Malaysia To Introduce Multi-Lane Free Flow Systems To Replace Toll Booths & Reduce Road Congestion

By Quinny Tan  •  06 Oct 2022 in News

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We’ve all experienced being stuck in a jam only to come out at the end and find no apparent reason for the congestion. Like, what was that even for?

But a huge contributor is definitely the lines at tolls. There are too many malfunctions and bottlenecks that happen right after the booths that cause traffic congestion, inevitably wasting everyone’s time.

Earlier today, the works minister Fadillah Yusof announced that the Cabinet has agreed to implement a multi-lane free flow (MLFF) toll system here in Malaysia by the year 2025.

1. A non-stop toll collection system, called the Multi-Lane Free Flow, will be introduced by 2025 to reduce congestion at toll plazas, says the Works Ministry.

Under the system, boom gates will no longer be used, meaning that vehicles will not need to stop to pay tolls. pic.twitter.com/p9D2gXsp57

— BFM News (@NewsBFM) October 6, 2022

This means that there will soon no longer be any barriers or booths to keep us in our designated toll payment lanes.

All toll payments will be collected via radio-frequency identification (RFID) that will go hand-in-hand with an automated number plate recognition system.

If you’ve been to Sunway Pyramid recently, this is what they’ve been implementing for vehicles to enter for parking.

“Our goal is to achieve this by 2025. The next step is to negotiate with the concessionaires on this so that road users will have easier access to highways,” said Fadillah.

“After that, we will look into how to integrate the MLFF system where we will establish a command centre managed by the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) that needs to be integrated with all municipalities or cities.”

The idea of implementing a MLFF system in Malaysia is nothing new and has been brought up several times in the past.

In 2009, the government said the system was being trialled and that a proposal would be readied by the end of the year. Later in 2015, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) began proof of concept of a MLFF system in Malaysia.

More recently in September last year, Green Packet announced that it would run its MLFF proof of concept on the Besraya Highway from early 2022.

A few years before that, the Malaysian Association of Highway Concession Companies (MAHCC) said in 2019 that all highways across the country transition to a MLFF system in the next three years when RFID toll collection is implemented at all toll plazas nationwide.

The use of RFID for a MLFF system is deemed to be more efficient, Fadillah said in a report from March this year.

“The infrared technology used for SmartTag devices has not been proven in the implementation of the MLFF system, compared to the RFID technology which has been widely adopted by developed countries that have implemented the toll collection system,” he said at the time.

“The implementation of the RFID technology is in line with the government’s aim to introduce the MLFF toll collection system using the RFID technology and it is expected to be fully implemented by 2025.”

Let’s hope that this is the first step of many to come to help reduce road congestion. A JUICE author put together this feature on what other solutions might put this issue to an end. Read it here!