[LINK] myki

Frank O'Connor francisoconnor3 at bigpond.com
Tue Oct 16 06:57:12 AEDT 2012


Welcome to Myki ... a $1.5 billion public transport turkey that has now been espoused by two governments of different political persuasions who obviously believe "if the wheel hasn't been invented here, it's now worth having". 

Not for them the tried and tested options for computerised/electronic ticketing that have been used both overseas or in other states .... No. What they wanted was something that costs about the same as the public transport system in most small countries, that the customer could be charged for opting in on (that $6 fee you mention), that is pretty well negotiable by anyone who picks up said card, and which may or may not work on any given trip depending on how well the readers are connected to the radio system that connects to the infrastructure they had to put in place.

It gets worse.

To use any of the facilities that make it easier to use you have to register the card in your own name. Whilst this does make the puppy easier to use (to check balances, update accounts, add funds online, itemise trips etc etc) it does mean that the card can be used to track your trips around Melbourne and its environs quite extensively ... and the state government ... and the privately run transport system operators ... have admitted that they are providing said data to the police and other interested parties as a feature of the system.

It's a real gem ... and we have Victorian politicians from both the Left and Right to thank for it.

As I've said before (in relation to the renewable energy debate ... and more specifically wind based power generation ... that crops up now and then on List) ... You see, here in Victoria we have the Bailleau government which is based in the Stone Ages of electronic ticketing systems, civil liberties, and privacy, and energy generation and town planning and ...
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On 16/10/2012, at 12:27 AM, Karl Auer <kauer at biplane.com.au> wrote:

> 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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