While Touch ‘n Go payment facilities at parking lots do provide a great deal of convenience, which is especially helpful during the Covid-19 pandemic when we’re all trying to minimize physical contact, many still choose to continue with ticket-and-cash payments due to the 10% surcharge imposed by the system.
Well, those days are soon to be over. In an interview with The Star, newly-minted Touch ‘n Go CEO Effendy Shahul Hamid told the publication that the surcharge for parking fees paid using Touch ‘n Go cards will be removed by the end of Q1 2021.
“I’m very happy to say that by the end of the first quarter, we’ll take away all parking surcharges,” said Effendy. “It requires innovation and some sacrifice on our side, but I think it’s the right thing to do. Basically, we’ve been able to convince our parking operator partners and ensure the surcharge is removed by the end of the first quarter.”
According to Effendy, the change is supposedly made in response to the customer feedback. “Customers are starting to give us feedback in terms of what are the things that we can do, and we’re starting to engineer the company around that. Customers don’t want the parking surcharge, we’re listening to them.”
Effendy also said in the interview that the company is continuously working towards a zero-surcharge model for all Touch ‘n Go top-ups. “It is work in progress. Today, some of our agents already do not impose any reload surcharge, like Watsons, Guardian, Caring Pharmacy, Giant and selected Petronas and Shell stations, to name a few.”
However, in an effort to further reduce any forms of physical contact, Touch ‘n Go will also be introducing a new card which can be recharged directly through the Touch ‘n Go eWallet mobile app.
Currently, the only way to tie the physical cards to the eWallet is via the PayDirect function, which allows toll users to deduct payments directly from their eWallet balance instead. However, both the card and eWallet balances are not directly connected. In the event that the eWallet has insufficient funds, the payment will then be deducted from the card.
