As a long time resident of Melbourne, who doesn't own a car and uses public transport daily, I'm surprised I haven't seen this thread before now!
As a staunchly parochial Melbournite - Myki = 'how embarassment'.
The correct term for us residents of Melbourne is Melburnian/Melbournian! Otherwise, I agree!
this is a valid issue and one of much discussion in Melbourne.... which - as has already been pointed out - is probably unique in the world in NOT being able to accommodate tourists who wish to make a single journey or two during their stay.
there is a reason why some locals refer to it as 'taking the micky' rather than miki.
the system was hugely expensive, and was a bespoke solution costing billions. we could have had something off the shelf from London or Hong Kong... but the idea was that they wanted a GPS enabled system that could work for the whole state. it's pret much been a disaster. and an expensive one at that.
there is little logic or common sense when it comes to miki.
many of us are now running into the anomaly whereby all cards are coming up to their pre-ordained four year expiry date. why have a four year expiry date for a solid plastic card? who knows. but you'd think it would be fairly straight forward to get a new one right?
not in tour life! you have to send your old card into head office and get a new one issued. but what happens if you still need your old card to get to and from work? bad luck... you need to buy a NEW one, and then apply for a refund of your old card you just sent in.
confusing? you betcha... and requires the filling out of a double sided form. that's even if you know your rights to start with... many miki agents tell you there is no such refund process for expired cards.
you'd also think with this new electronic system that compensation for poor performance could easily be credited to everyone's miki right? wrong again.... if metro fails to meet their performance targets and you become eligible for one free day of travel... you need to fill in more forms and send those off. nothing automatic about miki when they don't want it to be!
i think they said we could have bought hong kong's system for a few hundred million, saving the odd billion dollars or so.
Recently spending a week in Hong Kong using the MTR with an Octopus card reminded me of just how bad Myki is. Octopus is brilliant - purchased as soon as I got off the plane and returned at the airport, with full refund of deposit and balance, fast readers, use on almost all transport and use at many other places, including 7/11. Exactly how a smart card system should work. There is no reason Myki readers should be so slow, or why you shouldn't be able to return the card for a refund of the deposit (and card recycled for the next tourist), or why the rest of the system is so bad.
The irony here is that Hong Kong MTR is 50% owner of the joint venture than currently runs Melbourne's trains! Further irony is that the original management team that was going to radically change how Melbourne's trains ran is no longer there, after rubbing the union up the wrong way!
Most cities in Australia went with some form of overseas system (even Sydney that scrapped its go it alone system, and is now getting Opal up and running), and none of them seem to have had the issues that Melbourne has...
On the one hand, I am disappointed that Sydney ditched the stand alone system, because it was an Australian designed and run system (ERG, a Perth based company, that is now defunct, but built systems all over the world, including Stockholm, Singapore, many US cities [San Fran, Seattle, many more] and Melbourne's Metcard [not one of its finest examples]).
On the other hand, it would have been fantastic if all the states used the same system, so my Melbourne card worked in Brisbane, etc.
Where does Opal originate from?
Where does GoCard originate from?
so pay $6 then throw it, otherwise you can fare evade. I think the fine is $244
When did the fine increase to $244? Last I recall it was $207 - it was plastered all over everything (trams/trains/platforms/tv) not so long ago.
Actually, now that you mention it, I have unintentionally to build up a collection of cards, some used only on one trip (Istanbul, Washington) and others on multiple trips (London, Hong Kong) and my "home" towns (Singapore and Melbourne). Usually because the cards workout cheaper (and much more convenient) than paying cash.
Yes I have London, HK, Seoul, Brisbane, and a few others I can't remember. I stick them in my box of 'cards'
Well ok then. Most cities encourage tourists. Refundable mykis and more free trams within the central city would certainly help that.
Or people can just fare evade. I'm sure the ticket checkers are used to tourists who say they were expecting to pay cash onboard.
Btw. Myki worked well for me. I had no issue with the system in general, but do agree that $6 is too much for someone who may be visiting for a few days, especially a typical family.
I would prefer the refund option, as mentioned above in HK. This does involve it being easy to both buy the initial card and easy to return the card and obtain a refund. GoCard was easy to purchase (at newsagent in Broadbeach) but not so easy to obtain a refund - had to complete a form and post with card, but I think I could have done it much easier had I remembered while I was in Qld. They did direct credit the refund to my account in a reasonable time though.
I am sure I have heard it said (on radio) that there are actually many (60 million?) single-use tickets for Melbourne transport under a myki regime printed and sitting gathering dust in a warehouse somewhere, and that the system is capable of being tweaked to enable their use. It's just that some bozo decided not to. I share the view of those who think it is dreadful and dumb not to have the single-ticket option available, but have found no issue (slightly slow card reads excepted on occasions) using the system.
I signed up some years ago prior to their introduction when it was free to obtain one, and needed to nominate no fewer than three different userids and passwords during the process - talk about coughbersome and stupid.
That reminds me of another poor part of the Myki system - their website! I have a yearly Myki 'pass' which is registered and it took me an hour to log onto their website! It is one of the most annoying and poorly executed interfaces/processes I have come across!
I have thought for many years that most major cities would ultimately be better off by making public transport free. Taxes should be raised on private cars in order to finance it. This would create an incentive to get cars off the road and reduce congestion, speeding journey times for buses and enhancing the attraction of a free public service. It will never happen, of course, but it's nice to dream.
A friend of mine who rarely even uses public transport has suggested this many times!
The city circle tram is free.
So is the tourist bus service (can't remember what it's called).
About time! Now they just need to fix stupid rules like when my 'money' part (used for when I occasionally travel in zone 2) goes into debit and freezes the still valid 'pass'!
I've also used the following other systems we could learn from:
Singapore MRT - similar to HK MRT - efficient, cheap, refundable cards
San Fran BART - can't specifically rememeber, but don't remember it being bad
NYC Metrocard - flat fare structure is simple and reasonably cheap ($2.50), with single use tickets and unlimited use passes available
