Melbourne Public Transport (Part II)

[jarf]

The Metcard barriers are useless. Then again, they've been in constant use for 13 years now. The new myki barriers are a million times better.

Originally Posted by Maxwell the Lesser

First one worked Ok for months then died inexplicably and took a long time to get replaced.

They can be replaced on the spot at the myki Discovery Centre at Southern Cross, but it takes up to ten working days for the balance to transfer to the new card.

[TheSentinel]

Originally Posted by city_thing

How is Myki going for everyone these days?

I finally just ordered one. Have used SmartRider/Oyster/Octopus cards before with great success - but I don't think any of those systems had quite the errors Myki has had.

Every now and again I see someone on the tram getting spoken to by an inspector for not swiping their cards properly.

Thats just it, people don't know how to use it. They don't care to listen or learn only complain.

If you touch it on the reader correctly (which isn't hard to do) they work every time without fail. Its when people insist on leaving them in their wallet, touch the wrong area or hold the card in their fist only near the reader and not on it they don't work correctly.

However the gates at stations do have the reader in an awkward position to touch it correctly in a hurry. Im sure the new barriers will rectify this issue as they will be myki dedicated.

[Nick R]

TheSentinel, faulty readers are common on the buses I use. For some reason the one at the front seems to not work fairly often, and we must use the ones by the back door.

I must admit I get frustrated by the constant tagging on and tagging off. Previously where I needed to validate once at the start of a trip, I am now supposed to tag on and off six times to get through the fare gates (to take my rail journey with short bus and tram connections at either end). Is it really necessary that I prove my weekly pass is still valid sixty times a week?

Are there any new barriers in use yet, apart from the display models at the discovery centre?

[John_Proctor]

yes there are 2 myki only barriers at Parliament station. they are at hte Collins/Bourke station exit at the far left when you come up the escalators (near the exit to east side of Spring Street).

I've used them once, not particularly any better than the normal metcard gates.


agree that generally it is that people are too ignorant/impatient to let it work properly. I've never had an issue that was any worse then the issues I used to have with metcard, i.e. once a month the gate I'm trying to get throuhg doesn't work for some reason therefore try another gate and it does work.

[TheSentinel]

Originally Posted by Nick R

TheSentinel, faulty readers are common on the buses I use. For some reason the one at the front seems to not work fairly often, and we must use the ones by the back door.

I must admit I get frustrated by the constant tagging on and tagging off. Previously where I needed to validate once at the start of a trip, I am now supposed to tag on and off six times to get through the fare gates (to take my rail journey with short bus and tram connections at either end). Is it really necessary that I prove my weekly pass is still valid sixty times a week?

Are there any new barriers in use yet, apart from the display models at the discovery centre?

So funny you mention the 'front door' readers. The bus is different because they prefer every one to enter through the front door to pay for their ticket if they don't have one. Now think about a tram on Swanston street with a small front door and 30 people trying to single file in and all tap on the one reader there, any wonder its left out of service to try and get people to go to the other doors! How frustrated is the driver...

As for the constant on and off touching its again and education thing; Traveling on the train you MUST touch on and off. This is to activate the card so it will open the gates if you get off at a gated station. The bus is a touch on only to show the driver you have a valid ticket, touch off in the bus only if you require the lowest possible fair. Same for the tram touch on, if the inspector gets in it shows you touched on and your myki is a weekly, monthly, 2-hours pass what ever it may be. But you only touch off from the tram if you are using myki money and your traveling only in zone 2 this will ensure the correct zone 2 fair. The default myki tram fare with myki money is a 2-hour ticket.

[Gobillino]

Originally Posted by TheSentinel

As for the constant on and off touching its again and education thing; Traveling on the train you MUST touch on and off.

I use a Myki Pass and seldom touch off on the train (usually only do so if there's a gate at the end of my journey) and never have any problems.

[Nick R]

Originally Posted by TheSentinel

Traveling on the train you MUST touch on and off. This is to activate the card so it will open the gates if you get off at a gated station. The bus is a touch on only to show the driver you have a valid ticket, touch off in the bus only if you require the lowest possible fair.

My frustration is that when coming back from work I touch on on the bus (in zone 1, with a zone 1 weekly, on a bus that only goes through zone 1) and am required to touch on again a few minutes later at the station in order to be able to get out at my destination station which is also in zone 1. The point being if I have a pass valid all week for zone 1, and I start my journey in zone 1 and end my journey in zone 1 without every going through zone 2, why shouldn't it let me out of the fare gate?

My personal view is that ticketing systems should be as simple and transparent as possible. They are a means to collect revenue, they provide no benefit for the users and can only be measured in terms of whether they are a large inconvenience or only a minor one.

