PETALING JAYA: Toll at three major highways in Kuala Lumpur will go cashless starting noon Wednesday in efforts to maximise the capacity of the toll plazas.

A fully electronic toll collection (ETC) system would be implemented at Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (Akleh), Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (Smart) and Duta-Ulu Klang Expressway (Duke) highways.

Akleh and Duke concessionaires would also throw in a 5% rebate for Class One motorists as an incentive for paying electronically for three months.

Class One are two-axle vehicles such as cars, vans and small trucks. The incentive started today and will continue until Dec 8.

These three highways would join seven other toll plazas nationwide to introduce the ETC system. The implementation will see a total of 21 toll plazas using the cashless method.

The other toll plazas are Jitra, Bukit Kayu Hitam, and Lunas in Kedah, Kubang Semang and Penang Bridge in Penang, and Gombak and Bentong at the KL-Karak highway.

Traffic consultant Goh Bok Yen said switching from cash to electronic payment can improve toll collection by more than half.

He added the move was inevitable and was for the better.

Goh said one Smart Tag toll lane was able to clear 750 vehicles an hour even if the motorists held the tag in their hands when passing through the boom gate without attaching it to the car windscreen.

He said at d less than 30% motorists used the ETC system in the Klang Valley.

“From the number, less than half are Smart Tag users.”