Penang begins using ANPR to enforce public parking payment – compound fine notices issued on the spot

Penang begins using ANPR to enforce public parking payment – compound fine notices issued on the spot

Last Friday, Penang began using a system that will issue parking compound fine notices on the spot using an automated number plate recognition (ANPR) system. The system, which covers public parking lots, scans number plates to detect unpaid parking fees in real-time and can issue compound fine notices without requiring officers to be physically present, as FMT reports.

Notifications will then be sent directly to motorists through the Penang Smart Parking app, the sole platform for public parking payments in the state. Penang’s local councils, the Penang Island City Council and the Seberang Perai City Council, will operate five ANPR units each.

According to state local government, town and country planning committee chairman H’ng Mooi Lye, the upgrade will provide faster, smarter enforcement with fewer errors. He added that the system would lower operating costs and potentially reduce manpower needs per patrol unit by 60%.

“This isn’t just a tech upgrade. It is (a shift in) how we manage urban parking with smart enforcement, full digitalisation and a commitment to the environment with fewer paper compound notices,” he said.

Using optical character recognition, the ANPR system cross-checks number plates with the road transport department (JPJ) database, H’ng said. If a vehicle is found to be parked illegally or without payment, a compound fine notice will be instantly issued, with the owner’s details pulled directly from JPJ records.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • anwar menang, rakyat dikencingkan on Apr 28, 2025 at 11:34 am

    more vehicle owners are going to use fake number plates, as there is no officer physically present at the site..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 4
    • call me by your name on Apr 28, 2025 at 3:53 pm

      what is the parking rate per hour that people ended up taking the risk using fake number plates? 100? 200?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
      • anwar menang, rakyat dikencingkan on Apr 28, 2025 at 9:52 pm

        if you are pangsaiing and the time is up…are you going to pangsai or fumble with your phone to addon more time?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • DonkeyKong on Apr 28, 2025 at 3:00 pm

    PH menang rakyat senang. Saman AES akan dibatal. Kamera AES akan dicabut. Hutang PTPTN akan dimansuhkan. Pelbagai cukai zalim akan dihapuskan. Toll mansuh.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 5
  • Laugh on Apr 28, 2025 at 3:54 pm

    What happen if you parked into the lot and while in the process of making payment or system or line down the system issue saman for parking without payment.

    Then let say you need to wait for a parking or wait for someone then you stop at the side of the road behind or double park to wait for empty lot.
    The system saman you.

    There are other scenarios where computer cannot interprete correctly to issue saman.

    So now the poor driver or owner need to hastily go to penang council or apply leave to attend court to provide proof to get the saman corrected?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 2
    • Mike Tee on Apr 29, 2025 at 2:17 am

      China has been using ANPR to enforce airport drop offs stopping for many years. Think 4 or 5 minutes of stopping is the cut off. Can be used in this instance also and definitely should be used in airports around the country where drivers use drop off areas as parking

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Suffering Rakyat on Apr 29, 2025 at 12:22 pm

    Public Transportation especially busses in Penang is not efficient as in Singapore and China. There’s only one bus number that ply many rural places in Penang. This bus number will arrive only once every 50 mins to an hour! Some of these busses tend to arrive 2 to 3 in one go, so if you’re unlucky to have missed the 2 to 3 busses that just passed, you will then have to wait for the next 2 to 3 or even 4 hours before the next bus arrives!! Whatever job or thing you are going for, you can say goodbye to it.

    The local Government is not helping us especially those who need to go to work, students, elderly citizens, those with no income etc. from the lower income class public by implementing such parking compound fine notices such as the ANPR system. Before following other countries like China they should make sure our public transportation and infrastructure must first be on par with those in China before implementing such measures. Otherwise the Rakyat will not be able to use public transportation like buses in order to lessen the parking problems especially in city areas with limited parking areas.

    In the end these fines only burden us and not help us. Already with job cuts, rise in cost of living in Penang, and with the impossibility of finding good jobs with good pay for those reaching 50 years old like myself nowadays, the Government should not implement such a measures but should look at other ways to improve the traffic congestion in Penang like having better cheaper and more efficient transport system so many won’t need to drive cars and jam up the roads as well besides causing parking problems!! They should have LRT, MRT built like Singapore and China so not much cars will need to be on the road in the first place.

    Allow the Rakyat to make suggestions on how to improve the transportation system and infrastructure first before implementing and torturing us financially with fines and some may need to attend court over dispute cases etc due to the ANPR parking system!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • Wei shen on Apr 29, 2025 at 3:31 pm

    Drivers lives are already in such a burden and now they want to make things worst for us drivers. Our Road Transport Minister is a Joke.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Use this on those who double park illegally and caused traffic congestion first lah please..those brainless deserve saman by JPJ instead of town council ones

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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