[LINK] myki

[Karl Auer]

I'm in Melbourne for the 2012 IPv6 Summit, and being an adventurer I
thought I would take bus and tram from the airport to the venue. Shuttle
bus into Spencer Street - no problem. Trams everywhere - no problem.
Asked someone which one to take, they gave me the number, no problem.

Now to pay for my ticket. Problem.

Nowhere that I could see was there anything to explain to a visitor how
the system worked. No posters explaining things, no prices. There are
automats everywhere where "myki" cards can be purchased, but what
exactly one is purchasing is completely unclear. There are two different
kinds of card reader in the trams, one works with the myki cards, one
doesn't.

This system is one that has been designed with no thought at all for the
casual user, not least because (wait for it) you have to BUY THE CARD.
Yep, for $6 you get a card that entitles you to nothing at all. To
actually ride, you need to put money on the card. Of course, none of
this is explained anywhere. In the end I just put a random amount of
money into the machine ($20) and it gave me a card with $14 credit on
it. I rode to my destination - I have no clue how much it cost me.

It turns out (from later discussions with a native) that the readers do
display the available credit when touch the card to them, but geez, it
must be brief. Also, the machines where you buy the cards have a touch
pad where they will tell you the remaining credit. The touch pad looks
like an ornament, and it does not have any markings to indicate that it
is a reader or will show you the remaining credit.

At least the cards are anonymous, though I wonder what happens when you
buy with a EFTPOS - does the system link the purchased myki card to the
purchasing card?

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
http://www.biplane.com.au/blog

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