When I met a guy who was well to do in his life but refused to buy the Touch N Go card due to his 'principle', I was quite intrigue. I asked him why, expecting that he has a better formula to pay his toll or there is a way for him to bypass any tolled road. What I didn't expect was a lecture on the basic rule of retail business. His basic premise was why does one pay in advance cash to someone who don't even give one sen of concession to the payee. These toll concessionaires take but never give, especially if you pay using the Touch N Go card.
Everyone seems to take for granted that the Touch N Go card to be something that they don't have a choice but to have in order for them to have the convenience of not having to hunt for spare change or queue up at the toll booth, especially at peak hours. The convenience of Touch N Go was imposed to the masses when all other smart cards were 'retired' and Touch N Go became the monopoly prepaid card for highway concessionaires.
Some did protest the erection of toll booth at tolled road when it was first erected like what had happened in Sunway at the New Pantai Expressway where even the current elected representative promise to find a solution to ensure the nearby residents living adjacent to the NPE highway doesn't need to pay for toll going to and fro their housing area. That promise is still just a dream as toll highways are under the purview of the federal government which is not that particular elected representative's political party. I wish her the best of luck... (which may come true earlier if her political party REALLY take over the federal government)
Just a suggestion to toll concessionaires. Why don't they view the user of their highways as customers to be pampered and to be valued. Don't view them as drivers who had no choice but to use their highways. These highways had encroached areas which had been the ancestral homes or just plain homes of various people. They had also displaced million of people with the hopes of making millions of cash. I have seen proposals to various politicians for new highways which would actually leave the Klang Valley looking like one big road with no living areas in sight. All in the name of progress...
They should emulate Germany where the cost of highways are borne by the local government and if the local government don't have the money, the highway will end at the part not yet built and will continue back at parts where the local government is able to built their part of the highway. That's why they are call Autobahn where there are no toll but just good roads. Maybe this will be too farfetch to happen in our country but one can always dream...
Customers shouldn't be asked to pay the same amount of toll when they have paid in advance. I know that the concessionares do not get the money in advance but why don't they cut a deal with the company which issue the Touch N Go cards to give discounts when customers buy a certain amount of prepaid. This will at least make more economic sense to the consumers and it will even endear the card to them.
Don't they want more customers? Is monopoly more important than making your customers happy?
But, this is just but a thought...
1 comment:
I agree with you on the part that touch n go card users should be given lower rates as the toll concessionaire may earn the interest from that deposited money. All they need to do is make a deal with touch n go and work out something based on a win-win basis...
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