Melbourne’s Mighty myki Mess (Videos)

Another worrying example of how we have to be on our guard to make sure we get integrated ticketing right-  and go with a company that can deliver.

Melbourne’s integrated ticketing  - a NZ$999m scheme called myki (“my key”) – four mad years in the making, was to have started finally on Monday – but it didn’t happen and no-one can say when.

The authorities have completely gone silent on the matter – and media speculate it won’t be for at least another month.

And today, the latest revelation that, in the new ticketing system, if your train is late – you’ll be forced to pay more.

The Australian newspaper revealed that myki’s architects, even at this late overdue stage, had failed to take late and cancelled services into account when designing the system. Because integrated ticketing gives you the lowest possible fare at that time of day, this can change if the train doesn’t travel at that exact time.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said the rule changes would be a double whammy on late trams and buses.”Not only will they suffer the delay of their late or cancelled service, but … they may have to pay another fare for the privilege,” he said. A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky defended the changes, made to “ensure consistency”. The Premier today admitted that some people would be worse off, but said the majority of travellers would pay less, as the new myki system usually calculates the cheapest fare.

Integrated ticketing has been a sad sorry saga, of the sort of tale we don’t want to hear here in the next few years when we are suppose to be getting a system under way. myki compares itself to London’s Oyster card, Singapore’s ez-card and Taipei’s EasyCard. Melbourne has finally turned to Hong Kong’s MTR company to sort out its train mess but it’s too late to also adopt Hong Kong’s highly successful version, the Octopus card which would now make sense.

A contract to build myki was signed in 2005 with US “mid-sized” IT firm Keane to develop it and since then the Victorian public has received a steady stream of negative stories about the smartcard — from cost blow-outs, to contract friction and schedule delays.

In January, politicians went to show off the system and ..

Then in June…

And even this morning with myki machines turned on at city train stations, buses and trams, it is still unclear when the smartcard system will be launched.  Mr Brumby, speaking to the morning Age newspaper

Skating might be more reliable to get around Melbourne

today, refused to say exactly when the system would be up and running. “It’s still on track to be run out before the end of the year … it’s a big system, it’s a big change.”

The myki smart card has been trialled in Geelong before its big launch in Melbourne  – and the media have been calling it a disaster and a “nightmare about to hit Melbourne.” One of the biggest hassles is you have to swipe it both on and off the bus or other transport each trip.

On Monday a “technical glitch” meant passengers on 59 bus services travelled free because the “wrong data” had been loaded. But over the last few months the complaints have piled up.

Factory worker Daryl Gibson, who travels from the north Geelong suburb of Norlane to the town centre each day, has thrown his “smart card” in the bin and reverted to buying daily tickets. Mr Gibson said he had twice been overcharged when a faulty myki machine meant he couldn’t ‘touch off’ when getting off his bus.

“I think it’s absolutely crap, I’ve put money in it twice and then I get on in Norlane and get off in Geelong and it’s all gone and I just can’t afford that,” he said.

There have been 10,850 admitted cases of overcharging in regional Victorian towns trialling myki, including Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat.

Mr Gibson said he had spent half-an-hour on the phone to the myki call centre and then had to wait weeks for a refund.

The microchipped tickets, about the size and thickness of a credit card, are then placed on a myki reader when getting on a bus. The reader displays the card’s credit balance.

Passengers must then place the card on one of two readers at the side door or one a the front of the bus before getting off or risk being overcharged for their trip.

For anyone who has had to dig around a bag for their wallet or purse before dragging out their train, tram or bus ticket should get used to doing it twice a trip or paying the penalty.

But only if the myki reader is working.

Geelong resident Lisa Thompson has refused to try the new tickets after witnessing the frequent breakdown of myki machines on buses.

Some suburban train stations won’t have enough readers to cope. There are only four machines at many suburban stations. causing delays.
South Eastern Metropolitan MP Gordon Rich-Phillips complained yesterday that the new ticketing system would create a bottleneck at his local station during peak times. Passengers are required to scan their myki card on a reader when getting on and off trains. What’s going to happen when 200 myki users try and touch off through the four little exits at the same time? I imagine there will be a considerable amount of irritation as many people rushing off the platform will have to queue for five to 10 minutes to leave Dandenong station.”

But they got it right in Perth, as they do a lot of transport things:

So will we get it right here?