Myki delays send warning

Jessica Benton
GEELONG bus users have warned State Government to improve its new $1.3 billion myki ticketing system before rolling it out across the Victoria.
Commuters blamed myki for delays and confusion after all Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula buses switched to the “smartcard” system in a trial last week.
Department of Transport plans to expand the system to all bus, tram and trains around Victoria after the trial.
Public Transport Users Association Geelong branch convenor Paul Westcott said myki had endured “teething” problems in its first week of the trial.
He accused the sate of using Geelong public transport users as “guinea pigs” to test a system designed for Melbourne.
“With fundamental changes like this, I think there needed to be more warning and information delivered to users on how the system worked,” Mr Westcott said.
“State Government has blown out its original expenditure of the system and the timescale has also blown out.
The whole system was supposed to be up and running last year but here we are still struggling to get it trialed in Geelong.”
Mr Westcott said the branch had called on the region’s MPs to pressure the Government into improving the situation.
Geelong commuter Don Gibson described the new ticketing system as “amateurish”.
“I thought that if we had a new ticketing system then the customer would have an improvement but so far there has been no improvement,” he said.
“At worst, it’s deteriorated.”
Mr Gibson said the system was causing delays because commuters had to buy cards at a myki outlet before swiping them at the beginning and end of each journey.
The system also charged users higher fares and penalties if they used the cards incorrectly, he said.
Member for Geelong Ian Trezise pledged to meet the public transport association but labelled myki “state of the art”.
“If there are any issues they’ll be teething issues and they’ll be ironed out by the authority,” he said.
“Overall, I think it’ll prove to be a world-class ticketing system. The State Government is committed to providing an effective and efficient bus system in Geelong.”
Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said educating users about myki was key to its success.
“Here in Geelong the transport ticketing authority has sought to engage users directly by establishing a presence in Ryrie Street and by having myki mates travelling on the bus network talking to people and selling the myki packs.”
Ms Kosky said “initial delays” should be expected until myki service providers and commuters settled into the new system.
Feedback suggested the service was “working well”, she said.