KUALA LUMPUR: Touch n' Go will soon end the 10% surcharge imposed at parking facilities with dual payment systems, Parliament was told.
"Touch n' Go card has taken the initiative that in all its future contractors or renewal of contractors, there will not be the surcharge rate based on the merchant discount rate.
"For existing contracts, the surcharge rate will end in stages," said Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Chong Chieng Jen, when answering a question raised by Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong in Dewan Rakyat today.
He said the current 10% surcharge was a contractual obligation between Touch n' Go card and carpark operators with dual parking systems.
"For car parks with only Touch n' Go payment system, there is no surcharge imposed," he added.
Asked on the 50 sen surcharge for card top-ups, Chong said there are 2,880 locations out of 11,168 nationwide that did not impose the top-up surcharge.
He cited that surcharge-free top-up could be done in outlets such as Touch n' Go service counters, Watsons, Tesco, Guardian, KK Mart and Caring Pharmacy.
He also noted the 50 sen surcharge was only imposed by certain petrol stations, shopping outlets, ATM machines and sundry shops.
He added that Touch n' Go card did not impose this surcharge, but was done by operators of the outlets.
Chong added that the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) did not find Touch n' Go card to be a monopoly, as there are also other e-payment cards in the market.
Dr Wee had proposed doing away with the surcharges so as not to burden consumers.
In his supplementary question, Datuk Seri Dr Edmund Santhara (PH-Segamat) suggested that the government, through either Khazanah Nasional Berhad or the Employees Provident Fund, take over Touch n' Go.
To this, Chong said he would bring Santhara's suggestion to the government's attention.
