Pengguna perihatin

Longer toll discount hours requested
Hafiz Yatim | Nov 19, 08 6:29pm

Consumer groups and political parties want North-South Expressway (Plus) to extend their
MCPX
discount hours beyond the announced seven hours - which is midnight to 7am.

toll booths smarttag and touch n go boothsOne of them, the Road Safety Department (RSD) desire the discount hours to start at 9pm.

RSD director-general Suret Singh when contacted by Malaysiakini said while appreciating Plus’ gesture, they have to look into the implications.

"I have instructed my officers to do research following the announcement made by Plus. We have conducted research on buses but not on passenger cars traveling at those hours.

"Ideally, the discount travel period should not begin after midnight but much earlier, let's say 9pm as this is considered off-peak.

"Travelling midnight onwards, or the graveyard shift as we normally call, may result in the motorists to be sleepy," Suret said.

However, Suret conceded that if motorists were well rested or had a second driver with them, it should be fine.

"The department would look closely on this trend following the announcement and it is too premature for us to comment on its affect on road safety," he said, lamenting also that the department was not consulted by Plus.

Federation of Malaysia Consumer Association (Fomca), National Consumer Complaints Centre, chief executive Muhd Sha’ani Abdullah said that his organisation has always opposed toll collection by highway concessionaires.

Therefore their opposition remains even with the introduction of discount hours, he added.

"I do not know what is Plus’ objective in announcing this, maybe they want media coverage. I feel this is just a public relations exercise.

plus highway sg besi 180205 aerial view 01"It's just like Plus is behaving like hypermarkets trying to get customers to use its highway and this time, they are doing so by offering incentives for people to travel late at night."

Muhd Sha’ani said encouraging motorists to travel midnight compromises safety.

Instead he felt Plus can provide better service to its users.

"They should introduce incentive to improve the swiftness in traffic or ensuring there are less queues at toll booth," he said.

He concluded that further festive season discounts would only encourage more unsafe driving.

Plus announced yesterday that passenger vehicles will enjoy a 10-percent discount when they travel between midnight and 7am on the North-South Expressway and North-South Expressway Central Link (Elite) - as of Jan 1, 2009 until Dec 31, 2010.

Consumers will receive an additional 10 percent cut if people drive during the same hours during festive seasons.

Voluntary reductions better

Parti Rakyat Malaysia secretary-general, Koh Swee Yong in a statement said the offered discount rate does not reduce consumer burden or ease the economic problems facing the country.

"If the Barisan Nasional government is truly committed to reduce prices of goods, it should find ways to reduce transportation costs. Hence, reducing toll rates unconditionally could be done to ease the burden.

"Reducing toll rates during those hours showed Plus was not committed in helping the country and the consumers.

"If it is extended to public transportation it may help reduce consumer burden," he said.

lee wei kiatMCA’s Information & Communication Bureau Chairman Lee Wei Kiat in similar vein asked Plus to reduce toll charges for all hours.

Lee who is also MCA central committee member said the incentive only benefits a small group of people using the highway at that time

"Since Plus main objective is to help alleviate the financial burden of the public, they should view it from the people's viewpoint that is to provide practical financial incentives for the people," he said.