PLUS is expecting two million vehicles a day on its highways on peak days of the upcoming Chinese New Year period. That’s a 20% spike from the usual traffic volume. The peak days are January 20, 21 and 24.
“To cope with the traffic increase, PLUS is strategising and taking various proactive measures to help travellers enjoy safer and more convenient travel on our highways,” said PLUS COO Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi. The strategies include safety, traffic and congestion management, highway users’ convenience, traffic management at toll plazas as well as traffic information dissemination.
“Our main focus is the safety of our highway users, and we will carry out various steps to increase safety on the highways. At the same time, we advise motorcyclists and heavy vehicle drivers to be more careful on the road and take the necessary safety precautions throughout the festive season,” he said, adding that bikers contribute to 64% of the total number of fatal accidents on PLUS-operated highways last year.
The North South Highway concessionaire says that it is collaborating with PDRM and JPJ for stricter traffic law enforcement on the highway as well as carry out continuous road safety advocacy throughout the festive period. PLUS will also increase the number of highway patrolling teams including on the Lebuhraya Pantai Timur 2 (LPT2) this festive period by 9.1% to 265 teams to assist highway users in emergencies.
The PLUS COO also reminded highway users to use the same mode of payment at entry and exit points, and ensure that Touch n Go eWallet and cards have sufficient balance. Also, make use of navigation apps.
“It is important for highway users to use the same payment mode upon entry and exit of the highway. For example, if RFID is used upon entry, the user must then exit the highway also using RFID, similarly with Touch n Go and SmartTAG. Using the same mode of payment will greatly reduce the possibility of congestion at the toll lanes. The public is also encouraged to switch on navigation apps such as Waze or Google Maps while they travel on the highways throughout the festive season,” he said.
A travel time advisory will be released later.
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