging it can also be done at Watson, in multiples of RM10. So yes, you aways have a surplus on your card, but it does not have to be large amounts.
The TnG functionality remains active as long as you make at least one transaction within 24 months of the previous transaction (once every two years). As others also already mentioned: since then have I also started to use it for parking. I'm too lazy to cue at the payment machines to pay for parking.

InVinoVeritas Mar 13th 2016 4:09 pm

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by SushiFan (Post 11894094)
What a coincidence: I investigated this one week ago (I am also an infrequent traveller). I found it difficult to find a place where they sell the TnG cards. It appears much easier to find locations where you can recharge it. In the end it turned out the easiest solution for me was to buy the TnG card at Watson (Gurney Plaza shopping mall B1). Basically it is a Watson loyalty card with additional TnG functionality. Charging it can also be done at Watson, in multiples of RM10. So yes, you aways have a surplus on your card, but it does not have to be large amounts.
The TnG functionality remains active as long as you make at least one transaction within 24 months of the previous transaction (once every two years). As others also already mentioned: since then have I also started to use it for parking. I'm too lazy to cue at the payment machines to pay for parking.

Great advice SushiFan, appeals to my laziness too! JC3 will no doubt explain how to get a discount as well! :fingerscrossed:

man from emas Mar 14th 2016 3:29 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
We always use a Plus card, my wife did get a Watson card but then cashed it in, no point if you already have a Plus card.

We always top up at Petronas here in BF to cover our journeys before we do any expressway trips as sometimes the stations on the expressway either run out or do not offer a top up service, we were caught once & its a real pain driving in & out of stations. We don't keep much on it whilst we are on the Island.

If they do away with paying cash on the tolls then all those people queuing to pay cash will then end up queuing at the touch machines with the rest of us.

eCdD Mar 14th 2016 5:29 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 

Originally Posted by teejaydee (Post 11894068)
I added RM100 and was charged (if I remember correctly) 50 cents. The cashier at Sam's told me about the charge in advance and it was printed on the statement he gave me.

I've just looked at the TnG website, and there are two lists of "reload locations", one with a reload fee and one without.

Touch 'n Go :: No Reload Fee

Touch 'n Go :: With Reload Fee

Thanks for sharing this and for correcting my wrong information. I would be surprised if I really never recharged at 7-11, but can be! Usually I use the small shop in Putrajya Sentral or the one in Pasar Seni or the KK Mart opposite my home.

If anyone is interested: The TnG Card discounts only the bus fare in KL, not the fare for Komuter, Monorail, LRT...

TousTnT Mar 14th 2016 8:11 am

Re: Touchngo and cashless road tolls
 
You can top up at Tescos in Tanjung Tokong at the customer service counter. You can also use it to pay at some tills at Tesco & at Sams in Straits Quay. Rapid Penang are also fitting their buses with touch & go payment capability presumably the same as in KL.


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