You might have read The Age’s story a couple of days ago:
Myki meltdown: Trams, buses hit by glitches linked to end of 3G (Paywall)
The government commented, but didn’t confirm or deny that 3G was to blame.
I’ve got good info that it was due to 3G, but perhaps not in the way you’d expect.
First, some background.
Myki devices (such as card readers, aka Fare Payment Devices – check here if you’d like to see a list of acronyms) communicate back to a central server.
The FPDs receive online top ups, lists of cards to block, fare changes and so on. They send back travel history as people touch on and touch off, which is then made visible on the portal when you log into your account.
There are other devices too, such as vending machines, Quick Top Up machines, and hand held devices used by staff for ticket checking, but we’re particularly interested in the FPDs.
FPDs are railway stations are all hard-wired.
But the devices on trams and buses have a mobile connection.
At one stage they were planned to also have a Wi-Fi connection so they could get and receive their updates in depots, but as I understand it, this was never implemented.
They can work without the mobile connection being available. So if your bus or tram is momentarily in a mobile blackspot, you can still touch on.
But there’s a limit, and apparently after 7 days, they stop working.
So what happened? The devices on trams and buses are all 3G and 4G compatible. The 3G shutdown was first announced in 2019, so they had plenty of time to ensure this.
But there was a configuration issue affecting some of them, such that they defaulted to requiring a 3G signal. Apparently it was the newer Vix devices, found on most buses and about half the tram fleet. The older slower devices were okay.
The 3G shutdown started on 28th October, and was completed a few days later.
Initially, no problem, but once the 7 day limit was reached, affected devices stopped working, unable to accept touches from Myki cards.
It’s unclear how quickly officials realised what was going on, but some passengers have had days of free rides.
It appears they didn’t publicly acknowledge it until after The Age’s article was published. A banner appeared on the PTV web site, but little detail.
But presumably before that they’d have briefed Authorised Officers – any fare evasion Reports Of Non-Compliance (fines) issued when equipment wasn’t working would have been a huge scandal.
Should they have seen it coming and proactively fixed the problem? I would think so, given it’s reasonably well known that some mobile phones that are 3G and 4G compatible have had a very similar problem.
I’m told they are now fixing it. But it’s time-consuming, because normally this type of fix could be issued over the air. With these devices unable to connect as normal, they have to find another way.
So there might be a couple more days of free rides for some.
Update: further rumblings in Myki world: upgrades likely to be delayed, with Conduent reportedly having problems. (Also video stories from ABC News and 7 News)
6 replies on “Myki and 3G”
I saw this on Route 408 on Thursday morning heading to Sunshine to get a magazine. I thought it was just that particular bus, but it turned out it was more widespread. The irony here is that the older devices were largely working, but the newer devices were the ones that malfunctioned.
I was on a 207 bus today and when I tried to touch on I received the message to ‘Contact PTV’. Others received the same, but then before my journey’s end, I heard the familiar beep of cards being validated. I tried again as I was leaving the bus, but no, the system was not working again. Was it because the system was switching between 3G and 4G?
Unrelated, I was impressed that the 200/207 had such a frequent service. But after travelling, I understand why. It was on time and very busy, although not crowded.
Chalk this one for the NBN. You never need the costly equipment upgrades, nor the vast amounts of e-waste generated by the removal of 3G along with 1G and 2G beforehand. Your NBN equipment stays connected forever.
Given that MyKi has many generations of equipment, I would not be surprised if some equipment was 3G only, whilst others are 4G only.
In respect to, the issue of fines for people with faulty equipment, I would guess that the bus drivers at least would have some idea about the faulty nature of their equipment, and perhaps tram drivers too, and, would have advised any ticket inspectors who got on board that service. I would half expect that the ticket inspectors may have noticed something funny with their own ticket checking devices too???
Before I close, you did a good job on 3AW this morning I think.
I’ve noticed recently that my local 4xx bus route readers have been displaying “in service” with the little red light a lot more often recently. Not sure it has any relation to the 3g shutdown, as they are the old slower gen, but it’s been a little weird. It seems to be about a 60% chance both readers on the bus are stuck on “in service” at some stage during my ride.
They don’t get stuck on “in service” for the whole trip, they usually pop on/off a couple of times during the ride. On for about a minute, then off for 5 or so mins, then repeat. so it’s probably just a coincidence.
@Baku, I saw it on Route 420 this afternoon heading home after doing volunteer work in Kings Park that the readers had the red outline saying “Out of Order”, and I think it could be related to the problems with the shutdown of the 3G network and the readers not working. Saying that, it was working on buses earlier today (with a possible exception of a service on Route 408), including the 420 as well. I am not sure if the issue is just Transit Systems, or it could be a wider issue with the 4xx routes in Melbourne’s west.
My local 905 bus still have half the Vix machines down per bus. Completely random. Why can’t we ever get this right like other cities?