Two weeks ago I noted that Myki mostly works. In most cases the charging is fine. The readers seem more reliable and mostly fairly responsive (and faster than inserting a Metcard into a slot and waiting for it to come out again). What doesn’t work? Well buses in particular have issues, it seems. As this ... [More]
Further to the post on whether Myki should be scrapped or not and taking the lead from others online, here’s a quick video of my interactions with Myki over the past 24 hours. I missed a couple: the touch-on on the bus because I had to run for it and didn’t have time to get ... [More]
It’s a year today since Myki was switched-on in Melbourne. There were a lot of problems on day one, and many others have been highlighted in the last twelve months. In today’s Herald Sun, Paul Mees argues Myki should be scrapped and replaced with a system from elsewhere, such as Perth’s SmartRider. I argue that ... [More]
Well, this thing I’m driving is about as big as a bus, so I thought I could park in the bus stop. Obviously it would have been too hard to move forward a couple of metres into the perfectly legal parking spot just ahead. I guess I could have knocked on the window and asked ... [More]
Herald Sun: Melbourne commuters take free ride with myki card fault About 30 myki users have been affected by a particular fault that has allowed them free travel. Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen has been travelling free for at least a week. Kamco became aware of the problem only when Mr Bowen reported ... [More]
Occasional commenter Peter from Murrumbeena has sent me this video of Myki short term tickets setting off a shop alarm. Apparently it relates to the RFID technology used in the tickets. When a number are placed in close proximity, they look to the shop alarm like the tag attached to protected goods, setting off the ... [More]
The Myki mantra of “touch-on, touch-off” will reach fever-pitch as it gets pushed across the PT network. And people will say it’s a hassle. Which it is. The touch is (if everything works okay) quicker and easier than inserting a Metcard into a slot, but having to do it twice per trip negates that somewhat. ... [More]
A journo mentioned a certain MP this morning was quoting some transport-related sections my blog — presumably the favourable ones, such as the post that talked about the Myki transition plan. While my posts here do not necessarily represent PTUA policy, I suppose this blog is part of the mix of being an advocate — ... [More]
The government announced today that Myki will be valid on trams and buses from Sunday. Finally, Myki goes multi-modal in Melbourne! Assuming they stick to the rollout plan they had last year, which was pretty logical, it’ll go like this: (Graphic originally from the Myki web site. Taken down but re-posted via Whirlpool by Mathew.) ... [More]
Herald Sun: EXCLUSIVE: THOUSANDS of city commuters will be hit with big fare increases to pave the way for the myki smartcard. … The decision to dump city saver fares will mean most myki tram users only have to swipe the card once – when they enter a tram. Hallelujah! Touch-off on trams was never ... [More]
One of the selling points of Myki is that ‘Myki Money’ will charge you the best daily fare, if you touch-on and touch-off on every trip. It turns out not to be always true. There’s at least one specific set of circumstances where it doesn’t. The PTUA got asked a while back about travel around ... [More]
If you buy daily tickets (currently available as Metcard only), the per weekday cost is Zone 1 $6.80, Zone 2 $4.80, Zone 1+2 $10.60. Obviously there’s no reason to do this on a regular basis, since you can save a substantial amount of money by using the bulk fare options. But which one? That is, if you usually travel by ... [More]
Yesterday was the 5th of April. It was Easter Monday, a public holiday in Victoria. Most businesses were closed. When it comes to the shops, it looked like a Sunday: most smaller ones closed, most bigger ones open. (Not like Good Friday and Easter Sunday when everything’s closed.) Schools were all closed, but they’re in ... [More]
For $1.35 billion, you’d hope there would be some benefits to Myki. Here’s one: if you take a little care, it can be used from within a wallet. So you need never take it out, unless an inspector needs to see it. At least once this has enabled me to validate and jump on a ... [More]
I’ve got a spare Myki card that I’m testing online topups with. $1 at a time, to see how long they take to come through. How it should work is this: You make a payment via the web site The web site and central database sends out a message to all the Myki vending machines ... [More]
My aunt and cousin are visiting from interstate. Over dinner last night they were telling me that the most confusing thing about Metcard is the requirement to validate it straight after buying it at a railway station machine. I saw a businessman (evidently an occasional user) make that mistake yesterday morning. He realised after walking ... [More]