Myki ( ), stylised as myki, is a reloadable
credit card-sized contactless smart card
A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit ticket ...
ticketing system used for electronic payment of fares on most
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...
services in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and regional
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
.
Myki replaced the
Metcard ticketing system and became fully operational at the end of 2012.
The system was developed by
Kamco
Kamco (Keane Australia Micropayment Consortium Pty Ltd) is the company formed in 2003 to tender for a new public transport ticketing system in Victoria, Australia. It was contracted to provide the Myki ticketing system in 2005. It is a wholly o ...
(Keane Australia Micropayment Consortium) and is used by
Public Transport Victoria
Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria. It was previously the trading name of the Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authority in Victo ...
. The initial 10-year contract was worth approximately
A$1.5 billion, described by ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' as "the
orld'sbiggest for a smartcard ticketing system". The Myki contract was extended in July 2016 for a further seven years.
Ticketing requirements for trains, trams and buses in Melbourne are mainly contained in the ''Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) (Ticketing) Regulations 2017'' and the ''Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual.''
The original Myki agreement with the Victorian government expired in November 2023. On 15 May 2023, the Victorian government announced it had signed a contract with
Conduent
Conduent Inc. is an American business services provider company headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey. It was formed in 2017 as a divestiture from Xerox. The company offers digital platforms for businesses and governments. , it had over ...
, an American company, that will take over the Myki system for the next 15 years. The new system will reportedly be rolled out by 2025. In May 2025, the planned upgrade was delayed by 18 months.
Usage
Operation
Passengers can purchase a rechargeable Myki smartcard from the ticket office at a staffed railway station, Myki machines at railway stations and major bus and tram interchanges (full fare only), the PTV Hub at
Southern Cross railway station
Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Victoria, Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins and La Trobe Street, La Tr ...
, from a retailer (including most
7-Eleven
7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings.
The chain was founde ...
outlets) displaying the Myki sign, online at ptv.vic.gov.au, or by phoning
Public Transport Victoria
Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria. It was previously the trading name of the Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authority in Victo ...
. Cards cannot be bought onboard trams or buses. A full fare card costs $6, and a concession or child card costs $3.
After acquiring a Myki, the passenger needs to add value onto the card, in a process called "topping up". The value stored on the card is called "Myki money". Top up is available at the same places as card purchase, or "auto top up" can be set up to recharge the card from a linked credit card or bank account automatically when the Myki money balance falls to a set threshold. Top up is also available using the PTV app.
To use Myki when travelling, a passenger holds the card against a reader (called "touching on" or "touching off"). Passengers touch on at the start of a trip and (except for a tram trip within Zone 1
) touch off at the end of the trip, at which point the appropriate fare is assessed and deducted from the stored Myki money value on the card. If the fare for a trip is greater than the stored Myki money balance remaining, the card will show a negative Myki money balance, in which case it cannot be touched on again until it has been topped up to reach a positive amount of money. Passengers do not need to touch on or off for tram trips entirely within the city's "Free Tram Zone", which covers roughly the
CBD.
Mobile Myki
Mobile Myki is a virtual Myki card on an Android phone using
Google Wallet
Google Wallet (or simply Wallet) is a digital wallet platform developed by Google. It is available for the Android, Wear OS, and Fitbit OS operating systems, and was announced on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. It began rollin ...
. Stored value and fares calculation works in the same way as a normal Myki, and the phone is held against a Myki reader to touch on or off.
Note: Mobile Myki cards need to be registered in the same process as regular Myki Cards and are not automatically linked to the user. Mobile Myki on the iPhone has yet to be released.
Services available
A Myki card can be used for travel on:
* Melbourne
metropolitan train,
tram
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
and
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
services including
SmartBus
SmartBus is a network of bus services in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Overseen by Public Transport Victoria, the network comprises nine key cross-town and orbital bus routes around Melbourne. Key aspects of the service include more freque ...
, but not
Skybus services (
Metro
Metro may refer to:
Geography
* Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...
, PTV buses,
Yarra Trams
Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the Trams in Melbourne, tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victoria State Government, Victorian Department of Transport and Planni ...
, etc)
* V/Line trains travelling within the
V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...
commuter belt (between
Southern Cross
CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...
(
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
) and
Seymour
Seymour may refer to:
Places Australia
*Seymour, Victoria, a township
** Seymour railway station
* Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria
* Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria
* Se ...
,
Traralgon
Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the ...
