Well, here we go, the Tap And Go (aka Contactless) trial has gone well, and from tomorrow Sunday 7th June it’s available on about half the train network: all the lines through North Melbourne, South Yarra, the Metro Tunnel and V/Line (at stations currently using Myki).
The rest of the Metro network will be switched on a week later. No date for other modes, but I understand trams won’t be too far behind, then buses after that.
It’s worth emphasising again (especially if you see headlines along the lines of “Myki scrapped!”) – it’s an extra payment option.
You can use a bank card or phone, but you don’t have to. Physical Myki cards (and Android Mobile Myki) will still be available, and are a better option for:
- anybody who just prefers to use existing payment methods
- tram and bus users (for the next few weeks at least… they will need to be clear about this in the public comms)
- concession users (for now)
- Myki Pass users (there’s only about 35,000 of them these days I believe)
Tap And Go will only offer Myki Money: 2-hour fares and daily caps.
For people who travel 5 or more days per week, a prepaid Myki Pass is usually still cheaper. This is why the introduction of a Weekly fare cap is important.
The big benefit of Tap And Go is for those who don’t often use public transport. Apart from not needing a special card, you also don’t need to figure out what the fare is.
(They made the fares harder to find this year by hiding them behind QR codes on a web site, rather than putting them on the posters. This turned out to be fortuitous given we’ve had two price changes since January: free in April and May, and half-price from June until December. Did they perhaps know the half-price fares were coming??)
Tap And Go is also a plus for iPhone users, who have never had the Mobile Myki option. But even for full fare Android users, it’s easier to not have to bother with loading money onto it.
And that means it’s good for the PT network, removing a significant barrier to more users hopping on board – but without the huge cost of making fares free.
Tap And Go has already reached most of Australia. It’s good that we’re finally getting there, and I expect many people will want to switch in coming months.
Update: Trams added from 21st June.
- Media: ABC, Guardian, Herald Sun (paywall), Age (paywall)
- The Age’s story includes this important detail: For Android users with a digital myki loaded, contactless travel will default to the myki rather than a bank card.
- More FAQs in this Age article (paywall)
- Official info here including another very good FAQ
- Who got it when? Sydney was completed in 2019, Canberra 2024, Brisbane 2025, Adelaide 2025 (they use the same vendor as Victoria), Perth 2025. Looks like we’ll beat Tasmania!
- The main player in Myki, Conduent recently decided to sell its public transport ticketing business to Modaxo. It does not appear to have affected things here.
- Some good tips in the Express Transit video below
22 replies on “Tap And Go on all Melbourne trains from next week”
Great news – although it’s taken a while and has many caveats.
BTW When I read “it’s an extra payment option”, I thought you meant you needed to make an extra payment to use your bank card option, but realise that’s not what you meant!
I must say having had all our Mykis on direct debit for over a decade, I’ve never understood the fuss about having to top them up.
Daniel, I don’t think the government had the War in Iran on their 2026 Bingo Card (which was one of the reasons why we had free transport in April and May and half-price fares until the end of the year). And I know it has been a long time coming, but other cities has it since either 2024 (Canberra) or last year (Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth). And in the case of Sydney, even though it was 2019 when they introduced tap-and-go, it wasn’t in one go and I believe that concessions was only introduced last year (correct me if I am wrong). So if they do introduce concessions here this year for tap-and-go, then we could be faster in that regard than Sydney.
One thing that I think needs to be said more clearly in the communication about Tap and Go, is that if you use a concession fare, a physical Myki is not “a better option.” It is the *only* option. If you use the Tap and Go you will be charged a full adult fare.
At some point in the future this might change (it is planned to change, but there’s no detail about when).
@Andrew, I agree.
Another thing I don’t think they’ve made sufficiently clear in the advertising is that if you intend to use a train AND a tram and/or bus on the same day, you should use your existing Myki for ALL of these, including the train.
I presume the system isn’t designed to make any automatic connection between whatever existing Myki you possess and your credit or debit card, even if it happens to be the bank card you always use to top up your Myki. And arguably, nor can it and nor should it, because one bank card may be used to top up several Mykis, or one Myki may be topped up from several bank cards. We don’t want the system automatically making such assumptions. If there’s any linking to be done, the user needs to be in control of it.
So the system has no way of knowing that the credit card used for Tap and Go at a railway station at 10am belongs to the same person who used their physical or digital Myki to touch on a bus at 10:45am, so it’s really part of the same two-hour trip. Which means if you use both cards, you’ll be charged two two-hour fares instead of one, just as you would if you had touched on with two separate Mykis.
It’s logical when you think about it, but humans aren’t always logical. I can easily see some elderly people of my acquaintance becoming confused by this Tap and Go announcement.
I’ve already had to spend a lot of time patiently explaining to them how to go about topping up their Mykis after bus drivers stopped accepting cash a few years ago. This partial rollout of Tap and Go is going to require yet more explaining.
