Over the years there have been various problems with the Myki ticketing system. Some have been self-inflicted, such as the lack of a single use ticket, which was the result of a Coalition decision in 2011. Others are down to poor implementation, such as the slow and inconsistent read times for cards, or the difficulty ... [More]
Category: transport
All forms of transport, including gunzelly
Brisbane and Perth had got their smartcard systems before the Myki system started in Melbourne (just on 5 years ago). Other cities have followed, and now all Australian capital cities have public transport smartcards. Every single one of those other cities has a paper or single use ticket alongside the smartcards. And every single one ... [More]
Five years ago today, the government unexpectedly announced that Myki was valid for travel in Melbourne, from 3pm that day. It followed the rollout in regional centres earlier that year, and the installation of numerous card vending machines and reader devices around Melbourne. The government had foolishly promised it would be switched-on in Melbourne by ... [More]
Transdev are seeking survey responses to their planned bus network changes for 2015, and unlike last time, they are properly doing community consultation. But if you are interested, today is the last day you can submit feedback. Last week I went along to the Transdev session in Sandringham, and spoke to reps there about various ... [More]
I noted this new Myki signage on trams, reflecting the free CBD tram zone from January: Once it was a simple message: Top up, touch on, touch off. Now it’s top up, touch on (unless you don’t need to) and touch off (only if you need to). From the PTV FAQ, it’s clear that they ... [More]
Sometimes in the city, it’s a bit like a Where’s Wally book. City of Melbourne figures indicate the average daily population for the CBD and surrounding council area is 844,000. But Christmas shopping is a very busy time of year. City of Melbourne has some very clever pedestrian monitoring systems, which can tell us just ... [More]
Late last night, the Herald Sun unexpectedly published the entire East West Link business case, ahead of its official release today. Some notes from me from a quick flick through: p12 makes various high-level claims, particularly faster trips for motorists — but as we know, this benefit never lasts because traffic increases. p17 flags the ... [More]
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Public transport fares to rise about 5%
It hasn’t been announced yet, but I understand Myki fares are going up about 5% in January. (Zone 1+2 fares will drop to zone 1 level of course, in line with the pledge made by the Coalition and matched by Labor.) This is rise the Coalition government announced in December 2013, which I assume the ... [More]
One should never read too much into politicians’ rhetoric, but it was rather good to see comments from Premier-elect Daniel Andrews on Monday in free commuter newspaper MX: “Yes, we need better local roads and yes, we do need to invest in that infrastructure, but the transformational infrastructure is a better public transport system. One ... [More]
One day until the state election. They do great work, and it’s rather good to see the ABC’s Fact Check unit looking at Victorian issues just before the election. A couple of days ago they did a segment on train punctuality: The claim: Denis Napthine says his Government has “improved train punctuality”. The verdict: With ... [More]
Two sleeps until the election. Apart from trying to get citizens out to a public meeting, where in the neighbourhood is the best place to meet as many people you can, face-to-face? Judging from what the politicians and lobby groups have been up to, it’s the railway station — on weekdays, at least. I’ve lost ... [More]
Only a few days until the state election, and the campaign is heating up. Here’s something interesting I’ve noticed: apart from posting and advertising on Facebook, the Liberals have paid for Google Adwords advertising — that is, links to appear above search results on Google. They’ve covered the names of a number of Labor candidates ... [More]