,
Wendouree
Wendouree () is a large suburb on the north western rural-urban fringe of the city of Ballarat, in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is the second most populated suburb in the City of Ballarat with a total of 10,376 inhabitants at ...
,
Waurn Ponds, and
Goornong
Goornong is a town in north central Victoria, Australia. The town is in the City of Greater Bendigo local government area and on the Midland Highway, north of the state capital, Melbourne.
At the , Goornong had a population of 718.
A railway ...
/
Raywood stations)
* Regional buses in major towns within the commuter belt (e.g.,
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.
Within mo ...
,
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
,
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...
and the Latrobe Valley).
Card types
There are Myki cards for full fare, concession, child and Victorian seniors passengers.
Myki cards were originally issued with a green front, featuring different designs showing a selection of playful symbols on the front, and with different city-related photographs on the back depending on the type of card. After a redesign in late 2014, Myki cards now have a predominantly grey/black design on the front, meaning it is no longer possible to visually distinguish between full fare and concession cards.
A "Myki Explorer" pack is available, intended for use by interstate and overseas visitors (or an option for users from outside metropolitan Melbourne). Full fare packs cost $16 and child, concession and seniors packs cost $8. The pack includes a Myki card pre-loaded with $10 (full fare) or $5 (concession), which is enough for one day's worth of travel in Zones 1 and 2; the pack also includes vouchers for discounts at major tourist attractions, instructions on how to use Myki, and a protective Myki wallet. Users can reclaim any unused balance on their Myki when they no longer need it, but not the $6 or $3 purchase price. The pack is sold from locations such as
Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport , known locally as Tullamarine Airport, is an international airport serving Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operating 24/7 service, 24 hours a day with on-site parking, shopping and dining, Melbourne Airport is the List of th ...
, hotel concierge desks, backpacker and bed & breakfast accommodation facilities, tourist information centres,
Station Pier, Melbourne
Station Pier is a historic Australian pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Opened in 1854, the pier is Melbourne's primary passenger terminal, servicing interstate Ferry, ferries and cruise ships, and is listed on the Victorian He ...
,
Southern Cross station and other outlets.
In May 2025, premier
Jacinta Allan
Jacinta Marie Allan (born 19 September 1973) is an Australian politician serving as the 49th and current premier of Victoria since 2023. She has been the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2023 and has been ...
announced that a youth Myki would be introduced as of 1 January 2026, providing free travel on Victorian public transport to people aged under 18 years. The scheme is expected to replace the student pass for school students, which, as of 2025, cost $755 for a yearly pass.
The
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
reported that over a period of four years, the youth Myki scheme would cost the Victorian government $318 million.
Card registration
Myki cards and Mobile Myki can be "registered" with
Public Transport Victoria
Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria. It was previously the trading name of the Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authority in Victo ...
(PTV), which protects the card holder against loss of the card and enables the holder to view their travel history online. It also enables "auto top up" to be set up, enables the card holder to view the card expiry date online and allows PTV to contact the registered card holder of an imminent card expiry date.
Fare calculation and default fares
Myki is a multi-modal fare and ticketing system based on zones. Metropolitan Melbourne is divided into two zones (Zones 1 and 2). Outside of metropolitan Melbourne there are a further fourteen zones (Zones 3–16). There are areas of overlap between some zones (notably Zones 1 and 2), where locations exist within both zones.
The Myki system calculates the cheapest fare for a passenger based on the time and zone(s) travelled in on a given day. Fares are assessed on the basis of a two-hour fare or a daily fare. Longer periods, of 7 days or 28–365 days, can be pre-loaded into the card as a Myki pass giving unlimited travel within a nominated zone or zones for the relevant period. If a 365-day pass is purchased, the days above 325 are free of charge. Myki fares are based on the time and zone fares used under the previous Metcard system (with zones expanded to cover the
V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...
commuter belt), with the exception of the single trip "City Saver" fare which was not made available under the Myki system.
If a Myki card is not touched off at the completion of a journey the system will charge a default fare, which for Melbourne travel is equal to the most expensive journey that could have been undertaken by a passenger, based on the location of touch on. Passengers do not need to touch off when alighting a tram unless their travel is only within Zone 2. Prior to the introduction of Myki, a separate fares and ticketing system existed for all
V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...
(country) services, based on paper tickets. This system still operates on V/Line services that run outside of the commuter belt area and where reserved seating is required.
