10% Touch ‘n Go parking surcharge: It’s more complicated than you think

One of the key frustrations when it comes to parking is the dreaded 10% surcharge when you pay with Touch ‘n Go. If your parking costs RM10, that means you’ll have to pay RM11. It just doesn’t make sense to pay more than those that pay by cash.

At today’s parliament session, Deputy Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister, Chong Chieng Jen, has announced that the extra 10% surcharge for parking facilities will be abolished in phases. He was responding to a question by Ayer Hitam representative, Wee Ka Siong, on the various charges by Touch ‘n Go.

Parking surcharge to be abolished in phases

In MalaysiaKini’s report, the Deputy Minister said that the 10% surcharge was “inherited” from the previous government. He added that the current administration wants to abolish the surcharge but are constrained by existing contractual obligations. When the existing contracts expire, the 10% surcharge will no longer be imposed and this has to be done in stages.

It is worth pointing out that Touch ‘n Go has been taking steps to gradually remove parking surcharge before the change of government. New parking sites that accept Touch ‘n Go payments from October 2017 do not impose the 10% surcharge. The number of zero surcharge parking sites have also grown from less than 40 in 2017 to over 200 sites today.

When it comes to parking surcharge, the entire amount doesn’t go directly to Touch ‘n Go alone. It is an agreed charge that is shared between parking operators, building owners and Touch ‘n Go to cover operation and maintenance of the TNG infrastructure. In new parking sites, there’s no surcharge as the extra cost are managed fully by Touch ‘n Go.

However, there are some car park operators that charge an extra fee but it has nothing to do with Touch ‘n Go. For example, EkoCheras Mall, which only accepts Touch ‘n Go for payment, is charging 6% extra for SST. In most malls, the SST is usually included in the published parking rates.

50 sen charge for Touch ‘n Go card reload

Chong has also explained in parliament that the 50 sen charge for card reloads is not imposed by Touch ‘n Go, but by merchants that choose to offer the reload service. Consumers can currently top up without the reload charge in more than 2,000 reload points in the country. This includes Touch ‘n Go service counters, kiosks and retail chains such as Watsons, Guardian, Tesco, KK Mart and Caring Pharmacy.

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