Trust in Multi-Channel Parking Payments

By Teh Hon Seng, CEO, TimeTec Group

A Conversation on How System Design Prevents Transaction Theft

Over the past few years, Malaysia’s parking industry has been transforming rapidly — shifting from hardware-centric operations to a software-driven ecosystem.

Users and operators have moved from ticketing to cashless, from cashless to touchless, and now toward connected digital experiences beyond parking.

But progress brings complexity.

Payment handling has evolved from a single channel (TNG card) to dual channels (bank cards like MyDebit, Visa, Mastercard), and now into a multi-channel environment that includes:

Today, even a small parking site may involve multiple payment streams. For operators managing many sites or large facilities, settlement and reconciliation are becoming increasingly difficult.

This is exactly why TimeTec Settlement Portal exists, to simplify multi-channel payment management and provide an aggregated collection mechanism on behalf of parking owners.

But this convenience raises a deeper, more uncomfortable question:

How can parking owners be sure that the system provider will not manipulate transactions?

Recently, I had a discussion with our Head of Development. The conversation stayed in my mind, because it goes straight to the heart of digital trust.

The Conversation

I: If a dishonest solution provider wants to play dirty, how could they steal money?

HD: Not difficult. If a site has 1,000 transactions a day, the system could simply remove some of them.

I: But what if the system is cloud-based, showing transactions in real time to the customer? How could that still happen?

HD: The provider could modify the system to automatically move certain transactions into another hidden database, so they never appear in the customer’s view.

I: Wow… just like that?

HD: Yes. Technically, it’s simple.

I: Then can we design something to block this kind of manipulation at the software level?

HD: Honestly, no. If you own the software and intend to cheat, nobody can fully stop you.
In the end, it becomes a matter of trust.

I: That’s not good enough. Even if a company has strong integrity and reputation, a truly trustworthy system must prove it cannot cheat.

HD: Maybe we could hire a third-party auditor to certify us every year.

I: If I were the customer, I might still worry the auditor could be compromised. Trust must come from the system itself, not from paperwork.

(We paused for a while)

Then a thought struck me.

The Breakthrough Insight

I: Every parking transaction has two records, right?

• Entry record
• Exit transaction record

If someone wants to steal, they must delete both. But before the car exits, the entry record already exists in the live system. So, what if we assign a running ID to every entry and force every exit to match that sequence? Any missing number would immediately expose manipulation.

HD: Yes… that would work. A running entry ID can reveal missing transactions.

But wait — what if someone avoids inserting certain entry IDs in the first place,
then deletes with the exit records in pairs later?

(He paused.)

We could strengthen it further by cross-checking with the vehicle counting system.
And if customers still want independent assurance, they could run their own small monitoring script to detect discrepancies and trigger alerts.

I: Exactly. That’s how trust should be built. Not by asking customers to believe us — but by designing a system where cheating cannot hide. Let’s make sure this running entry ID mechanism becomes a core feature. Because real trust is proven by solid architecture, not by persuasion.

Trust Must Be Engineered, Not Promised

In digital parking infrastructure, integrity cannot rely only on:

• Reputation
• Verbal assurance
• Periodic audits

Because fraud, if it happens, is continuous, not annual.

The only real solution is: A system where discrepancies are structurally detectable.  That belief shapes how we design the TimeTec parking ecosystem:

Looking Forward

As Malaysia moves toward:

• Fully cashless parking
• Smart building integration
• Nationwide e-Invoicing
• Cross-border QR payments

Software trustworthiness will matter more than hardware reliability. And the future of parking will not be decided by who has the biggest machine, but by who builds the most trustworthy system.

At TimeTec, we believe:

Trust is not something you ask for.
Trust is something you design into the system.

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