Penang Bridge Begins Trialing Debit and Credit Card Payments

Tags: credit card, debit card, Lifestyle, News, Open Payment Toll Collection System, PLUS, RFID, SPT, TNG, Travel

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After a number of tests and trials on highways throughout Malaysia, the Open Payment Toll Collection System (SPT) has finally begun testing on the Penang Bridge’s toll plaza. The SPT system will allow drivers to pay for tolls using debit and credit cards.

Like with existing RFID and TNG card payment methods, Penang residents as well as those who work or study at the state that want to utilise their debit and credit cards for toll payment at the Penang Bridge can still apply for the 20 percent PLUS discount.

Discounts available for certain vehicle types

However, do note that this discount is only available to Class two and Class three vehicles. These include cars, three-wheeled commercial vehicles, and motorcycles with sidecars, as well as lorries, vans, and buses that have two axles and four wheels.

Such a system offers drivers who regularly utilise the Penang bridge a greater level of convenience and has been a long time coming. The implementation of debit and credit card payments for the bridge was originally meant to take place earlier. However, in 2018, the PLUS RFID implementation was met with fierce pushback from Touch ‘n Go (TNG) parent company, CIMB who subsequently took legal action against PLUS.

The matter was eventually settled in 2019, with TNG RFID becoming the go-to RFID system across PLUS highways.

In early 2023, Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi listed Penang Bridge as one of the five highways that would support SPT. By September 2023, 11 highways had adopted the use of the SPT. However, the implementation of SPT on the Penang bridge was delayed to the end of 2023. Following a few more delays, the highway concessionaire finally announced the support for credit and debit card payments at Penang Bridge on a trial basis.