Following the
2022 Victorian state election
The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Victorian Legislat ...
promise, a daily fare cap has been introduced where regardless of the number of zones travelled, the fare cap applied would be the same as a Zone 1+2 fare. This change was made to encourage public transport use and reduce the burden for people living in regional Victoria, as well as boosting regional tourism. However, there are criticisms due to the lower frequency of services in regional Victoria, where it is unknown whether the demand would be too big for the current system to handle and the unwillingness of the government to increase the service frequency.
Card expiry
A Myki card has a limited validity period, but the expiry date is not printed on the card. A physical card expires four years after the date on which it is purchased. Mobile Myki expires after two years. If the card is registered, the holder can see online the date on which the card expires. PTV also contacts the registered 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.
A Myki card that has expired or is expiring in the next 60 days 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 post 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 desired, needs to be set up again. Users can also request a replacement on the PTV website or through the call centre.
History
Myki replaced the
Metcard ticketing system in
metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical)
* Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop
** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see"
* Metropolitan ar ...
Melbourne, and various ticketing systems used by buses in some major regional cities. Work on the new public transport ticketing system for Victoria commenced in late 2002. In June 2003, the
Transport Ticketing Authority
The Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) was a statutory authority within the Department of Transport in the State Government of Victoria, Australia. It was established in June 2003 to manage Victoria's interest in the OneLink Metcard public tran ...
(TTA) was established to procure and manage the new system. On 12 July 2005, the
Kamco
Kamco (Keane Australia Micropayment Consortium Pty Ltd) is the company formed in 2003 to tender for a new public transport ticketing system in Victoria, Australia. It was contracted to provide the Myki ticketing system in 2005. It is a wholly o ...
consortium was awarded the $494 million contract to develop the system, with the completion date being 2007. The consortium was made up of Keane Inc, Ascom, ERG, and Giesecke & Devrient Australasia.
A pilot program was due to begin in early 2007, but was delayed by approximately a year. In February 2008, 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 TTA announced that it had stopped making service payments to the Kamco consortium after April 2007, because the project had not been delivered on schedule.
The first field trial of the new Myki system was held on the
Geelong bus network in late 2007, which identified problems. In August 2008 testing began on the Melbourne suburban train and tram networks.
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

The Melbourne roll-out began in July 2007 with the installation of Myki readers.
Myki became valid for travel on all metropolitan train services, but not trams and buses, from 29 December 2009, though the system of purchasing cards was still cumbersome. On 25 July 2010, Myki coverage was extended to Melbourne metropolitan bus and tram services.
During 2012, the government progressively shut down the Metcard system:
* from the start of 2012, yearly Metcards became unavailable
* from 26 March 2012, monthly and weekly Metcards became unavailable
* from 30 June 2012, "value" Metcards, such as 10x2 hour, 10xEarly Bird, 5xDaily, 5xWeekend Daily, 5xSeniors Daily, 10xCity Saver, Sunday Saver and Off-Peak Daily became unavailable. Only single-use 2-hour, Daily, City Saver and Seniors Daily Metcards continued to be available.
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 station
The Melbourne rail network is a metropolitan Commuter rail, suburban and Rail freight transport, freight rail system serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan rail network is centred around th ...
s, from bus drivers, or from a PTV Hub. The sale of Metcards at Premium (staffed) Metro railway stations was progressively phased out, and ceased entirely during October. The removal of Metcard validators from railway stations started on 12 November 2012. 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.
On 29 December 2012,
Metcard was switched off, and Myki became the only form of ticket valid on Melbourne public transport. On the same day, all Metcard equipment remaining on the system became inoperative.
It was intended that the
Skybus Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport , known locally as Tullamarine Airport, is an international airport serving Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operating 24/7 service, 24 hours a day with on-site parking, shopping and dining, Melbourne Airport is the List of th ...
shuttle bus service (with its own, premium fares) would also accept Myki once the system was fully operational, but this did not happen.
In May 2014, the first Myki electronic gates with a touch screen became operational.
Regional implementation
Myki came into use on regional "commuter" (short-haul) rail services in July 2013,
in a staged process: between Melbourne and
Seymour
Seymour may refer to:
Places Australia
*Seymour, Victoria, a township
** Seymour railway station
* Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria
* Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria
* Se ...
on 24 June, on the
Traralgon
Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the ...
line on 8 July, the
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
line on 17 July, the
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.
Within mo ...
line on 24 July, and the
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...
-
Marshall
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
** Marshall railway station
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Is ...
line on 29 July.
