Myki

AzN_dj · Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:55 pm

Hey I have some questions about Myki.

If you are travelling from Zone 1 into Zone 2 is it REALLY necessary to scan off? They did mention that you would be charged the maximum fare if you do not scan off, but now zone 3 is gone, wouldn't the maximum fare be a zone 1+2 ticket?
Also, is it necessary to scan off with a student yearly? I see no point wasting my time scanning on and off and on and off unless i was back in hong kong on MTR. Its probably inconvenient for trams and buses ESPECIALLY during peak hour and after school (buses) and most tram and bus trips are one zone anyway. Even Smartbuses! They should make it default charge for the zone scanned in, and if you are found sumwhere else in the network later scanned on, it will charge you for two zones. after all, its a SMART card, right? It should be able to work out that there are no cross town bus services (or its really difficult to get around melbourne using buses) so charge two zones right? and plus to transfer between buses, you would have to scan anyway.
I can justify trains, but if they were strict on fare evasion, why don't they have gates at all stations, like in the city? If sum1 cant get out, they juz call for help from a nearby speaker box which all stations have installed.
Will the Myki have as much uses as Hong Kong Octopus? I really enjoyed using Octopus wherever i went. School for roll call, library, Maccas, access to estates, vending machines, etc. It will be great for primary kids at school canteens as many little children have trouble counting change (well, have trouble just counting) and tend to lose money. If parents are scared they'll lose the card, why not embed it into a watch? after all its just a silion chip, no?
Also, why the name Myki? In hong kong, its called octopus, in london its called oyster, so why not stick with the trend? Call it Squid! Razz

What if i dont like green?
What if i go gunzelling around melbourne on the train network (i.e joy ride on train network to ends and back(e.g catch train to hurstbridge, back to clifton hill and up to epping, back to city loop and down to sandringham back to richmond, change, go to box hill, change trains and return to flinders street) and return to flinders 4 hours later? How will the system know i didnt just have a 4 hour long chat with my mate before he got on his train? how about if I do have a 4 hour long chat with my mate before he got on his train?

thanks to who-ever answers my never-ending list of questions.

Jason R · Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:33 pm

Hello Asian DJ, and welcome to Railpage Australia™. Allow me to enlighten you to some basic principles of forum etiquette which we try to adhere to. Following them will ensure that your questions will be more likely to be answered and treated more seriously.

It is not necessary to post the same questions in three different threads. We will read it even if you only post it once.

It appears that you attend Melbourne High School - and as such, you should be aware of the usage of proper English. You are asking someone to read your questions, possibly do some research and type out an answer for you. The least you could do is treat them with the respect of a properly worded question. Improper use of punctuation, capitalisation and SMS-speak such as "sum1", "juz" and "sumthing" does not give this impression.

Except General Motors.

Metlink · Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:28 pm

wow that post hurt my eyes, im going to bed now.... Shocked

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Z181 · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:14 am

FencePost · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:09 am

Question? Whats the difference between filing out through an entrance handing your ticket to the eagle eyed station assistant (sorry if you aren't old enough to remember this practice!) and running a card past a reader.

I also use an Octopus card when in Hong Kong - even gets you into the races! - Its a simple and very fast system. If Myki is half as good it will be a popular winner.

psr85 · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:50 am

Gwiwer · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:02 am

A plastic card electronically encoded with validity cannot be read by a human unless they have a scanner.

Metcard has always had scanners available which have seldom if ever been used, so will the myki card be the same or not? Your guess is as good as mine.

TransAdelaide use scanners and can prove whether or not you validated your ticket on board the train you're aboard (as is required there); Melbourne's operators raised objections to the scanners supplied by ERG for use with Metcard so they sit idel in depots to this day.

Smart cards have the potential (as with Hong Kong's Octopus card) to add extra features such as store discounts, events admission and even loyalty schemes. But let's get the basics running correctly first, eh?

jfan · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:46 pm

Z181 · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 5:03 pm

AzN_dj · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:51 pm

Well the metcard system does have something similar to myki already inbuilt if any of you guys have seen the white cards (sometimes referred to as metcard express). Why are they not available to public use?

Oh well, as long as myki is half as good as octopus, then I'm happy.

(Ok Jason R, I used correct syntax this time around, and neglected to use slang. Happy?)

Somebody in the WWW · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:07 pm

IIRC they cost around ~$25 to manufacture - thats why Smile

Banned

Gwiwer · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:10 pm

Metcard Express (aka "staff pass" , "EFTA" (Electronic Free Travel Authority, or the "white card" of the post above - even though they're multi-coloured) was intended at one stage to be used for long-term periodical tickets such as yearly and scholars term passes.

It could in theory have been used for any travel option if the system had been fully programmed.

In reality the cards were issued to staff for use as a pilot trial, along with "Barrier Access Cards" which were similar but not valid for travel, and would be used by, for example, staff employed by retail outlets such as Red Engine which operate inside the paid area on certain stations.

Staff were also required to carry a photo ID card since the Metcard Express was simply the travel ticket but did not carry any visible identity on it - it could therefore easily have been passed to others to use and it is known that some staff hve been disciplined for this breach of conditions.

The programming proved insufficiently robust; the hardware failed to operate as intended reliably at all times; staff raised objections to having to carry two passes instead of one for travel in the metro area (their ID being sufficient on non-Metcard country trains and road services), and the cards themselves were ludicrously expensive to recharge and replace.

For reasons which might never be known validators on many trams would electronically expire the EFTA cards whic then had to be returned in person to the pass office at the then Spencer Street station, during business hours, for replacement. This was a time consuming and inconvenient procedure for all concerned, generating paperwork and necessitating defective EFTA cards to be returned to their manufacturer in Switzerland for replacement.

Rogue "spots" (those yellow spots you can see on all validators) across the system also failed to rad and interpret the electronic data correctly and reliably; most were perfectly good but by no means all, again causing inconvenience for the user as they often needed to find a staff member to release an exit barrier at a City station for them.

In short the Metcard Express system was not a success and although it was kept as the staff travel scheme its use was never extended to the general public as had been intended

Proudly a Myki-free zone

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anothermelbournite · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:18 pm

AzN_dj · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:51 pm

What about the colour? I dont like green!

Oh another random question: Why are metcards blue?

Somebody in the WWW · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:59 pm