YOURSAY | RFID snag – failed tech or drivers to blame?

YOURSAY | ‘There should be no monopoly for RFID, don't force everyone to use it.’

RFID: Plus needs to find solution to congestion at toll plazas

OCT: The Radio Frequency Identification technology system (RFID) sensor and the RFID tag have to be in perfect alignment and position for the system to work. The installer of the RFID tag has no idea whether the tag is in the right place for detection.

The main problem could be the misalignment of the tag and reader. In order to resolve this misalignment, the toll lane must have multiple sensors to cover the detection area.

Right now, there is only one sensor per lane. This is the main problem. Multiple sensors mean more cost which they don't want to invest in. So, this has become a half-baked solution which is bound to fail upon implementation.

Plus Malaysia Bhd and Touch 'n Go Sdn Bhd (TnG) forgot to do a stress test on the system to iron out all these implementation problems. They thought they had a perfect solution by limited testing. In reality, it is a failed system upon birth.

Real Keluarga Malaysia: My personal experience with RFID after one month of installing it leaves much to be desired. So far, I have only travelled within Klang Valley with the tag and I would say that the failure rate for me (to pass through the RFID gate) is four out of 10 times.

For whatever reason, Plus wants to make everyone use RFID. However, with this failure rate, I can imagine the horror that all motorists on Plus roads have to go through every time there is a high volume of traffic.

To Plus, we pay tolls for the privilege of having properly maintained roads and the convenience of smooth travel. We are not paying to be stuck in a mess of a jam at the toll gates caused by your incompetence and ineptitude, or perhaps according to some quarters, inferior technology.

Put your house, or in this case technology, in order before you dictate what we should or should not use.

Casualuser: RFID has good potential but its implementation needs to be improved. Staff need to be on standby at least during the first week of implementation to assist toll users with their problems.

I myself had self-installed two RFID tags on my car. One was working smoothly while the other had detection issues, which is still unresolved after two weeks of contacting their careline.

There should be testing centres for self-installed users so they do not need to test it live at the toll booth itself.

Xiao Zhu: @Casualuser, self-fitting RFID is a risk as we don't have a scanner to detect a good area to stick it at.

I stuck the tag on as per instructions yet out of six times at the MEX Putrajaya toll, I needed to reverse five times and use the SmartTag lane. Never faced this problem with SmartTag.

Maybe it's a scanner issue at the toll booth.

Flycatcher 666: I had my RFID fixed twice by their authorised dealer and both times it could not be used. Every time I pass by the RFID toll, I will get stuck.

Some continental cars may have too much interferences that disturb its frequency. Unless RFID solves this issue, the toll will continue to get jammed.

Oscar Kilo: Experience has shown that RFID is simply too unreliable. The failure rate is too high. After years of testing and “pioneering”, why are we still using this unreliable system?

A better system is a combo of SmartTag and PayDirect. Just like what has been implemented in Klang Valley open toll highways for a number of years. It works. All you need to do is to programme it to work on closed toll highways such as Plus.

Purple Occa 8200: Basically, the toll companies are incompetent, systems introduced are inferior, not tested properly and rushed into implementation.

Along with the inferior systems, they focus on money making, and further reduce humanpower which leads to personnel shortages and chaotic situations when the system fails.

The worst part is they don't bother or take their own sweet time to resolve the situation.

Anonymous_3f4b: Yes, they only know how to collect toll revenue and top-up card value instead of the foresight of implementing and solving problems on the ground which may and will arise from a new technological innovation. By the way, the technology is nothing new but a copy from other more established operating systems.

They will only react when issues arise and will try to douse the fire but fail to override the larger and more complicated issues that lead to public anger and dissatisfaction.

Fair Malaysian: "I have contacted them (Plus and TnG) after receiving complaints, and I have asked them to explain to the public and come out with a solution (to the problem) arising from the implementation of RFID,” Works Minister Fadillah Yusof said.

The minister should sit down with them and come up with a solution. You and your ministry should take the lead. You have to determine whether this RFID thing is a hocus pocus or what kind of study was done before RFID was implemented?

If there had been one, how come this is happening when it is just being implemented? You cannot and shouldn't simply ask the source of the problem to take care of the problem.

Karnak: @Fair Malaysian, it's actually funny how the minister is absolving himself and his ministry of all fault or involvement in this RFID debacle. Frankly, Plus is a subsidiary of the government-linked company UEM.

They are, along with TnG, ostensibly private companies, although one has a national mandate. It's strange that a concessionaire is not answerable to the ministry in some form or the other, and if they are, then it's stranger that the minister has chosen to distance himself from these issues.

Sealthedeal: RFID technology is fraught with problems on the read/scan distance. Everything from the speed of the car to atmospheric conditions affects the detection distance.

Even door entry systems don't work well all the time. When your attempts fail at the barrier, it takes time to get a staff member to assist.

BluePanther4725: Maintain TnG, SmartTag and cash at the toll plazas. There should be no monopoly for RFID and don't force everyone to use it.

People must be given a choice on the payment system they prefer. Monopoly on any single payment system is tantamount to corruption.

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• PLUS reinstates SmartTAG lanes after botched RFID rollout