Cashless payment the way forward, transport minister tells bus firms

IPOH, Jan 16 — All public transport companies, including those offering stage bus services, should adopt the cashless payment system sooner rather than later, Anthony Loke said today.

The transport minister said the move to go cashless is part of the government’s efforts to digitise the economy, adding that the benefits outweigh the initial cost.

“There are a lot of benefits for the bus operators when they change to a cashless payment system.

“It can lower the operating cost, easy, fast and comfortable,” he told a press conference after launching the cashless payment system for myBas Ipoh at Terminal Meru Raya.

Loke also said that bus operators are being subsidised by the government and will have to change to a cashless payment system as it was part of the contract signed.

“We will give them time to change, but they must change to the cashless system. It does not take a big cost to change to the system.

“To those who don’t implement the system, we will review the subsidy given to the bus operators,” he said.

Earlier, Loke launched the Perak Transit Berhad, Touch ‘n Go and NEC Corporation Of Malaysia’s cashless bus fare payment system for myBas Ipoh, a public stage bus service operating in the Perak capital.

Loke said myBas Ipoh is the first bus network under the Perak Transit to go cashless.

Passengers of myBas Ipoh can now pay for their trips by tapping their Touch ‘n Go cards or MyKad which has been embedded with the Touch ‘n Go chip on the card reader panels installed inside the coaches.

Apart from Ipoh, the minister said myBas services have been rolled out in three other state capital cities: Kangar in Perlis; Seremban in Negri Sembilan; and Kuala Terengganu in Terengganu.

The programme was allocated RM171 million, from 2015 to 2019.

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