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Myki: Rolling Stock or Laughing Stock?
David Heath
Tuesday, 14 April 2009 06:58
A few months ago, under a Freedom of Information request, Victorian opposition Transport Spokesman Terry Mulder obtained a draft of the "Fares and Ticketing Manual" for the new (??) Melbourne public transport ticketing system. More about the contents in a moment.
More recently, The Age reported, also based on freedom of information-released material, that the intended advertising campaign was predicated on a lead-time of one year, not the currently elapsed four years (and growing). And you'll be very pleased to know that we are expected to think of our train (or bus or tram) as our friend! Friend? Yes, the whole program is built around the desire to create a mental attachment to your smartcard.
As far as I can see, if the project was so warmly welcomed by the travelling public and such a good idea, we'd run to it in our thousands, nay millions. Odd that I've yet to read a single commentator showing the project any favour. Any at all.
So, let's step outside the parochial borders of this fair state for a moment, after-all others have tried such systems.
As reported widely, New South Wales has abandoned their smart-card ticketing system after extensive delays and technical problems although stories are circulating that the divorce might be temporary. The court cases are continuing.
In Brisbane, they claim the newly rolled out system to be a successful system, yet the levels of complaints, misreads refunds and customer errors would suggest otherwise. Reading the range of articles on the Brisbane system, there is one key element that is causing issues and it's one I identified months ago – the scan on /off (particularly off) system. In addition, there are plenty of stories of the Go Card system breaking down.
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