From Now On Only Cashless Payments at Indonesia's Toll Roads
Starting from today (Tuesday 31 October 2017) all toll roads in Indonesia only accept e-money (effectively ending the use of cash for payments at the toll road exit or entrance gates). This is part of the government's ambition to create a cashless society (hence becoming a more efficient and transparent society).
Indonesia's leading toll road operator Jasa Marga said it is well prepared to face any possible difficulties that may arise during the first fully cashless toll road day in Indonesia. For example the company anticipates possible problems related to the e-card readers (or other technical difficulties), or there may be people - trying to enter the toll road - who are not aware of the new system thus did not bring e-money (or they may not have put enough credit on their e-cards).
In Jakarta the new cashless toll road system was implemented gradually since mid-September 2017 in an attempt to reduce the "shock". For several decades Indonesians, especially in Jakarta, were used to paying cash money at the toll roads.
A cashless toll road network is also expected to speed up long queues at entrance points of toll roads. In Jakarta, known for its traffic congestion, part of the problem is that massive lines of cars are waiting to enter toll roads. This also causes severe problems at the public roads near toll roads' exit or entrance points.
Earlier, Indonesian worker unions had objected to the implementation of e-payment systems at Indonesian tollgates, claiming it would lead to massive layoffs as workers are replaced by machines. However, Indonesian toll road operators emphasize that there will not be any layoffs related to the introduction of the cashless toll road system. While part of workers will need to remain at the tollgates (to monitor traffic and sell e-cards), the remainder will be moved to other working units.
