Taking the Myki

David Heath
Sunday, 02 March 2008 08:27

Your IT - Home IT

Myki is the all-new public ticketing system about to be rolled out in Victoria.  Or is it? 

One day, our elected officials will realise it’s not always about them.  That the decisions they make for technical expediency are not necessarily the best for the people they represent.  That strictly business decisions, while admirable, are not the best domain of those who are entrusted with developing the social architecture.

They dabble in business and typically find themselves outmanoeuvred by teams of corporate lawyers, but pretend it didn’t happen in order to move on to the next Great Event.  Toll roads, airports, retail developments, even theme parks fall victim to the utter self-belief that a career politician is an astute businessman.

Here in Melbourne, we have the soon-to-be-opened toll road that we were promised would never be tolled; the sea-side public open space that would be kept in tune with its surroundings and the public transport system that…. well, who knows what it might have been without incessant meddling (or should I say ‘bumbling?).

The latest Grand Scheme revolves around a new ticketing system, although what makes it any better than the last is entirely beyond me – especially given both the impending problems and the astonishing difficulty they’ve thus-far had in making it work.

For the non-Victorians in the audience, here’s how it works.  You pre-purchase a stored-value smartcard-based “Myki.”  Like every other solution, its credit-card sized.  Whenever you step onto a bus, tram or train you wave the card at a reader; whenever you step off, you again scan the card to allow the system to determine how far you went.  You can ‘register’ your card with the authorities so that if it’s lost, they can cancel it and transfer the balance to a new one.

The scheme is now 15 months overdue and they’re telling us the next trial won’t be until later this year.  Meanwhile the old system is slowly crashing around their ears – equipment breakdowns lack of parts etc.

Just a few weeks ago, the New South Wales government cancelled their own equivalent system with delays, cost over-runs and the lack of any clear viable outcome anywhere in sight.  Victoria’s government is considering something similar.  Unfortunately, in Victoria’s case, there isn’t a fall-back position as NSW has already bought up all the spare (obsolete) equipment from Queensland.

This article will give Victoria’s politicians a few more reasons to consider cancelling it.