In my opinion the shift from validating once per journey to the technical requirement to tag on and usually off every vehicle one uses for that journey is a step backwards. People may say it is just a matter of education, but educating people to jump through hoops correctly in order to use public transport is a lesser outcome than not having hoops in the first place.

Three more little gripes while I'm at it:
1) For some inexplicable reason you can buy a one week pass, or a pass between four weeks and a year... but no two or three week pass. I assume this is a carry over from the Metcard weekly/monthly passes (sort of, as the monthlies become four-weeklies). You can however buy one weekly pass, remove your card from the machine, put it back on and buy a second weekly pass in a second transaction. The card can handle two weeks of pass, so why not just make two weeks an option in the first place?

2) The screen of an idle Myki machine invites you to 'place your myki here' and points to the card reader. If you do this your only option is to top up myki money. If you want to top up a myki pass you have to touch the screen first then put the card on the reader. Why?

3) When paying by eftpos or credit, the main screen of the myki machine continues to display 'insert card' right through the full eftpos transaction process, while the little LCD on the keypad says remove card, select account, enter pin etc. More than once I've seen people confused by this, repeatedly reinserting their card waiting for the screen to register it.

[Shumway]

Do they have any idea when they will turn metcard off? A friend of mine was blabbing on Facebook that he had got a metcard so "no myki till 2012" but that didn't seem right considering a yearly is the max anyway.

Our companies "commuter club" will be issuing us with 365 day myki cards at the start of next year. Apparently metcards were a no go anymore.

[jarf]

^ It's scheduled for some time in the second quarter of 2011.

[Nick R]

I heard Easter weekend is when Metcard will be switched off.

[Shumway]

Originally Posted by jarf

^ It's scheduled for some time in the second quarter of 2011.

Originally Posted by Nick R

I heard Easter weekend is when Metcard will be switched off.

Hmm... lol I think he is going to be mad then. He's made a real fuss about Myki haha.

[lozza]

Originally Posted by John_Proctor

agree that generally it is that people are too ignorant/impatient to let it work properly. .

well................ for a 500 million dollar blowout with Labor mis managing OUR taxes it would want to bloody work properly ( Dick Heads they are! )

[Eureka!]

Irrelevant politically motivated comment much?

[jpatokal]

Originally Posted by TheSentinel

Thats just it, people don't know how to use it. They don't care to listen or learn only complain.

If you touch it on the reader correctly (which isn't hard to do) they work every time without fail. Its when people insist on leaving them in their wallet, touch the wrong area or hold the card in their fist only near the reader and not on it they don't work correctly.

So it's not myki that's busted, but everybody using it?

It's not rocket science to build a functioning card reader that works even if you leave your card in your wallet or tap it against the reader instead of holding it in place. This is in fact precisely what I always did when living in Singapore: a swift 'bomp' of the wallet on the reader, and hey presto, the gate opens. Why this seems to be beyond myki's capabilities is beyond me.

[jarf]

It must be the people using it. I've never taken my myki out of my wallet, and except for a short delay at barriers it works within a second every time.

[L2]

It took the Epping line 50 minutes to get from Preston to Clifton Hill in the afternoon peak hour today, on top of the train being 5 minutes late when I got on it. Was hoping just to go up to Preston, do what I needed to (took about 1hr) and get back to the city (then onward to the palace ) but felt like an eternity getting back from there.

And of course there was some weirdo walking up and down the cars rambling about crap. Oh and it was so great to move out of Croxton (after sitting there for 15mins) and get to Northcote, then sit for another 20mins.

How absolutely hopeless

[city_thing]

I went through Preston for the first time a few weeks ago... the main shopping strip isn't actually that bad. Apparently there's an awesome Szechuan restaurant there too.

[gappa]

Originally Posted by city_thing

I went through Preston for the first time a few weeks ago... the main shopping strip isn't actually that bad. Apparently there's an awesome Szechuan restaurant there too.

Probably the noodle place which has the acient kung fu noodle making man in the front window.

Good dumplings too.

[Alphaville]

Originally Posted by city_thing

I went through Preston for the first time a few weeks ago... the main shopping strip isn't actually that bad. Apparently there's an awesome Szechuan restaurant there too.

High St, Preston is amazing.

Best Italian in Melbourne. Kills Lygon St.

[Nick R]

Originally Posted by jarf

It must be the people using it. I've never taken my myki out of my wallet, and except for a short delay at barriers it works within a second every time.

I hoping that the range and speed will be noticably better once the roll out the custom built Myki barriers to replace the retrofitted Metcard ones.

Must go test the ones at Parliament.