Paper family tickets are available to families travelling within the Myki zone with children below 17 years of age. On 10 November 2013, Myki was introduced on
Wallan
Wallan , traditionally known as Wallan Wallan (large circular place of water), is a town in Victoria, north of Melbourne's Central Business District. The town sits at the southern end of the large and diverse Shire of Mitchell which extends ...
and
Kilmore town buses.
On 25 February 2014, paper tickets for passengers on V/Line commuter services were abolished, and passengers were required to use Myki. Paper tickets remain for travel outside the Myki zone, such as to Warrnambool, Bairnsdale, Swan Hill, Shepparton or Albury. Passengers with Myki Pass who want to travel beyond the Myki area can purchase paper "extension tickets" to cover the rest of their journey.
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant changes to public transport in Victoria during periods of lockdown. Decreased patronage and public health concerns resulted in some changes being made to myki.
On 10 July 2021, the facility to top up on buses was halted and was decided to be completely dropped even after the pandemic to push for topping up on their PTV app.
Several temporary changes to fares were also introduced. A 30% discount for off-peak travel ran from 31 January to 24 August 2021 (defined as trips made between 9:30am and 4pm or after 7pm on weekdays). The stated aim was to decrease overcrowding on public transport vehicles by encouraging people to travel during less busy times of the day wherever possible. Vouchers were released for one day of free public transport travel to encourage more people to visit the central city area. In December 2021, 250,000 vouchers were offered for use. The facility to 'pause' or receive a refund of myki passes previously purchased was made available for periods of lockdown where most travel was banned.
Change of operator
In May 2023, the Public Transport Minister
Ben Carroll announced that
Conduent
Conduent Inc. is an American business services provider company headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey. It was formed in 2017 as a divestiture from Xerox. The company offers digital platforms for businesses and governments. , it had over ...
, a US ticketing company will take over from
NTT Data and operate the Myki ticketing system for 15 years with a A$1.7 billion contract. The changeover will occur on 1 December 2023. In the 18-month tender process, Conduent was chosen as the preferred operator over NTT Data and
Cubic
Cubic may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Cube (algebra), "cubic" measurement
* Cube, a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex
** Cubic crystal system, a crystal system w ...
due to the calls to have a change and Cubic's preference of installing their own ticketing machines, rather than utilising the current
Vix Technology
Vix Technology (Vix) is an Australian company that designs, supplies and operates automated fare collection (AFC) systems, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), access, payment and passenger information display systems (PIDS) for the publi ...
card readers and other infrastructure.
Several new features will be introduced as mandated in the contract, including enabling payment via
credit card and
debit card
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either ...
cards, moving the card-based ticketing system to an account-based system and expanding myki to the regional areas that are currently paper-ticketed. Trials will commence in 2024, where new features will be added progressively but at the same time not rushed in order to prevent the heavily criticised initial introduction filled with technical problems in 2008.
Issues and criticisms
The Myki ticketing system has been criticised on a number of grounds:
* Necessity: Critics, such as the
Public Transport Users Association
The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) is a community-based public transport lobby group in Victoria, Australia, based in Melbourne. It is run entirely by volunteers and has no full-time staff.
History and aims
The organisation was fou ...
, questioned why a new ticketing system was needed when Melbourne already had an adequate one. The Metcard validating equipment already had built-in support for a ''contactless ticket'' (the yellow circles on the front of the former Metcard validators, as well as on Ticket Vending Machines.
* Its total cost of $1.5 billion.
* Extended delivery timeframe. The project began in May 2005 with a scheduled delivery date of March 2007. Full delivery eventually took until 2013.
* Lack of a short-term ticket: The decision not to proceed with the planned introduction of short-term tickets in Melbourne, and to abolish them on regional town bus services, meant that Myki is now one of the world's few ticketing systems on which visitors and occasional users cannot buy a short-term ticket.
A total of 50 million short-term tickets, costing $15 million, were pulped.
* The lack of ticket sales or top up facilities on board trams, a facility which was available under previous ticketing systems. As a result, tram passengers must have bought and topped up a myki before they board the vehicle. Options to do this through the retail network are limited, particularly in the outer suburbs and after hours where Myki retailers (except
7-Eleven
7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings.
The chain was founde ...
) have closed while trams can still be running.
* Privacy: In 2010 the Opposition expressed concern over the data collection and sharing used by Myki, claiming that the Government was breaching its own Information Privacy Act.
