#Myki machines on trams

The rollout of myki machines on trams has yet to begin, but already there is enough information out there to begin analysis on what to expect. Information gleaned from the myki website suggests that it will alow myki money top ups of up to $20 and that it will sell short term myki passes which is the equivalent of 2 hour or daily metcards for tourists. In other words it will not provide any better functionality than metcard. SHAME!

The two big issues I see are the lack of myki pass support, and secondly the lack of support for electronic payment methods.

The lack of myki pass support is a kick in the shins for regular tram commuters who'll inconveniently still have to go to a train stations/tram superstops to get instant myki pass top ups. Either that or purchase them online and wait a minimum 24 hours before the transaction is approved. Presumably the lack of myki pass support is because there is an issue with the storage of large volumes of cash on a tram, which brings us to the next issue, why is there still no support for electronic payment methods?

If myki touch on and touch off information can be relayed back to a central database, there must be a means for communication from the tram to the outside world, and hence a means for electronic payment methods. Are electronic payment methods too slow to function on a tram? Are they too unreliable? Or is it something for the too hard basket?

Melburnians should rightly expect things to improve with myki, except we're once again stuck with the status quo of coin collecting. Perhaps we'll see more tram superstops with full functionality myki topup machines scattered around every route in the future, but at the moment they are only seen in the city.

This blog post is a request that myki reconsiders the myki pass functionality on their tram top up machines to allow, at minimum, purchase of a weekly myki passes, then progressively phase in more days as a solution for increased storage and disposable of money on trams or electronic payments becomes available.

Hey Lezala, Let's put the "P" back in premium station

Let's play a game. Name a service that you'd like to get at a suburban train station that you don't normally do.

A) Working myki or metcard machine? Regular stops? A working toilet? Bzzzt. Wrong?
B) ATM? YES and at all premium stations please. A single ATM hardware that accepts software and firmware upgrades from multiple banks. A touch screen device where you can select your service provider and not get other bank charges. That's a thought.
C) Mail Box - Why doesn't the mail man catch a train?
D) A GP - not feeling well? Let the GP send you home with a certificate before you get on the train and affect other commuters, let alone your work colleagues.

The list goes on. It's a high time metro outlines a minimum set of standards for premium stations beyond the 10 year old paradigm of regular stops and manned stations. Let's put the "P" back in Premium ay?

Myki lessons and the way forward

The myki concept in itself is decent, but the project has been plagued with very poor project management and implementation. Myki is a casestudy on how NOT to build a smart card system, compared to "successful" implementations like Octopus and Oyster. So what did the other smart cards do right that we didn't? I'd suggest two things: 1) they weren't overly ambitious from the start 2) they had a quick transition period from their old systems.

Firstly, the Oyster card was first issued to the public with a limited range of features. Myki was overambitious from the start. From offering a myki money system that wasn't fully tested, to beginning with online topups rather than top ups at stations. This was a radical change from the existing metcard system, which in turn required an education campaign. The focus at the start should have clearly been to build a low risk system that worked and that was familiar enough to existing metcard users so they could easily make the transition.

Lesson 1) They should have built a virtual metcard using myki equipment. Offering the exact same tickets as metcard (2hr, daily, weekly, monthly, etc), but using myki touch on and off technology. Myki money, online topups, etc could have been phased in later when fully tested or killed off if the government ran out of money.

Secondly, unlike the Octopus system which forced users to transtition to their new system within the first 3 months, we've had a year of two parallel system running with no end date for metcard in sight. Hence, why there has been a low uptake of the myki system. This is obviously a bad situation to be in.

The dilemna is mainly caused by the poor myki money rollout, where people just don't have confidence that the correct fare will be calculated. How can you force commuters to adopt a system that they're not sure will work? The solution is you don't.

The way forward from this mess is to isolate myki money from the rest of the system, so that it's not integral to the way the system works. As I mentioned previously, exact equivalent metcard fares need to be offered on myki pass (2hr, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and all the variants). If commuters are not confident in the myki money calculations they can now bypass it by buying prepaid fares on the myki pass system. This therefore negates the need for metcard readers, ticket top up machines, and paves the way for a full rollout of myki topup machines.

Lesson 2) The only way to have quick adoption is to force people to upgrade to a RELIABLE system.

The tram network is now Zone 1!

As one of the many people that advocated a single zone for the tram network, the government announcement of this occuring is of course met with praise. There are many benefits of making the tram network zone 1. It will make the tram system simpler and easier to understand. It could boost patronage. It will make Melbourne a lot more accessible, especially to international students travelling to and from Latrobe Bundoora or Deakin Burwood. It removes the need to touch off for 98% of commuters. Importantly it simplifies the myki money calculation improving its reliability and allowing us to use myki on trams. Benefits aside, due to the government's impementation of this, there is one major hurdle that must be overcome, that is the requirement for zone 2 touch off.

