Australian State May Scrap Myki Transit Smart Card

In a major turnaround in plans, lawmakers in the Australian state of Victoria reportedly have proposed scrapping the Myki transit card system.

Local newspaper the Herald Sun on Dec. 28 reported that the Victorian government will conduct a two-month review of the AU$1.3 billion smart card system before making a final decision.

Victoria, whose government saw a new party take power recently, has put the brakes on the planned introduction of Myki to V/Line regional services and has ordered the abandonment of plans to switch off the existing Metcard system by Easter, the newspaper reported.

The Herald Sun quoted Edward Baillieu, premier of the new Victorian government, as saying that the Myki card system has been a financial and functional disaster. PaymentsSource was unable to immediately contact officials from the Victorian Transport Authority or Bailieu for comment.

In July, the previous Victorian government extended the use of the Myki smart card transit system to include trams and buses (see story). 

But problems with Myki, which was designed to replace a number of ticketing systems in Victoria, primarily the Metcard (metropolitan Melbourne) and V/Line (regional) systems, began even before its rollout. The system was delayed after its launch in 2007 until the end 2009 because of a variety of issues, including technological and financial problems.

In October 2009, the system drew criticism for overcharging customers (see story). A month later, pilot participants in the Melbourne suburb of Geelong complained of faulty card readers and overcharging (see story). 

The problems continued in April 2010, when the system was unable to adjust fares for senior cardholders automatically, forcing operators to manually adjust their accounts (see story).

Some 430,000 Myki cards are in circulation in Victoria, and 25,000 to 30,000 travelers are using them to access trains.

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