Problems
* Controversies over the tendering process. A staff member of the TTA left a
USB flash drive
A flash drive (also thumb drive, memory stick, and pen drive/pendrive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. A typical USB drive is removable, rewritable, and smaller than an optical disc, and u ...
in a room with representatives of one of the bidders. The TTA said this was an accident and that there was no confidential information on the flash drive. Also, the company hired by the TTA early in the process to give it technical advice was part of the winning consortium.
* Increased dwell times: Tests commissioned by the Government in 2007 suggested longer stationary times for trams compared to the Metcard system as a result of passengers needing to touch on and off when boarding and disembarking. As a result, when Myki was made available on trams in 2009 the requirement to touch off was removed.
* Potential for a higher fare to be charged if a user forgets to touch off: The cost of a trip after which the user has not touched off (deliberately or accidentally) may be higher than the fare the passenger would have paid if they had touched off.
* Ticket vending machines receipt issuing: Topping up a Myki using EFTPOS or credit card displays a screen asking the user if they would like a receipt to be printed. If "no" was selected, an EFT transaction record was printed anyway, which contained the credit card user's full name, expiry date and 9 of 16 credit card digits. This was subsequently changed to show only the last four digits of the credit card with the card holder's name no longer printed, and eventually to prevent the printing of receipts when "no" had been selected.
* Newsagents initially refused to sell Myki cards because lower commissions were being offered by the government in comparison to
Metcard.
* Disability Access: Disability groups claimed that several elements of the Myki program would be problematic for users with a disability (particularly people in wheelchairs, or those with cognitive limitations or who lack dexterity) due to the placement of several pieces of equipment. On low-floor trams, Myki readers have been installed at various heights to cater for this. The Government introduced a free Access Travel Pass for users who are unable to use Myki ticketing equipment as a result of a permanent disability.
* On 29 December 2009, the reputation of
Lynne Kosky, the Public Transport Minister at the time, was put into question when Kosky was unable to recall the phone number for commuters to buy a ticket, and a computer error resulted in over 1,600 people receiving new Myki cards with their name incorrectly spelled or printed as 'anonymous'.
* Rules covering faulty cards: The TTA originally stated that passengers who had a faulty Myki card would need to buy a replacement Myki card if they wanted to travel and seek reimbursement later. This replicated the rule for faulty Metcards. Users are now able to go to a staffed railway station to have a faulty Myki replaced on the spot.
* Auto top-up failure problem: Originally, when the auto top-up feature of Myki failed due to insufficient funds, the card was blocked and had to be posted to Myki to be reactivated. Now the auto top-up request is removed from the card, and the original top up amount is reversed from the Myki.
* On 11 June 2015, a Melbourne commuter found her card showed a negative balance of $2,684,350.00.
* Vandalism: Particularly in the early days of myki, there were widespread reports of damage to Myki equipment, with up to 60% of machines being targeted by vandals. Display screens on fare payment devices and card vending machines could be smashed by heavy objects, rendering the displays unusable, or by marker pen, paint or scratching obscuring information. In mid-2013 it was reported that Myki machines at some railway stations had been broken into using portable power tools, in order to raid their cash boxes.
While Myki readers will often still work despite surface vandalism, passengers might not be able to read the information displayed on the reader's screen.
Notes
See also
*
List of smart cards
*
Opal card
Opal is a Proximity card, contactless smartcard automated fare collection, fare collection system for public transport services in the greater Sydney area. Operation of the Opal system is managed by Transport for NSW. First launched in late 2012 ...
– ''Sydney's smartcard ticketing system''
*
Translink go card – ''South East Queensland’s smartcard system''
*
SmartRider
SmartRider is the contactless electronic ticketing system of the Public Transport Authority (Western Australia), Public Transport Authority of Western Australia. The system uses RFID smartcard technology to process public transport fares across ...
– ''Perth's smartcard system''
*
MetroCARD
metroCARD is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for public transport services in the city (and surrounding suburbs) of Adelaide, South Australia. The system is managed by Adelaide Metro and is usable on their bus, train and tram services ...
– ''Adelaide's smartcard system''
References
External links
Myki websiteVictorian Fares and Ticketing ManualPublic Transport Victoria WebsiteBuy a myki and top up
{{Fare collection systems in Australia
Fare collection systems in Australia
Public transport in Melbourne
Contactless smart cards
Companies based in Victoria (state)
2008 establishments in Australia
Transport companies established in 2008