If you’ve ever driven in Kuala Lumpur, you’ll understand the frustration of navigating through the city’s traffic. It’s not just the congestion—it’s the inefficiency that drives you up the wall, quite literally.
As someone from Penang, an island girl who’s used to shorter commutes and a slightly less chaotic flow of traffic, KL roads baffle me. Every drive feels like stepping into a circus, and not in a good way.
Take the RFID lanes at tolls, for example. Touch ‘n Go (TNG), with its near-monopoly on cashless toll payments, has been heavily promoting RFID for years now.
So, why is there often only one RFID lane at toll plazas? Everyone ends up funneling into this single lane, causing massive bottlenecks. Isn’t RFID supposed to make traffic flow smoother?
Instead, it’s chaos. Non-RFID users accidentally queue up, confused drivers reverse out, and you sit there questioning your life choices as the clock ticks away.
Worse still, the RFID lanes aren’t even standardised. Some are on the far right, others are in the middle, and some are tucked somewhere in between, leaving drivers guessing and scrambling to merge at the last second.
And then there’s the technology itself, which often feels like more hassle than it’s worth. Improper installations—whether on headlights or windscreens—lead to inconsistent readings, and even when installed correctly, the scanners occasionally fail.
Drivers who follow the rules are still punished, stuck behind someone whose RFID isn’t detected, causing a ripple effect of delays as cars reverse or switch lanes in a panic.
It’s ironic, really. RFID is marketed as a ‘fit and forget’ system, but in practice, it creates more headaches than solutions. Pair that with the lack of investment in better infrastructure, and it’s clear that drivers are paying tolls not for convenience but for frustration.
KL traffic already tests your patience, but these poorly planned systems make it feel like we’re stuck in first gear—literally and figuratively.
