Travelling is not always about the flying.....

[Himeno]

What really amazes me is why cities always seem to want to redevelop the wheel from scratch. Why do that, with all its problems and false starts, when there are plenty of excellent schemes in operation elsewhere? So maybe you have to adjust your fare system - so what? That's got to be simpler than going through the horror that has been the development of Opal and Myki.

They likely think that their network/system/fare structure is different, so a different ticket system is required.
They should at least grab an existing system that is similar and adapt from that, not just build a new system from scratch.

Sydney and Melbourne have zone based systems. So do London, Paris and the Netherlands. Why could they not grab one of those as a base?

Looking into this more, it's even more insane.
A Melbourne based company created the Hong Kong (Octopus), San Fransisco (Clipper), Singapore (EZ-Link), and Seattle (ORCA) systems, among others. They created Melbourne's old Metcard system. Why couldn't they create what would become Myki?

 

[leadman]

At least we have public transport.

Some cities do not have public transport or very limited public transport.

Every city has public transport, just depends on the type and the class. I grade it as official and unofficial! Being a non-driver I have never been to a city that does not have a good system of public transport, many are just not to western standards. To my shocked American colleagues I love catching the 115 from Manchester Blv to Firestone in LA, passing through the "gang" areas. Firstly they did not know it existed, and would never ever catch it. And catching the public bus in Karachi, amazing, but I still have not climbed on top of the roof yet!

 

[Ausbt]

The Opal system is just so slow to process passenger entry/exists. In fact leaving aside the CBD stations it has slowed down a lot of the network. Even my local station, which did not have barriers before, has now become a choke-point as the touch-off system means 50 people have to queue around two Opal poles. Hard to believe millions were spent on something that delivers less functionality. Now they are talking about putting in un-jumpable barrier - how ridiculous. I need to jump those barriers from time-to-time, when the card fails to read or the gates just randomly close. We are going to now spend more money on a system that will force me to go to the one manned (and/or woman-ed) gate to exit.

Public transport should be free and funded by a congestion charge for cars in a 5 km radius of the CBD. As far a cyclists go, I'd be happy to see them being actually paid to ride (or at least be able to buy bikes tax free).

 

[sjd]

Have been since the start of 2015. There is signage about the free travel zone and announcements on board. Apparently beggars are now aggressively targetting passengers in the free city zone knowing that there are few if any ticket checkers on board.

I wondered what the unintended consequences of this might be.

 

[sjd]

At least we have public transport.

Some cities do not have public transport or very limited public transport.

Don't just wave away our first world problems JohnK!

 

[Himeno]

Hearing more about Opal just makes me wonder, they should have just contracted JR to come run/manage the system.

 

[TomVexille]

Hearing more about Opal just makes me wonder, they should have just contracted JR to come run/manage the system.

Metro in Melbourne is a joint venture led by the Hong Kong MTR corp. And while that has nothing to do with how well Myki works, it does show that bringing in a foreign operator doesn't spell success in Australia

 

[smit0847]

I found seouls metro very complex. Taipeis and New York were excellent

 

[Demon_fan]

Myki isn't perfect but as a non regular train commuter, I have absolutely loved it since it's introduction. I have my myki card and it automatically tops up when it's down to $10. Has made catching public transport so much easier for me.

In terms of systems I have used and loved. Seoul & Hong Kong are equal first for me. The fact you can top at many places like convenience stores and McDonald's just makes it so easy. Even better is that you can use your credit at those places as well.

 

[jastel]

As a tourist Sydneys Opal card, while decades late, works OK...until you need to top it up.
Cant be done at a rail station...need to find a 7/11 store.
Major FAIL....couldn't believe this in 2014 when I finally bought one.

 

[medhead]

I haven't experienced any of the so-called slowness with Opal. Or any need to jump gates. The only time the gate hasn't opened is when I've not had enough cash. And that was getting on the train, not off. I do notice lots of people ignoring the no credit double deep on the bus.

Apparently Opal can now be topped up at train stations.

 

[harvyk]

I found seouls metro very complex. Taipeis and New York were excellent

+1 for Taipei, easily the best public transport I've ever seen.

 

[TomVexille]

As a tourist Sydneys Opal card, while decades late, works OK...until you need to top it up.
Cant be done at a rail station...need to find a 7/11 store.
Major FAIL....couldn't believe this in 2014 when I finally bought one.

At least it's possible to buy a paper ticket in Sydney though...

 

[jsoprano]

As a tourist Sydneys Opal card, while decades late, works OK...until you need to top it up.
Cant be done at a rail station...need to find a 7/11 store.
Major FAIL....couldn't believe this in 2014 when I finally bought one.

Happened to me at SYD Domestic just before New Years. The ticket windows downstairs at the station doesn't sell them, they send me to the WHSmith store in T2 (which apparently is/was the only Opal vendor at Domestic?). They were out of Opal cards, so had to buy a normal Airport Train ticket into the city and then buy my Opal there...

So while the first impression was "OMG, Myki all over again!", once I had it and used it it worked well, and also the different caps that apply made it actually much cheaper than using a MyMulti as we had done previously.

 

[kevrosmith]

Apparently Opal can now be topped up at train stations.

https://www.opal.com.au/en/news/opalnews/news_4february2015.html

As at 4-Feb-2015:
"The first Opal top up machines will begin appearing at stations next month so customers can add value to their Opal card on-the-go."

 

[dajop]

Sydney and Melbourne have zone based systems. So do London, Paris and the Netherlands. Why could they not grab one of those as a base?

Although in suburban Melbourne the zonal systems is reducing in size from 3 to 2 to now 1.5 (Zone 2 and Zone 1+2). It sort of sucks that to travel from somewhere 2 stops from the CBD into the CBD is now the same fare as travelling from Frankston to Sunbury.

Also, what complicated myki is Vline commuter services (which from memory has 13 zones), although London is not dissimilar, and flat fare bus services in Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong.

 

[JohnK]

Every city has public transport, just depends on the type and the class. I grade it as official and unofficial! Being a non-driver I have never been to a city that does not have a good system of public transport, many are just not to western standards. To my shocked American colleagues I love catching the 115 from Manchester Blv to Firestone in LA, passing through the "gang" areas. Firstly they did not know it existed, and would never ever catch it. And catching the public bus in Karachi, amazing, but I still have not climbed on top of the roof yet!

The city I had in mind was Chiang Mai.

Very little if any local public transport. Mainly see private songthaews, tuk tuks and taxis. No meters. Fixed pricing with what I believe is a high minimum of 250 baht for taxi. And interestingly no motorbike taxis which is unusual in Thailand.

And Chiang Mai is not a small city.

 

[leadman]

That's the "unofficial" transport I refer to. Similar to places like Kuching et al. but they are "public" transport.

 

[JohnK]

That's the "unofficial" transport I refer to. Similar to places like Kuching et al. but they are "public" transport.

I saw your "unofficial" comment.

I don't consider it public transport when prices are fixed and exorbitant. The mafia obviously has a lot of influence there. Luckily the fares from airport to central hotels is fixed at 120 baht and hotel back to airport is fixed at 150 baht.

 

[leadman]

Yes happens everywhere, Taxi's in Budapest, Kathmandu, even Bangkok where the driver took me via Bang Na! Always love watching the meter in BKK with the kms (top right of the meter). Chitlom to BKK is around 32 to 33.5km, some taxis register 35 - 38, but one guy was 52!!! But my favourite was doing business in LA. Same plant, same route, same traffic over two days; day 1 out $125, day 1 back $105, day 2 out $95 day 2 back $65!!!! Happens everywhere