For now, given that they’re all Seniors Card holders, and Tap and Go caters for full fares only, I can say “Don’t worry about it. Just keep using your Myki”.
Once they roll it out for concession fare passengers as well, I can see I’m in for a whole lot more explaining if buses aren’t part of that rollout. Older people are heavy users of buses, more than the other two modes of transport. They are often physically unable to board trams, and they don’t feel safe on trains with the driver locked away in a distant cabin. They feel safer on buses because they can see and be seen by the driver.
@Andrew,
Sorry, but I disagree. If you have an android phone, I would argue that a virtual Myki in your Google wallet is a far better option than a physical Myki, whether you qualify for a concession card or not. It lets you check the balance without having to find a myki reader, or without having to turn on a computer. It lets you top up without having to find a myki machine. It helps you recall where and when you touched on and off. If you can’t remember if you touched on, you can figure it out from the card’s history.
I haven’t used a physical myki card since I started the Android Myki trial more than seven years ago, and as the holder of a senior’s card, there is no way I am going to start using a credit card (which will be charged full fares unless they have some complicated registration system).
But, having just returned from Europe, and having used public transport in various countries – most ticket machines are multi-lingual – having an English option made it so much easier to buy tickets – some machines were cash only, some were card only – even on the same network
The buses in Bialystok have a touch on/touch off option. This made a provisional charge of 0.01 zloty which converted a few days later to the actual charge of 16 zloty ($6.15 in aussie dollars) for four bus trips on the same day. I imagine that the trial here in Melbourne probably works the same way – the provisional charge can’t be converted into a final charge until the system knows what the final charge is. This makes weekly capping harder and would delay the finalization of the charge
Good comments as usual.
@Ross, auto top-up is great for regular users, and I’m surprised more people don’t seem to use it.
But it’s not so great for occasional users.
@indigohex3, I’m wondering if authorities knew a half-price fare period was coming. Changing the fare posters to display a QR code rather than simply showing the fares makes little sense unless they knew more changes (other than the 1/1/2026 price rise) were coming.
Last time I checked they still needed to fix the QR code itself. It doesn’t go directly to the fares; it goes to a web page which is poorly rendered on phones, and you have to hunt around for the prices.
Concessions using Tap And Go are only fully implemented in Canberra right now. As I understand it, Sydney only has them for students, not other concessions.
Jeremy at https://expresstransit.com/ is doing a great job of tracking progress on all this.
@Andrew, yes correct. Concessions on Tap And Go are likely to be years away.
@Karen, correct, there is no magic link between a credit card used for Tap And Go and the same card used to top up a Myki.
They do need to be clear about the gradual rollout across modes. But on the other hand a small number of train lines have been trialling Tap And Go since March, and I haven’t been hearing about mass confusion. Hopefully it won’t last too long. (There are some similarities to the original Myki rollout, in fact.)
@Rod, you can also check a Myki card balance and top it up instantly using the PTV app. It uses NFC to read and write to the card.
You are correct; the system charges a provisional $1 and then works out the correct charge the next day, including the daily cap. Nothing too complicated about them extending this to a weekly cap if they want to.
Making things easier for non-English speakers is a prime example of one benefit of Tap and Go. You don’t need to figure out how to buy a card and how much to load on it.
But yes, anybody can opt out if they prefer not to use it.
@Daniel wrote:
“auto top-up is great for regular users, and I’m surprised more people don’t seem to use it”.
I can’t speak for all the regular PT users who don’t use auto top-up, but I can tell you why some are hesitant to use it, or to set up any other kind of regular payment from their bank account.
I am active in socially disadvantaged communities, both online and in real life as part of my job, and there have been times in my life when I’ve been struggling myself. If a person is barely keeping their head above water financially, or has been in the past even if they’re OK now, they tend not to be keen on anything which automatically takes money out of their bank account.
Firstly, there’s the fact that if they don’t have enough in their bank account when the auto top-up is triggered, their bank may charge them a fee for insufficient funds, making their situation worse.
Secondly, the minimum amounts are too high for some people. Out of curiosity, I just logged into my own Myki account to see what the auto top-up minimums are. It would seem you can’t set the low balance trigger to anything less than $10, and you can’t set the auto top-up amount to anything less than $10.
Those amounts might seem trivial, but to a person on a concession card and an extremely low income such as JobSeeker or a few hours of casual employment, $10 would pay for more than three 2-hour trips. For some of the people I know, that’s too high. For me back in the day, that was too high. People don’t need to have the balance constantly triggered at the $10 mark and bumped up to $20. They don’t need to be always at least three trips in credit. As long as there’s enough for the next trip they plan to take, before they take it – which might still be a few days away – that’s enough.
