LETTER | Imagine the morning rush hour: instead of smoothly passing through the RFID lane at the Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP) toll plaza, you find yourself stuck in a queue for five minutes.

Most drivers divert to the left lanes, as three right lanes are reserved for SmartTAG users. Out of eight to 10 lanes for Touch ’n Go cards and three SmartTAG lanes, only one is designated for RFID.

Despite repeated feedback, the current setup remains unchanged. I was informed that the decision was to maintain a single RFID lane.

RFID was introduced to ease traffic compared to physical cards. Yet, with challenges such as low e-wallet balances or faulty tags, limiting drivers to one lane is insufficient - especially when each RFID sticker costs RM35.

This concern has already been raised with Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi as well as the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) director-general Sazali Harun on Dec 15 last year.

The absolute radio silence from both the ministry and the system suggests a rare, perfect alignment: one is bound by red tape, the other by bad code, and both are equally committed to doing nothing.

Litrak needs to improve its toll plazas, which is why I am writing to the press, as other highway concessionaires such as Dash, Plus, and Duke have already provided at least two RFID lanes at each toll complex.

Here are two videos illustrating the congestion at the LDP toll plaza.

And the photo below shows that even Dash has two RFID lanes. 

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.