This is presumably for those travelling completely within zone 2, say from Vermont South to Camberwell Junction. (A 90c saving, compared to zone 1 based on a 2 hour ticket). Personally, I question whether this footnote is necessary. Are there that many people that make these exclusive zone 2 trips? It would have been much simpler making the whole tram network zone 1 only, and remove the remaining zone 2 sections.

Never the less a targeted education campaign needs to take place to advise commuters of these changes. This can be via a simple annoucement 1 stop before the zone 2/zone 1 transition zone ends. Before Tyler st in Bundoora, Balwyn Rd Mont Albert and Camberwell Junction. Limiting annoucements to these tram lines and services only will limit confusion over the wider tram network, and save advertising dollars for tram network improvements elsewhere.

Pushing the zone boundaries in trams will inevitably lead to discussions on whether this can be done on trains and buses. An indepth of analysis of what stations and what buslines will soon follow.

Allow Myki tickets to "rollover"

Mobile phone users have long benefited from "rollover" plans where unused credit is rolled over to the next month. This benefits the user,when their usage is lower, for instance when they are on holidays.

With the introduction of myki the time is ripe to introduce this same scheme to public transport users. This initiative is all about expanding the public transport user base from office workers and students, to more casual users, that would otherwise catch a car. Obviously there should be limits on the rollover, similar to what telcos do, say two consecutive months, so casual users have incentives to travel more.

The thought process in this is casual users are hesitant to buy longer term tickets knowing their travel plans are sporadic. Giving them a safety net of 2 months to use their ticket should enourage them to make a longer term commitment to public transport usage. Hence providing a piecemeal step by step transition into becoming a permenant public transport user.

By also enforcing myki "touch" off to participate in this "rollover" initiative, the goverment provides an incentive for Melburnians to learn the touch off system. In the long run, benefiting the system by providing a better understanding of public transport user profiles.

Making myki a politcal winner - Single zone for all tram lines

Pakula's faced with a problem. Myki won't function properly on trams, let alone buses. Supposedly a "canyoning" effect is being blamed on cbd buildings for the poor reliability. I don't buy it, and besides there's a work around that could be a real political winner. Make the tram network a single zone.



That's right, lets turn this myki mess into a vote winner in an election year by making trams a single zone. This means abolishing the city saver ticket, which will dissapoint some people, but it also means abolishing zone 2 pleasing others.  Loss in revenue from one can hopefully offset the other.  Even Stevens!



Besides this initiative will have several other benefits. It will make the tram system simpler and easier to understand. It could boost patronage. It will make Melbourne a lot more accessible, especially to international students travelling to and from Latrobe Bundoora or Deakin Burwood. Importantly it simplifies the myki money calculation improving its reliability and allowing us to use myki on trams!! That's right this initiative will kill two birds with one stone. Liberals are you listening? Make it policy!!



The way I see it, the tram network is mostly inner city (zone 1) with only a few lines crossing into zone 2. Forcing people in Bundoora, Box Hill and Vermont South to pay a full zone 1+2 fare into or out of the city for an extremely slow ride can't be justified.

Myki for your unborn baby

The free myki offer has been extended until the end of the month, January 31st 2010. So have you named your unborn baby yet? Why not register him or her. How about your distant relatives overseas, on the off chance they visit Melbourne? Get them a card Expat friends, get them a card one. While you're at it why not register a backup card, just in case you lose yours. The possibilies are endless. Register Barack Obama a myki card, Kevin Rudd one too while you're at it.

The myki consortium is incompetent

I finally recieved my free Myki today, but the letter accompanying it has been completely botched. According to the letter I have a concession myki, when I have actually ordered a full fare myki. The myki is actually a full fare myki, despite what the letter says. Confused? You're not the only one.

First we have incorrectly printed names, now letters suggesting we have concession mykis when we actually have full fare mykis. If they do not have a proper running verification system for sending out letters from a database, how can we be confident they will have a correctly running verification system for touching on and off?

So far myki has been a complete disaster. Somebody has to take responsibility for this mess. It's gross incompetence.

How many free mykis can you order?

I've just ordered myself 10 free mykis, courtesy of the introductory offer. It was quite easy to defeat the dumb computer database, but can a human detect this scam? If it is so easy to defeat a computer, is the myki system easy to defeat aswell? Should we bring back ticket inspectors?

Should all Melbourne Premium Stations have ATMs?

A few years back, I remember reading an article in a Beijing newspaper at the outrage of the lack of ATM facilities in their new subway system, and can't help but find a similar problem here in Melbourne. Apart from Flinders St, which stupidly awarded ANZ sole rights, why aren't there more ATM's in conveninent locations for us to use them?

The lack of commercialization of our train stations is surprising given the massive foot traffic that passes through the system every day. Is this a department of transport issue, or is it an issue with the train operators? Or is it a security issue? Surely its not a commercial issue.

Either way a solution must be found. Is there any other things our train stations lack? What should the new operators MTM be looking at to improve our system?