Thirdly, Myki taking the money out automatically means people can’t choose to prioritise some other payment over Myki. For example, if the rent is due on Monday, your casual wages are due to hit your account on Tuesday, and you need to ride the bus to work on Wednesday, you might prefer to delay topping up your Myki until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Or you might prefer to use the handful of coins you dug out of the back of the couch and go find a Myki machine and top up that way. Or you might decide to save a bit of money this week and walk the 5km to work instead of taking the bus. The most important thing is to get that rent paid on Monday.
But if Myki auto top-up is active, you don’t get that choice. It will take money from your bank account automatically as soon as it gets triggered, even if your next PT trip is still a few days away. You needed that money in your account to help pay the rent, but once Myki takes it, it’s gone. You can’t claw it back.
For all these reasons, auto top-up isn’t popular among the people I know. If Transport Vic changed both amounts to a $5 minimum, they would possibly get more of a take-up, but I doubt it. Being financially insecure leaves a scar. It can make a person twitchy about setting up automatic payments, long after they get financially comfortable again. They need to feel in control of their money, and auto top-up takes that control away.
@Karen, thanks, it’s useful to see that perspective.
The $10 minimum is particularly problematic now, with half price fares meaning $10 is equal to about 7 two-hour concession fares.
For the same reason, some people on low incomes may be reluctant to use Tap And Go even when it’s available for concessions, if they are carefully watching where their money goes. The payment comes out of the bank account 2-3 days later, and the exact timing may not be predictable.
Issues like this are why it’s important that Myki cards are still available for use and manual top-up.
Why no AmEx? Really, even Sydney does this, and most places I have been to do. I know its probably a small percentage of users, but it still should be a thing.
Do we have information on how fast the system will read your phone?
In Canberra tapping with a phone is often much slower than with the Canberra Transport card. It becomes a serious nuisance in extending dwell times.
Not sure whether it’s something to do with the system or people not holding their phones in quite the right position.
I hope the regional areas that don’t currently have access to Myki like Shepparton and Warrnambool get the tap and go option soon too.
@Adam, their FAQ says:
“We are working with American Express to make contactless payment available to those cardholders’ soon.”
@Julian, I think it’s roughly the same speed. See the video halfway through the post, but note I did not go through the gate straight away, to show the “Go” confirmation on the screen. I’ll see if I can get a comparison timing.
@Anon, given that Myki equipment needs to be installed to those stations first, I would not expect it to be this year. They also need to work out how to deal with the seat bookings.
@Daniel @indigohex3
Regarding Opal Concessions on contactless, linking for uni students and eligible Centrelink customers was switched on 20 May but didn’t attract much media coverage (unlike in April when it was announced for TAFE students & apprentices with other concessions ‘coming soon’)
https://transportnsw.info/news/2026/new-ways-to-pay-for-university-students-eligible-centrelink-customers
Linking for Seniors (Gold Opal) still to come
@Daniel
Are you able to ask TV to update their mobile myki information page & FAQ to state myki devices will default to mobile myki over digital credit/debt cards as there is valid confusion/concern over this by some Android users
https://transport.vic.gov.au/tickets-and-myki/myki/myki-types/mobile-myki
Passengers shouldn’t need to hunt for an article from The Age or this blog post for clarity!
I have tested it myself and my Samsung phone defaults to mobile myki without needing to adjust any settings.
Can also confirm yesterday I was correctly charged $4 for the public holiday fare cap.
@daniel
Adelaide train rollout was delayed until 20 February…we almost beat them having it on (some) trains first!
https://dit.sa.gov.au/news/articles/2026/febuary/tap-and-pay-ticketing-goes-live-on-trains
Unlike here, both the readers and top-up machines are onboard the trains (other than the daunting fare gates at Adelaide Station where a vast majority of commuters pass through – http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/about-us/news/news-items/2026/new-smart-gates-now-operating-at-adelaide-railway-station)
@Craig, thanks for the suggestion, I have contacted Transport Victoria about this.
Are there any cards that are not compatible with the readers including ones from overseas?
Confirmed this morning on the Mernda line that Apple Transit Express is enabled. Great to see this enabled on Day .1
@Craig, they added the info about Mobile Myki vs bank cards to the page. Thanks again. https://transport.vic.gov.au/tickets-and-myki/myki/myki-types/mobile-myki
https://transport.vic.gov.au/tickets-and-myki/myki/myki-types/mobile-myki
If you have a Mobile myki and a bank card on your phone, when using express transit, the ticket reader will always use Mobile myki.
What is express transit?
@RC, it’s a phone setting that allows you to tap for public transport payments without unlocking the phone first.
The terminology is confusing. On iPhone it’s “Express Mode”, on Android it’s really called “Express Pay” or “Transit Card” (on Samsung phones).
Jeremy Burge has a good article about the terminology here: https://news.expresstransit.com/googles-express-pay-less-of-a-mouthful-than-tap-to-ride-without-opening-wallet/