Six years after it was due to be completed, myki has finally been successfully rolled out onto buses and trams across Melbourne.
With the introduction of myki machines on buses and trams the building stage of the smart card system is nearly finished and the teething problems appear to have been mostly fixed.
While progress has been made, many commuters are still frustrated with long lines to top up, faulty machines, and errors with smart cards.
Chief Executive of the Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) Bernie Carolan said “the problems with myki are pretty well known” and there are “customer experience issues” that must be fixed.
Mr. Carolan flagged these issues as card expiration dates, faulty gates and issues when changing bank account details. But commuters have been outraged with the cost blowout and delayed roll out .
The TTA have blamed the cost blow out from $500 million to $1.6 billion on “a lack of understanding of the complexity” of the software and the “unrealistic time frame set” of a 2007 completion date.
A poll measuring public perception on Myki’s performance from 2012-2013
The $1.6 billion project has seen the contractor company Kamco lose $160 million dollars building the ticketing system, yet Kamco chief Greg Purdy is positive about myki’s progress.
“We are exceeding the governments expectations” said Purdy, “considering it is the largest and most complex ticketing system in the world, the system is function very well.”
The Government has been subject to criticism of the project’s significant delays, budget blowouts and scrapping of the short-term ticket option.
Mr. Purdy said the budget blow out was because “the contract was vague” and the system has “exceeded what was asked of the company”.
The biggest criticism Kamco has faced has been the scrapping of short term ticketing system which has left tourists and sporadic commuters left with no option but to slug out $6 to buy a smart card.
Mr. Purdy said the scrapping of the short term ticket was the biggest mistake made by the government and believes it should have never been removed. Despite this the government has no plans to reinstate a short term ticketing solution.
Kamco and the TTA have now moved from the building stage to the operate and maintenance stage.
The facts about myki
- First ticketing smart card ticketing system to be used on all modes of public transport
- Cost the state $1.6 billion so far (2005-2013)
- Works out the cheapest fare possible and automatically deducts this from myki account
- Has 48 concession types and 78 zones
- Has taken seven years to be completed
- Once building is complete myki will have
- 1,000 ticket vending machines
- 12,200 fare payment machines
- 2,500 bus driver consoles
- 1,000 tram driver consoles
- 1,500 hand held devices for public transport operator staff
- 220 train station gates
- 220 ticket office terminals
- 900 retail terminal
Struggling to work out how to use your myki?
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