PSOs to check tickets, but won’t have #Myki readers? That won’t work.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay, talking about deployment of Protective Service Officers on stations:
“From time to time they will check tickets. When these PSOs see a group of young people that they believe are up to no good on a railway station a really helpful tool is to say, ‘Show me your ticket’. If they haven’t got a ticket, off they go,” he said.
He denied they would be equipped with Myki card readers.
– Herald Sun online — Footscray station next stop for PSOs
The problem here is that without Myki readers, there is no way that the PSOs can tell if a Myki card is valid. They can’t tell if it has any credit loaded on it, they can’t tell if it has been touched-on.
PSOs having the ability to do ticket checks does make sense. Chief Commissioner Lay is right; it is a useful tool to help ensure people on a railway station are actually there to catch a train. And given officers will eventually patrol quiet stations with little or no crime, they might as well check tickets.
But a ticket check where you can’t tell if someone is fare-evading or not is not much of a ticket check.
And the requirement for being on a station is not just “a ticket” but “a valid ticket”.
Along with the statistics showing that around half of all assaults on stations occur before 6pm when PSOs won’t be on duty, it’s just another one of these things which suggests to me the PSOs plan has not been properly thought through.
The train network from a new user’s perspective
My cousin Justin’s move to Melbourne gives me an opportunity to see the public transport network from the perspective of a brand new user. He’s pretty well travelled, having spent extensive time in Europe recently, mostly based in London, but with plenty of travel to other cities. So he’s used PT systems in many other cities.
Welcome to Myki
On my prompting Justin got a Myki card, topped it up fine, but had problems touching-on the first time. Why? For a start the Metcard readers had sensors that looked like they should accept Myki, but don’t. (They’re the original Metcard X-Press touch-card sensors, rarely used. As an aside, this is why the old Metcard gates know to say “CSC PASS” when a Myki is presented — CSC stands for Contactless SmartCard.)
Secondly, at Moorabbin, where he was boarding, for some reason the Metcard validators are at the top of the ramp, but the Myki readers are at the bottom.
I noticed this is also the case at Elsternwick, where there are signs declaring the ramp to be within the paid ticket area: “Penalties apply for entering beyond this point without a valid ticket.” So are Myki users fare-evading for entering the ramp area, unable to touch-on until reaching the bottom?
Eventually, with the help of a staff member, Justin sorted out where to touch-on.
He reckons Myki is slower at touching than Oyster in London (which he used recently; he didn’t offer an opinion on Perth’s Smartrider.) I’m not surprised to hear that, given I thought Brisbane’s Go Card (which uses the same technology as Oyster) also seemed faster than Myki.
Other than that, and some confusion over whether he needs to touch-off on trams, and precisely how the fares work, it seems to have been pretty smooth sailing.
Connections
He’s working across town and was initially staying with my sister, and needed to change from the Frankston line to the Sydenham line. The question arose as to where he should change.
In the mornings coming in on the Frankston line, he might end up on a Loop train, or a direct train. The conclusion was if a Loop train, change at Southern Cross, since in the morning Sydenham trains run via there. If a direct train into Flinders Street, he could change there. Okay.
In the evenings, it’s a LOT more difficult. Thanks to the super-confusing Frankston timetable that operates on weekdays between 4 and 5pm, and also between 6 and 7pm, at times it’s best to go to Flinders Street, but sometimes it’s better to go to Southern Cross.
It’s all got a lot easier now he’s moved onto the Epping South Morang/Hurstbridge lines. In the mornings, since those trains run clockwise via the Loop all day on weekdays, it’ll be easiest to change at Flinders Street. In the evenings it’ll be quickest to change at Southern Cross.
Being on two lines (eg south of Clifton Hill) also means there’s little need for a timetable, since trains are pretty frequent all day everyday (though due to express running, there are some significant gaps around 7pm on weekdays outbound). He’s also close to a tram and the Hoddle Street Smartbuses.
Information
Justin’s noted that it can be quite confusing at times because some trains on the Frankston line don’t go all the way to Frankston. They are listed on the screens as trains to Mordialloc or Carrum, for instance. This is a serious issue, particularly at stations which don’t have screens listing all the stations served.
In many cities the lines have a name that is independent from the terminii (think of London’s Piccadilly line, which terminates at Heathrow or Uxbridge in the west, and Cockfosters in the north/east, or the numbered lines used in cities such as Rome or Paris) — this is both a good and a bad thing. It relates to the readability of the rail map. Perhaps at the very least, the screens need to identify the Frankston line name even if the train doesn’t go all the way there. At least the screens on central station concourses do so.
