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]
Here is my collection of Australian public transport smartcards. The ones I’m missing are Adelaide, Canberra and Tasmania — all of which have been introduced since my last visits there. Notably Perth’s SmartRider is the only card that is blank on the back, which is why the card number (which I’ve blacked-out) is on the ... [More]
Here’s an interesting issue with Myki which has always been around to an extent, but which has got worse with the switch to exact two-hour fares. The problem The Myki software uses the two hour expiry of a fare as the time after which it assumes the next touch of your card is also a ... [More]
I finally got around to going to look at the new Myki gates at Springvale station the other day. They’ve also been installed at Mitcham, and will be put in at Richmond soon. From what I’d heard, they are faster than the existing older Myki gates installed in 2012-13. The stories were true. They are ... [More]
I’ve remarked upon this before in comparisons with Perth and Brisbane, but of all the flaws of Myki, the top one must be the inconsistent and slow response times. Marcus Wong has captured this superbly in a video: Note that many of the people in the queue know that you can touch before the gate ... [More]
Just a little tip — because it seems a lot of people don’t know this: For metropolitan services, you can touch-on a Myki and travel with any balance which is non-negative, that is, zero or above. It doesn’t matter if the card balance is less than the fare. This means if you find yourself needing ... [More]
While some are hailing the government’s plan (backed by Labor) to apply zone 1 fares (as a maximum) right across Melbourne, I thought it might be worth looking at the per kilometre cost for various trips — including some V/Line trips. The table below shows a sample of trips, both with the current fares, and ... [More]
One of the issues in public transport is “dead running“. This blog post cites a local example, but it’s a widespread issue. At various times of day, trams trains and buses move out of service between their runs and their depots or stabling. This is dead running. Sometimes this is taken to extremes. Most route ... [More]
Happy new year. A few months ago I wrote that allowing a Myki touch-on with a zero balance would bring numerous benefits. Well in the brand shiny new 2014 PTV Fares And Ticketing Manual appears a small but important change. Unlike the doom and gloom of fare rises, this is a positive. Yep, you guessed ... [More]
Most years there’s a public transport price rise. This year it’s a little more complicated – a number of other changes have been announced. The Budget Update delivered on Friday included some tweaks to the fare system. But they may have an unintended effect on patronage. Fare increases A number of changes will be made ... [More]
For anybody with an NFC (Near Field Contact)-compatible phone (such as my new Google Nexus 5), you can use the this little app — Tag Info Lite to read Myki cards. Not that it’ll tell you very much — see below. All the actual useful information appears to be encrypted. Apparently in some parts of ... [More]
Travellers Aid do good work helping those who need a little extra assistance getting around. They have a fundraiser on at the moment: Myki card holders, for $2.50 postage and handling, and they invite you to add a donation (which I did). My sister loves the Keep Calm meme, so I got this one for ... [More]