A total of 71 toll plazas under the North-South Expressway (PLUS) along the Juru-Skudai stretch, including the Elite Highway have begun operating electronically today, beginning 12.30pm.

PLUS Malaysia Bhd managing director Datuk Azman Ismail said with the implementation of the final phase today, all 94 toll plazas under PLUS had been made cashless.

He said there would be no more cash transactions at toll plaza and users could pay using electronic cards namely PLUSMiles, Touch ''n Go and Smart Tag which were faster.

Azman said the move was to help make transactions through toll plaza easier and more comfortable.

"Electronic toll collection systems were 300 per cent faster than the manual cash system," he told reporters after the implementation of electronic toll collection systems at the Sungai Besi toll plaza here today.

Azman said the Smart Tag lanes were capable of handling about 16 vehicles per minute (or 1,000 vehicles per hour).

While the Touch ''n Go lanes could handle about 10 vehicles per minute (or 600 vehicles per hour), the cash lanes were only able to handle three vehicles per minute (180 transactions per hour).

"Sales and top-up lanes will be opened to enable the public to purchase their electronic cards upon entering the highway. I also advise people with cards to top-up before entering the highway so they don''t have to queue at the top-up lanes," said Azman.

He added there were more than 9,000 locations providing top-up services nationwide, including automated teller machines, petrol stations, 24-hour convenience stores and many others.

On the fate of the PLUS toll workers after the implementation of full electronic toll collection systems, Azman said the workers were retained to help motorists who faced problems at the toll lanes and there would be staff who would be transferred to nearby toll plazas based on operational requirements.

-- BERNAMA