Reliability
Overall he said it was all going well until last Friday, when his morning commute was interrupted by a disruption at Sunshine. He said there was no information provided to passengers on the outbound train. He only knew something was up when a lot of people boarded, apparently believing the train had been diverted to run back into the city.
Eventually he discovered everybody was being kicked off the train, and he managed to find a bus that would take him the rest of the way to work.
Conclusion: much of the time, if you can navigate the train network, it runs pretty well. But there are pitfalls for new users, and it can fall apart pretty rapidly when there’s a major disruption.
My cousin’s in town (and a proverb updated for the 21st century)
I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to have my cousin Justin in town. He grew up in Brisbane, then Newcastle, before moving to Perth, so we barely saw him when growing up.
He moved to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, and is now settling into his new flat and job here.
Heading over to the flat on Saturday to help him take a fridge delivery and do an Ikea run for essentials got me thinking about a possible housewarming present.
Problem is I didn’t know what he already had, or what he’d want.
Two ideas presented themselves: a nice packet of ANZAC biscuits spotted at a shop we frequent.
Or a copy of The Age Cheap Eats, to help him navigate Melbourne’s burgeoning numbers of restaurants.
In the end I settled on the latter.
Why?
Well it’s like the old proverb says: Give a man a packet of biscuits, you feed him for a day. Give him a copy of Cheap Eats, and you feed him for a lifetime.
My super-talented sister excels herself again #BirthdayCake #DoctorWho
This creation by my super-talented sister, for Isaac’s birthday.
The noise
Two mysterious noises have become apparent in the last few months. Both are virtually imperceptable in the daytime, but at night, in my quiet street, I can hear them from my bedroom.
First there was the humming. It started sometime last year. It doesn’t seem to be in the house anywhere – I tried turning off all the power one night at the fuse box, and I could still hear it. No, it’s not coming from the Smart Meter. It might be some way off but resonating with something nearby, as often I can merely tilt my head slightly and I can no longer hear it.
More recently a kind of “gloop” sound has started from somewhere on the bathroom-side of my bedroom. I assume it’s the drains doing something weird, as when it first started occurring, I checked and double checked there were no leaking taps.
Happily neither of these keep me awake at night. But I’m intrigued.
Hand washing
Sometimes amongst the bum jokes you’ll learn something really Quite Interesting on QI.
Last week I learnt that when washing hands, how clean you get them is not about the heat of the water, which can’t possibly be warm enough to kill off bacteria and escape without serious burns. Rather, it’s about how vigorously you wash them — that is, you’re getting the bacteria off your hands, rather than killing them.
There’s probably more to it than that — the Wikipedia article on hand washing notes that: warm, soapy water is more effective than cold, soapy water at removing the natural oils on your hands which hold soils and bacteria. Contrary to popular belief however, scientific studies have shown that using warm water has no effect on reducing the microbial load on hands.
Perhaps I’ll just stick to my current habit: soap and warm water.
1929 metropolitan plan: “the tramcar is the most efficient user of street space”
From page 54 (Chapter 2, part 1) of the 1929 Melbourne Plan for General Development, commissioned by the Metropolitan Town Planning Commission.
Other highlights include Chapter 2, part 7, which has a bunch of stuff about railways, including a discussion of a railway to Doncaster (page 132) and a strong argument for a combined transport authority (page 143).
Federal budget
The budget last night included no funding for big-ticket transport projects in Victoria. This is as I expected — they are now desperately (and misguidedly) pursuing a surplus instead of chasing economic stimulus/growth.
And the Feds probably felt Victoria has had its share of Federal transport funding for a while, given they provided over $3 billion for the Regional Rail Link project.
The bright side? The flawed east-west road tunnel didn’t get funding. And the lack of new mega projects may force the state to do better with the (considerable) transport infrastructure we already have, using smaller targeted upgrades to unlock capacity, for example:
- Signal upgrades and operational changes to get more trains to run
- Better feeder buses in the suburbs to give motorists a way of switching their trips onto PT without fighting for a car spot at their local station
- Tram and bus traffic priority and route reform to allow more trips to run with the current fleet
- Projects like the inner-city Blue Orbital Smartbus, and short extensions of tram lines to connect better with railway stations, which would help people move around the inner suburbs without going via the CBD, improving mobility and relieving the busiest parts of the PT and road network.
