Myki

Usage

Myki fares are based on the time and zone fares used under the previous Metcard system (with zones expanded to cover the V/Line commuter belt), with the exception of the single trip "City Saver" fare which was not made available under the Myki system.

After purchasing a rechargeable Myki card, passengers need to add value onto the card, in a process called "topping up". The value stored on the card is called "Myki money". At the start of a trip, the passenger validates the card at a Myki reader by holding their card over a Myki reader, a process called "touching on". At the completion of a trip, a passenger validates their Myki card again in a process called "touching off", at which point a fare is assessed as required. The Myki card, if placed correctly in a wallet, does not need to be removed to be validated. However, because wallets often contain multiple cards with smart chips capable of being interpreted by the reader system in place by Myki, regardless of their applicability to transport, simply placing a wallet containing a Myki card against a reader proves problematic as the card-reading technology is incapable of consistently distinguishing between Myki and non-Myki smart card chips.

Services available

A Myki card can be used for travel on:

Card types

There are Myki cards for full-fare, concession, child and Victorian Seniors passengers. All cards operate on 13.56 MHz.

A Myki card can be either "anonymous" or "registered". In addition, a Myki card can be issued as a child, seniors or general concession Myki, as well as a full fare passenger, allowing automatic calculation of concession fares. Registered Myki cards have some information held about the passenger by Public Transport Victoria, primarily to protect against loss of the Myki card itself (in which case the card is replaced by Public Transport Victoria, without the passenger being required to purchase a new card). Passengers with registered Myki tickets also have the ability to view their travel history, detailing their exact touch on and off times, as well as the service used, the zones travelled in and the fare charged. A $6 fee is charged for the issuance of a Myki card, with concession passengers paying a reduced $3 fee.

A disposable ticket was originally intended to be part of the Myki system, as a single use option intended for occasional users. The ticket was to be issued in two-hour and daily variants, similar to the options available under the Metcard system preceding Myki. These tickets were issued on regional bus networks which accepted Myki, with the original intention to be introduced into suburban Melbourne. However, it was announced in 2011 that these tickets would be abolished, in a reduction of the scope of the Myki system. Short term tickets were abolished on regional bus services in March 2013, requiring all passengers on these buses to have a Myki card prior to travel.

Prior to January 2015, Myki cards were issued with a green front, with various designs on the back of the card. However, it was announced by Public Transport Victoria that a new uniform Myki card design would be rolled out in early 2015. The new design, which allowed for passengers to purchase concession Myki cards at ticket machines for the first time, is predominantly black.

A "Myki Visitor pack", intended for use by interstate and overseas visitors, is also available for passengers travelling from outside of Metropolitan Melbourne. Full-fare packs cost $14 and child, concession and Seniors packs cost $7. The pack includes a Myki card pre-loaded with one day's worth of travel in Zone 1 ($8, or $4 for concession passengers), vouchers for discounts at 15 tourist attractions, ranging from Puffing Billy to the Melbourne Aquarium, instructions on how to use Myki, and a protective Myki wallet. Users can reclaim any unused money on their Myki when they no longer need it, but they cannot reclaim the $6 or $3 purchase price. The pack is sold from locations such as Tullamarine Airport, hotel concierge desks, backpacker and bed & breakfast accommodation facilities, tourist information centres, Station Pier, Melbourne, Southern Cross Station and other selected outlets.

Card purchase and top-up

After purchasing a rechargeable Myki card, passengers need to add value onto the card in a process called "topping up", at:

A registered Myki account can be linked to a bank account or credit card to automatically transfer top-up funds onto the Myki card when the stored value on the card drops to a level nominated by the user. This is known as auto top-up. Usually this can take up to 48 hours. The inability to top-up or purchase a card does not excuse the traveler from the need to travel with a valid ticket.

Fare calculation and default fares

Melbourne's public transport ticketing uses a multi-modal fare and ticketing system. Fares are based on a zonal system. Metropolitan Melbourne is divided into two zones, forming concentric rings based around Melbourne CBD, with Zone 1 comprising Melbourne's inner suburbs, and Zone 2 covering the remainder of metropolitan Melbourne. Outside of Metropolitan Melbourne, a further ten zones exist, as a continuation of the Metropolitan Melbourne zones. Zone overlap areas exist on the borders of the zones, with tickets for either zone being valid for travel. Higher fares are assessed for all travel involving Zone 1 than for all other travel. Originally, fares for 2-hour and daily use were charged at lower rates than previous 2-hour and daily Metcards, due to the fact that Myki fares were set based on value Metcard fares.

The Myki system calculates the cheapest fare for a traveller depending on the amount of use on a given day, and the number of fare zones travelled in, with fares being assessed on the basis of a two-hour fare and a daily fare. Longer periods, of 7 days or 28–365 days, can be pre-loaded into the card as a Myki pass prior to travel. If a 365-day pass is purchased, the days above 325 are free of charge.

If a Myki card is not touched off at the completion of a journey the system will charge a default fare, to protect against fare evasion. The default fare usually is equal to the most expensive journey that could have been undertaken by a passenger, based on the location of touch on.

