VICTORIA’S beleaguered myki ticketing system has hit another snag, with 20,000 seniors posted a new smartcard that does not give them the travel benefits they are entitled to, including free weekend travel and discounted weekday fares.
Peter of Murrumbeena, a regular commenter on this blog, is one of those affected, having received a Myki card that claims to be a Seniors version, but in fact charges normal full fares. That means paying up to $3 instead of free travel on weekends, and up to $9.92 instead of $3.30 on weekdays.
Wouldn’t you think with intense scrutiny, including a government review of the system, they could have got this right?
Whoops.
12 replies on “Just another Myki stuff-up”
Someone should be sacked and i think Bernie’s the one !
Last Friday I informed myki and the DoT of the problem via several channels including Twitter. Perhaps they didn’t believe me, or probably didn’t know what to do about the problem. On Sunday morning I emailed Today Tonight, A Current Affair, 3AW, the Herald Sun, and The Age. The latter was the only one to respond. 3AW rang me at 0640 this morning (Mon 1/2) after reading the story in The Age and recorded a couple of audio grabs which aired on their 0700 news (but not since). Channel 10 rang late this morning and wanted to send out a crew but I declined their offer. I figured that I have said enough, media wise.
@Tim, not sure that would achieve anything, since the mistake was made at Kamco.
@Peter, the TTA (Myki) issued a statement about it on Sunday, so I was surprised it took until Tuesday to be published.
I’d ask you to reconsider the Channel 10 request. The story has had coverage in the print media, but it’s always nice to round it off with some TV to really nail it home.
They really do need to be embarrassed about this kind of basic stuff-up.
Correction. 3AW and channel 10 rang me this morning Tuesday 1/2 (not Monday 1/2 – I am a senior after all).
myki just refunded the dollar they stole from me. However, they deposited the money into the card they took from me when they gave me the replacement. I cannot access the original card because myki have it! Two cards are now showing on my account. The faulty one and the good one, but I only have possession of the good one.
The nightmare continues.
Although I’m a fan of myki, this is as Daniel says just a major embarrassment, and makes you wonder what’s changed in the management of the whole project in the meantime. The other major thing to come out today is that the myki review is due to be completed in a couple of weeks, so that will be interesting as well. I doubt they’ll dump it, and can’t really afford to make wholesale changes. I think the most that can be hoped for is an extension of metcard until the very last minute.
TTA says this problem is able to be resolved through an update being sent via readers, and picked-up on cards at touch-on in the next 24-48 hours or so.
wow, that is huge! wtf is wrong with them?!
This does not surprise me in the least……I had used Myki in the beginning, but I really dont like it at all, the fact you have to touch off at the end is painful when there are loads getting off with you.
I will continue to use my metcard until I am literally forced to use my myki.
too clunky for something that is supposed to be considered “smarter”
I wonder whether the best solution would be to release a patch onto all readers so that the card chips are reprogrammed to the correct setting?
@David, you mean like they are doing, as per comment 7?
I am really glad this blog exists. I hope you keep the Myki coverage up.