KUALA LUMPUR – All rail users in Malaysia will be able to enjoy an open payment system for the LRT, MRT and monorail services by August 2025, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
He told Dewan Rakyat that government public transport operator Prasarana Malaysia Bhd is expected to start design and development work by March 2024.
“Prasarana will take 11 months until February 2025 to equip 50% of the payment gantries at every station to enable the open payment system. By August 2025, open payments will be available to all gantries at every station.
“If necessary, this system will continue to be developed for other payment modes such as QR codes in the next implementation phase,” Loke (Seremban-PH) said in response to a question by Wong Chen (Subang-PH).
He added that Prasarana is finalising the implementation of the open payment system for Kelana Jaya LRT, Ampang LRT, Kajang MRT, Putrajaya MRT and the monorail.
With the open payment system, commuters will be able to pay for the train fares via their MyDebit and credit cards, in addition to tokens and Touch ‘n Go cards.
Separately, Loke said the RM29 million upgrade for Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd’s (KTMB) commuter trains’ automatic fare collection in Klang Valley is almost complete.
“By November this year, KTMB commuters will be able to pay their fares at all 57 stations with debit and credit cards, Touch ‘n Go cards, and QR code via the KTMB mobile application (also known as KITS).”
Meanwhile, Loke said his ministry will negotiate with Singapore to keep the KTMB Tebrau shuttle service in operation even after the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link is up and running.
“I think it’s a good thing if we have more connectivity between the two countries, and it will give passengers more options,” he said in response to Suhaizan Kayat (Pulai-PH) when asked about the Tebrau shuttle service.
In a previous bilateral agreement between the two countries, the Tebrau shuttle is supposed to be terminated six months after the RTS is in operation.
In a separate matter, Malaysia is awaiting a response from Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority on increasing the capacity of the Tebrau shuttle service to 13,760 commuters a day – from 31 trips to 36, and from four coaches to eight. – October 26, 2023