Prior to the introduction of Myki a separate fare and ticketing system existed for V/Line (country) services. However, since April 2006 holders of V/Line tickets to Melbourne have had access to both Zone 1 and 2 without needing to purchase another ticket. V/Line tickets to Zone 2 stations are valid for Zone 2 only. Fares in most towns just outside Melbourne were also aligned to Zone 2 prices. This system still operates on V/Line services that run outside of the commuter belt area.

Card expiry

A Myki card expires four years after the date on which it is first loaded with money.

If the card is registered, the holder can see online the date on which the card expires. PTV also contacts the card holder shortly before the expiry date to remind them of the card's imminent expiry. Holders of anonymous cards must use a card vending machine or Myki Check machine to find out when their card will expire.

An expired or expiring Myki card can be replaced for free at staffed metropolitan railway stations, Myki-enabled V/Line stations, or a PTV Hub, with any balance from the expired/expiring card being transferred to the new card instantly. Alternatively, users can mail their expired/expiring Myki card to PTV and wait up to 10 working days for a new card to be posted to them. If the expired/expiring card was registered, the replacement card will be automatically registered. Auto top-up will not be transferred to the new Myki and, if required, needs to be set up again. To obtain a replacement for a personalised Myki card, users must mail their card to PTV.

History

Myki replaced the Metcard ticketing system in metropolitan Melbourne and several ticketing systems used by buses in some major regional cities. After field testing, the Melbourne metropolitan roll-out of Myki began on 29 December 2009, with Myki becoming valid for travel on Melbourne metropolitan train services. On 25 July 2010, Myki coverage was extended to cover Melbourne metropolitan bus and tram services, and on 29 December 2012, with the switching-off of Metcard, it became the only form of ticket valid on Melbourne public transport. A limited implementation onto 'commuter' rail services to regional centres began in July 2013. Myki replaced paper tickets on V/Line services across selected services in Victoria on 23 February 2014. It was intended that the Skybus Super Shuttle Melbourne Airport service (with its own, premium fares) would also accept Myki once the system was fully operational, however this did not eventuate.

Work on a replacement of the Metcard public transport ticketing system in Victoria commenced in late 2002. In June 2003, the Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) was established to procure and manage a new system.

Selection of operator

The tender for the new ticketing system opened in July 2004 and closed in October. Ten tender offers were received from six bidders, and four bids were short-listed in December. By March 2005, two companies had been short-listed for the final stage of the tender process: the Keane Corporation (with Ascom and Downer Engineering) and Manta.T (with ADI Limited, MTR Corporation and Thales).

On 12 July 2005, the Kamco consortium was selected to develop the system, winning a $494 million contract, due for completion by 2007. The consortium was made up of Keane Inc, Ascom, ERG, and Giesecke & Devrient Australasia.

The tender process was the subject of a number of probity concerns in December 2007, with the Victorian Auditor-General requesting police to investigate a leak of tender documents. Draft reports from the Auditor-General's investigation referred to backdated documents and inconsistent treatment of bidders, but independent reports by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Avanti Consulting in 2005, as well as the Victorian Auditor-General found that the integrity of the tender process had not been compromised. In 2007, serious probity concerns were raised when it was revealed that TTA boss Vivian Miners, who owned shares in the winning bidder, had also become the highest paid bureaucrat, earning A$550,000 a year. Further probity issues were raised when it was revealed the new Myki boss Garry Thwaites was married to the probity auditor for the original tender. Conflict of interest was denied by public transport minister Lynne Kosky.

Beginning of the roll-out

A pilot program was due to begin in early 2007, but was delayed by approximately a year. In the meantime, more than 20,000 pieces of equipment had been installed, with civil engineering works continuing.

In February 2008 Victorian Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky announced that the full roll-out of the system would not begin until the end of the year. By March the same year, the minister said that the system would not be operational until 2010. In April 2008, the Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) announced that it had stopped paying service payments to the Kamco consortium after April 2007, because the project had not been delivered on schedule.

The first field trial of Myki was held on the Geelong bus network in late 2007. The trial identified problems with 'front office' computer software. In May 2008 Kamco conducted 'Regional Bus Pilot 1' in Geelong, after which it announced that ninety percent of tests had been passed. According to Kamco's report, Regional Bus Pilot 1 showed that: "Essential onbus activities such as scan on and scan off, top up Myki, purchase of short-term tickets using cash or Myki money, driver log on / off, route and shift selection and GPS connectivity and accuracy performed well. Back office processes and operational procedures such as end-to-end data transaction flows, generation of reports, training, communications, installation and commissioning were generally good. The operator (McHarry's Buslines) was pleased with the NTS training, performance and ease of use of the Myki solution."

Further field tests across other transport modes were planned during the second half of 2008, including an additional test on regional buses.

In August 2008 testing began on the Melbourne suburban train and tram networks. The train tests involved Kamco staff at East Camberwell, Canterbury, Chatham and Mont Albert stations. On trams, special services on route 86, not open to normal fare-paying passengers, were used. These tests were all single mode, with multi-modal trips to be tried at a later date.

