Where can I currently use myki?Link: http://www.vline.com.au/fares-and-tickets/tickets/myki.html
myki can be used on:Regional town buses in Ballarat, Geelong, Bendigo, Seymour and the Latrobe Valley.
- all metropolitan trains, trams and buses within Zones 1 + 2;
- V/Line trains travelling:
- Wholly within metropolitan Melbourne Zones 1 + 2 , (between Melbourne and Ardeer, Deer Park, Rockbank, Melton, Diggers Rest, Sunbury, Craigieburn, and Pakenham).
- On the Geelong line, all stations between and including Melbourne and Marshall.
- On the Ballarat line, all stations between and including Melbourne and Wendouree.
- On the Bendigo line, all stations between and including Melbourne and Eaglehawk.
- On the Seymour line, All stations between and including Melbourne and Seymour.
- On the Gippsland line, all stations between and including Melbourne and Traralgon.
myki cannot currently be used on:
- V/Line train and coach services outside the V/Line commuter station areas (listed above)....
if Myki is valid on the Frankston to Portsea service, then logically it should be valid on the Frankston to Cowes service as well.The Cowes - Frankston bus only runs once every 2 weeks (!!) so while Myki may be introduced on it in the future the last time I spoke with the driver he wasn't aware of being able to accept Myki and - as per the timetable - would only accept pre-booked passengers anyway. As a public transport asset it's not exactly in the first league nor the most user-friendly of options.
The Cowes - Frankston bus only runs once every 2 weeks (!!) so while Myki may be introduced on it in the future the last time I spoke with the driver he wasn't aware of being able to accept Myki and - as per the timetable - would only accept pre-booked passengers anyway. As a public transport asset it's not exactly in the first league nor the most user-friendly of options.I think I found my own answer in the 2013 Victorian Public Transport Student Concession
The 788 Frankston - Portsea bus is rather more frequent. And since when did logic and public transport co-exist happily?
Of the few people who might make the trip from Cowes at all often I suspect most would use the ferry and Stony Point train which offer 2 - 4 journey options every day. V/Line offers the main PT service for all points between Cowes - Tooraddin then continues to Melbourne with Z2 bus connections available at no additional cost (per V/Line ticketing conditions) via Cranbourne or Dandenong for Frankston.
No community is served exclusively by the Cowes - Frankston bus though it is the only service along part of the Baxter - Tooraddin Road.
Here's one for those who think I only defend myki at every turn:It is true that barriers are set to 'walk through' mode in one direction. Two problems with this are that you don't know which/if barrier(s) are set to this mode and this program isn't permanent. You can set banks of barriers to operate in different modes during different times of the day. Barriers will automatically become one-way during the morning and afternoon peaks. This will override the 'walk through' setting unless someone has set it to be permanent.
I've noticed that barrier staff can set a barrier to allow people to exit only, without touching off. The paddles are normally closed, but open for you when you walk up to them from inside the station, regardless of if you touch your myki. I assume this is an attempt to clear crowds faster, and so busy staff don't have to deal with everyone who hasn't touched on - they just tell them to walk thu a closed barrier, which is confusing at first.
This can lead to the following problem:
I just want to get thru the barrier as quickly as possible, so I slap my myki on the reader as soon as I can reach, and leave it there while I continue up to the paddle, usually walking into it before it opens because they're so slow. If I do this on a barrier set to allow anyone to exit, the paddles actually open before I reach them, and before the reader has finished touching off my card. I used to assume that some barriers were just fast (silly me), but now I see what's happening: the paddles are opening regardless.
So this is a problem. It's ok for me, because I have a monthly and don't need to touch off. But others who assume that when the barriers open you're touched off will be default fared and not realise how.
When people realise that this can happen, queues to exit will get even longer because everyone will have to check if the reader really did touch them off when the paddles opened.
I have a question about on the spot Myki replacement.If you touched on, and your card stopped working when you tried to touch off, you would forfeit your 2-hour pass unless you submitted a request for credit to myki directly.
Suppose I take a soon to be expiring Myki to a train station and get it replaced. [EDIT: Suppose I take public transport to get to the staffed station and so I have an active product, e.g. zone 1 2 hour] Will it be on the replacement card or will I lose that one and have to pay for it again when I go back?
I rang the PTV call centre but they didn't know the answer.
If you touched on, and took your card to a station to transfer the remaining credit, I believe your card would then have a $0.00 balance but you will still have the active pass until it expires. (Your replacement card would show a $0.00 balance until the next day)Thanks for your answer. The Myki website says that for a working Myki, the balance is transferred instantly, so it should appear instantly on the new card.
It is true that barriers are set to 'walk through' mode in one direction. Two problems with this are that you don't know which/if barrier(s) are set to this mode and this program isn't permanent. You can set banks of barriers to operate in different modes during different times of the day. Barriers will automatically become one-way during the morning and afternoon peaks. This will override the 'walk through' setting unless someone has set it to be permanent.Thanks for that info.
As for being charged the default fare, Myki always assumes you are travelling towards zone 1. I can't think of any stations in zone two that have a bank of barriers that are set to all-closed. So the only barriers that you may encounter would probably be at a zone 1 station. So if you have touched on, by default you will be charged a zone 1 2-hour fare.
(Although PTV will miss out on traveller statistics if you don't touch off). Oh and you may receive a letter from the nosey NSA asking you to touch off to save their analysts having to manually review video footage.
I can't speak for trains, but on a bus the driver must manually set the route. If a passenger does not touch off, it is assumed the passenger travelled to the end of the route.They should, but they don't always do that, which can result in overcharging because the bus thinks it's in the wrong zone and charges you accordingly.
I can't speak for trains, but on a bus the driver must manually set the route. If a passenger does not touch off, it is assumed the passenger travelled to the end of the route.Does this mean if I travel on a bus that travels entirely within Zone 1 that I don't have to touch off (in theory?).
In theory, yes.Portarlington is in zone 5. Check McHarrys web site under Fare and Myki Information. Link is : http://www.mcharrys.com.au/fareprices.html
Just as if you were on a bus in Portarlington, you should only be charged zone 6? And not zones 6-1 if the terminal is set up correctly.
Does this mean if I travel on a bus that travels entirely within Zone 1 that I don't have to touch off (in theory?).Correct, but given the unreliability of the system as a whole I would never endorse that to a passenger. Some drivers don't login to the BDC due to various issues; logging in can take several minutes and the route codes do not correlate with the route number nor the desto code, so after a changeover a driver may opt to just get on the road and log in later or not at all. Other drivers are lazy and/or just refuse to have anything to do with Myki.
Correct, but given the unreliability of the system as a whole I would never endorse that to a passenger. Some drivers don't login to the BDC due to various issues; logging in can take several minutes and the route codes do not correlate with the route number nor the desto code, so after a changeover a driver may opt to just get on the road and log in later or not at all. Other drivers are lazy and/or just refuse to have anything to do with Myki.To add to that, I heard of cases where V/Line passengers were charged a default fare to Ballarat if they didn't touch off on trams in Melbourne.
The front Myki reader (not the BDC) has a tendency to break due to a poor cable design within the poles on the MAN/CB30 buses. The whole network system tends to break apart due to excessive vibration on the Scania K-series/CB60 Evo II buses. There are numerous GPS issues too.