Why is using Touch 'n Go frustrating to Malaysians?

By Qishin Tariq

In the beginning, it was great. A payment card initially made to facilitate cashless toll payments, Touch 'n Go (TnG) made life easier for busy Malaysians looking to shave a significant few extra minutes to and from work.

Unfortunately, while services have grown far beyond paying tolls, it has also become more frustrating for the average consumer.

This was especially evident following recent public complaints and even a government investigation into the confusion when it added a Visa card to its range of offerings.

So what can the various TnG smartcards and services do, how can you use them, and importantly, what do you need to know to avoid frustrations when using them?

Services galore

According to TnG's website, services are broadly pooled into five areas i.e. toll payments, e-wallet payments, public transit, financial services, and parking.

For many, TnG cards have long been a payment card for public transportation, usable on most trains and buses. In this sense, then, it is similar to Singapore's EZ-link card.

But TnG offers many more uses and functions; most of which can be accessed via the TnG eWallet. For instance, paying for on-street parking, buying car insurance, paying retailers via QR payment or transferring money to friends and family via DuitNow transfers.

TnG also recently partnered with food delivery platform Foodpanda, making its eWallet a payment option on the app.

Interesting, too, is its financial services capability.

For example, GO+, launched in 2021, is an investment tool that lets users earn interest from their eWallet balance. The introduction of this service saw the company encouraging users to store cash in their eWallets (as one would with a savings account) and promoting it as being potentially safer than storing money in a TnG card.

Regrettably, none of the above make paying highway tolls less frustrating.

Toll collections

To be clear, the classic TnG card, used on its own or with a SmartTAG, is still the main method for highway toll payment.

There is also the TnG Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), a radiofrequency chip sticker affixed to a customer's vehicle that connects to one's eWallet. This allows for toll charges to be deducted by overhead scanners as vehicles pass through dedicated lanes.

What can't be used at toll gates, however, is the new TnG Visa; ironically, despite Visa's tagline being "Everywhere".

Reports suggest that Touch 'n Go had originally intended for the TnG Visa to serve as an alternative payment method for toll collection. It seems, though, that it was discovered during the early development phase that TnG systems and Visa Paywave NFC had interference issues.

As such, the TnG Visa remains "just" a numberless prepaid card that connects to a user's eWallet.

Another annoyance is the fact the classic TnG payment card can't be linked to a user's eWallet. So cash loaded onto these cards can't be used via the eWallet and vice-versa.

Government clarification

The slew of complaints about confusing uses and services, in any case, has put TnG in the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry's crosshairs.

But there have been numerous other problems, too, including difficulties in obtaining the classic TnG cards, RFID issues and unanswered hotlines.

Hence the setting up of a special task force in January to study common grievances.

Since then, TnG has sought to shape up, dealing with the biggest complaint of all — the confusion over its Visa card's inability to be used to pay tolls — with an amusingly straightforward solution.

Basically, those applying for the card will now be told: "This is not a TnG card".

Other issues being tackled, meanwhile, include addressing the classic TnG payment card's lack of availability, with the company pledging to issue 3.5 million cards in 2023, up from 2.68 million cards in 2022.

Cardholders are also now being promised a heads-up when their cards are about to expire, via email notification and through the eWallet.

Yet while the company says it is, in addition to the above, cracking down on unregistered advertisements for card sales, the problem of dubious ads remains.

Essentially, numerous sellers offer TnG cards for sale on e-commerce platforms like Shopee and even social media.

And some for-sale ads have led to people being scammed out of their savings, like in the case of a vocational training officer in Pahang, who lost RM23,514 to a scammer after trying to buy his family TnG cards on Facebook.

International services

Despite the many issues, TnG has been expanding its reach in recent years.

For example, the brand has collaborated with EZ-Link via the EZ-Link x Touch 'n Go Motoring Card that can be used by Singaporean registered vehicles to make contactless payments at car parks, for Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) and checkpoint toll charges in Singapore while retaining all the same functions as a standard TnG card in Malaysia.

In June last year, meanwhile, TnG also added cross-border payment capabilities to its eWallet, making it now possible to pay for trips on ComfortDelGro taxis, Singapore's largest taxi network, which operates about 9,000 vehicles.

Additionally, TnG in collaboration with Ant Group's Alipay+ expanded its eWallet to be able to make payments in China.

What remains to be determined, however, is whether users in these places encounter the same headaches with TnG services as cardholders in Malaysia.

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