On 12 December 2008, Myki went on sale to the general public on four bus routes in Geelong, and on 2 March 2009 all bus routes in the Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula area were completely switched to Myki.

In April 2009 all bus services in Ballarat, Bendigo and Seymour were converted to Myki. In May 2009 all bus services in the Latrobe Valley towns of Moe, Morwell, Traralgon and Warragul were operating with Myki equipment, making it the last regional bus system to be converted.

Melbourne roll-out

In May 2009, installation of Myki readers began in metropolitan Melbourne trams, and in June 2009, the first Myki vending machines appeared at metropolitan rail stations, with buses to follow. 17,000 pieces of equipment were to be installed as part of the rollout, with up to 23 pieces being installed per tram, and 2,700 pieces to be installed across the train network's 217 stations.

From 29 December 2009, Myki became valid for travel on all metropolitan train services (but not trams and buses), in a politically driven move to meet a promise by Transport Minister Lynne Kosky and Premier John Brumby to have the system working by the end of 2009.

The limited rollout was said to be due to reliability problems with the equipment on Melbourne's trams and buses. It was reported that the use of Myki on trams was being halted by signal drop-outs, related to the heavy steel construction of the trams, which was hindering the wireless communications required; the overhead electrical systems may possibly have had a detrimental effect on performance. The new Transport Minister, Martin Pakula, stated that another major problem still affecting trams was "canyoning", in which trams regularly drop out of remote communication with a central server because of tall city buildings. One source close to the Myki project said the government had considered installing remote devices on tall CBD buildings to improve communications with all devices in the city centre.

After the initial launch, tickets could only be purchased online, or from six regional cities where Myki was already in use, further limiting the number of travellers able to use the system. 24 hours after the launch, over 14,000 commuters had registered online for their free Myki.

On 25 July 2010, Myki became available for use on Metropolitan and suburban buses and trams.

In April 2014, the first Myki electronic gates with the touch screen were implemented, the first station to have them being Mitcham Station.

Further roll-out halted

In July 2010 then Opposition leader Ted Baillieu had said that the Opposition was "considering its legal options" with regards to Myki and would look at dropping the system if it won the next Victorian state election.

Having won the state election in November 2010, the new Liberal/National coalition government announced on 28 December 2010 that it would halt any further rollout of Myki, including V/Line usage, card top-ups by bus drivers, and the introduction of sales at retail shops, until an independent audit had been completed on the state of the current system.

A decision was to be made to either scrap Myki and continue with Metcard, modify the Myki system, scale back the roll-out, or continue the roll-out as initially planned. In June 2011, the government confirmed that Myki would continue operation. However it was announced that short-term tickets would not be introduced in metropolitan Melbourne, and would be abolished on regional city bus systems, where they have been in use since Myki's introduction. With the Myki system to be retained, users have asked that Myki be improved before it becomes the only ticketing system for Melbourne. A survey conducted by the Transport Department found that people like Myki's ease of use, but some complained about the time taken to touch on and off, and the inadequate provision of information about the Myki system. A survey conducted by the RACV found that users like Myki's ease of purchasing, but the time taken to touch on and off was a major disadvantage. The most requested improvement was for more flexibility in the system. Specifically, users want to be able to purchase single-use tickets.

Final Melbourne implementation

During 2012 the government progressively shut down the Metcard system.

All Metcard ticket vending machines on railway stations were removed or switched off. The only Metcard vending machines still in operation were on trams. The limited remaining range of Metcards could only be purchased from staff at premium stations, from bus drivers, and from PTV Hub.

On 13 September 2012, Public Transport Victoria and the TTA announced that Myki would become the only ticketing system on public transport from Saturday 29 December 2012. On that date all Metcard equipment remaining on the system became inoperative. In the meantime, the sale of Metcards at premium (staffed) Metro railway stations was progressively phased out, and ceased entirely during October.

Metcard validators commenced to be removed from railway stations on 12 November 2012, and all were removed or became inoperative by the end of December. Also from November, passengers with unused Metcards were able to transfer the value onto a Myki card as Myki money at premium Metro railway stations.

Regional implementation

Myki was implemented in mid 2013 on regional "commuter" (short-haul) rail services in a staged process; between Melbourne and Seymour on 24 June, on the Traralgon line on 8 July, the Bendigo line on 17 July, the Ballarat line on 24 July and the Geelong-Marshall line on 29 July. Passengers on the lines concerned may only use the paper ticketing system "v-net" on services outside of the myki zone such as Warrnambool, Bairnsdale etc. The exception is that family paper tickets are still sold to families traveling with children below 17 years of age. On 10 November 2013, Myki became available for use on Wallan and Kilmore town buses.

Since February 2014, passengers on commuter services have not been able to purchase paper tickets, instead being required to use Myki. Paper tickets remain available for those travelling beyond the commuter service boundary, with arrangements existing for Myki pass holders to purchase "extension tickets" for travel beyond the Myki area.

Retender

In July 2016, the Myki contract with the renamed NTT Data (formerly Kamco) is extended for next seven years worth A$700 million.

Issues and criticisms

The Myki ticketing system has been criticised on a number of grounds:

Problems