PLUS Malaysia Bhd (PLUS) will fully implement Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) on all its highways from 2017.

PLUS chief operating officer Mohd Fuad Khusairi said so far, 14 of the 92 toll plazas on its expressways were using the ETC system fully.

"Seventy-eight toll plazas using the closed toll system have yet to go fully ETC. We expect all of them to use only the ETC method in two years.

"This is part of our efforts to reduce congestion at toll plazas because the ETC system saves time," he told reporters after checking on the full ETC implementation at PLUS' Penang Bridge toll plaza here today.

He said with the toll plaza there going fully ETC, PLUS expected traffic congestion there to be reduced from 30 to 50 per cent.

He added that 82,000 vehicles used the bridge daily and that before today, the ETC method of payment at the toll plaza had reached 90 per cent.

The ETC entails payment via PLUSMiles and Touch'n Go cards, the SmartTAG device and enabled MyKad.

Mohd Fuad said PLUS toll plazas were able to handle 1,200 SmartTAG transactions in an hour while for PLUSMiles and Touch 'n' Go cards it was 550 but only 400 under the cash payment method.

Bernama found traffic there to be flowing smoother following the introduction of the cashless payment system even though it was raining.

A van driver, Jamal Othman, 46, said using the Touch 'n' Go card made it easier for him to ply the bridge.

"Each day I use the Penang Bridge to collect goods in George Town. I notice with the implementation of the ETC today, traffic is flowing much smoother. No longer congested like what it used to be," he said.

Other toll plazas which also implemented the ETC system today were the ones at Jitra (North-South Highway (PLUS)); Bukit Kayu Hitam (PLUS); Lunas (Butterworth-Kulim Expressway(BKE)) and Kubang Semang (BKE).

Also the Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (AKLEH) toll plaza; the Ayer Panas toll plaza on the Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway (DUKE); the Sentul Pasar DUKE toll plaza; the Batu DUKE toll plaza; and the SMART Highway toll plaza.