Myki

The continuing stupidity of government is highlighted by the sending of good money after bad.

The Myki ticketing "system" is overpriced and overdue, the government has tipped additional funds and allowed extended time to get this thing "working".

The current system, Metcard, has a huge flaw in government's eyes - it does not track users! Big Brother government wants to surveil our travel on an individual basis rather than on a group basis.

Also the user of the Metcard has the power to control their costs by picking the right combination of tickets - for instance, starting work before 7 am (using Early Bird ticket) and using a two hour ticket validated 1 minute after the hour (giving me three hours to get home) meant my daily commute cost $2.90 from Laverton to Elsternwick and return.

I have downloaded the 8Mb Myki 120 page ticketing guide, looks like the same system is available, do that is okay UNLESS the train is delayed and then the "touch off" will be after the 7 am point and a two hour charge will be made.

I can choose to be anonymous which I will.

A new "feature" is that no longer is there a Monthly ticket which can give 28, 29, 30 or 31 days travel - the new regime is 28-365 days so rather a ticket initially validated 7 October expiring 6 November costing $5.45 a day, under Myki 31 days is $5.56 per day.

The biggest issue though is the touch on/touch off requirement - the traveler is responsible for the process even if the machinery ias not working!!  This is bizarre - machines have no discretion, to say you can't use an airplane without a valid ticket is a spurious argument as your ticket is checked by the flight attendants before you board, maybe we need train/tram attendants to check tickets (we could call them conductors, maybe).