Myki myths 3: credit expires after 90 days – no it doesn’t
One persistent myth of Myki is that the money you put onto it expires after 90 days. This popped up last week in a letter to the Bayside Weekly, and also more notably ABC radio’s Jon Faine put it to Public Transport Victoria boss Ian Dobbs, who unfortunately failed to deny it. (PTV doesn’t actually have responsibility for Myki yet.)
Here’s some of the original text from the accompanying ABC Online story:
The Transport Ticketing Authority may extend the time people have to
use their Myki credit.Currently credit on a Myki card expires after three months, which has
provoked anger from occasional users.
To their credit, the ABC have now corrected the text.
What some people think happens (but doesn’t)
You load credit (“Myki Money”) onto the card. If you don’t use it within 90 days, it disappears. This is not true.
What actually happens
Myki Money does not expire. But there is a limitation with off-system topups.
Some context: It’s important to understand that the Myki system, and other public transport smartcard systems, hold your card balance on the card itself. This means each transaction is (theoretically) relatively quick, and does not rely on a network connection back to a central server to verify the card’s balance and determine if the card is valid for travel.
When you topup your card on the system, that is, over the counter at a retailer or — eventually — a railway station, or at a vending machine, your card is presented and the new balance is updated straight away, without delay.
When you topup your card off the system, that is, by phone or from the web site, the transaction is sent from the central computers to every Myki device (readers, vending machines) in the state, to await the presentation of your card. When your card is presented (such as putting it on a vending machine to check the balance, or touching-on) the transaction is transferred onto the card, updating it. It’s then removed from all the devices.
Following so far? Okay.
The limitation of 90 days is that if you do the phone/web site topup, but don’t present your card anywhere on the system for 90 days, then the system “archives” the transaction – takes it back off all the Myki devices and puts it back in the central computer, presumably so as not to clog up all those devices with too many unactioned transactions.
If/when you eventually show up with your card on the system, it “re-activates” the transaction… but because the communication is not realtime, it might take a few hours (up to 24, they say) for the transaction to be ready again for transfer onto the card.
So in summary…
So in summary: the balance, once on your card, does not expire after 90 days of not getting used.
Nor does your card expire after 90 days of not getting used.
What does happen is that online/phone transactions get “archived” if you don’t complete them within 90 days.
How do other systems do it?
Queensland’s Go Card has a similar timeout, also 90 days, but if you don’t complete the transaction the money goes back to your bank account:
Travel credit will be available on your go card within 48 hours. It’ll appear on your transaction history next time you touch your go card to a card reader. If you don’t do this within 90 days, the money will be returned to your credit card.
London’s Oyster card has much greater limitations. Topups can’t be “collected” onto your card on buses; you have to nominate a specific station to collect it. And there is a much shorter timeout for online transactions:
If you don’t collect your online renewal, your order will be cancelled and you will get a refund:
- If you ordered a Travelcard, your order will be cancelled two days after your chosen start date
- If you topped up the pay as you go credit on your Oyster card, your order will be cancelled seven days after your collection date
Refunds will not be processed until at least four days after the date your order was cancelled.
Note that it also appears you have to nominate the start date of a Travelcard/Pass (with Myki Pass it activates on the first day you travel in the zones it applies to).
How could Myki handle this better?
Obviously they could bump out the 90 days to something longer, if it didn’t cause other problems. It’s unclear if this is viable.
They could send the transaction all the way back to your bank account, as with Go Card. Then at least people wouldn’t feel as if Myki had “stolen” the money. They might also notice it on their bank statement — a reminder that it hadn’t been completed.
Myki could also make this limitation more widely known, particularly on the web site when people go to do an online topup, in big bold bright letters.
Finally, for some crazy reason the Myki Check (blue) devices seen in some stations do not process topups. They’re not even hooked up to the network. All they can do is look at what’s on the card. This is counter-intuitive, and appallingly bad design. Ensuring these devices can process topups would help people bypass queues for vending machines in order to verify their topup has arrived correctly.
One last tip
Note that at a railway station, apart from checking via a vending machine, you also can touch-on to verify if your topup has arrived and complete the transaction. Remember to hold the card to the reader for as long as you need to see what’s on the screen.
If you don’t want to travel, simply wait 30 seconds (the timeout to prevent accidental double-touches) and touch-off. The “Change of mind” feature means if this happens within 15 minutes, you don’t get charged; nor does any dormant Pass activate.
- There’s also confusion over the $9.80 fee for getting a refund. This was abolished in January for Myki, but incredibly, still appears on their online PDF forms
