The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing’s Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) has announced that the system for paying tolls will change in 2023 with the implementation of multi-lane free flow (MLFF).
MLFF will mean motorists no longer need to stop to have to tap and pay their fees at a toll gate.
The new system is planned to be ready for testing on 1st June 2023 in Bali. Based on the considerations, the first trial will be carried out on the Bali-Mandara Toll Road. Full implementation across the country is targeted for December this year.
“The MLFF implementation will be trialled first because the Bali-Mandara toll road covers a short distance,” said Director General of Highways Hedy Rahadian at the DPR RI Building, Tuesday, 1st January 2023.
BPJT’s Head of the PUPR Ministry Danang Parikesit explained the trial will be carried out in stages by removing one toll gate. After that, other gates will still carry out conventional non-cash transactions.
“We will start by eliminating one gate first on one toll road for MLFF. Meanwhile, the other gates can still be used for non-cash transactions with electronic cards,” Parikesit said.
MLFF relies on an onboard unit (OBU), which can be done digitally with e-OBU using the Cantas mobile application, or a physical OBU can be installed in the vehicle. Then, the e-OBU or OBU are connected to the digital global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology which allows toll road users’ routes to be monitored via GPS.
When the e-OBU is active, the GPS will determine the position based on the satellite which is then matched to the centre of the MLFF system.
After the user exits the toll road, the system calculates the fare and deducts the funds from the designated e-wallet according to the travel route.