And you thought I was a geek for knowing 75 digits of pi.
Peter Thamm of Melbourne’s Viewbank Secondary College has memorised ten thousand digits. (There’s video available of some of it.)
I suppose these days, people have spare number-remembering capacity in their brains, since virtually everyone has a phone (home or mobile) that stores numbers, so nobody needs to memorise anybody’s phone number anymore. Peter’s obviously found a use for that spare capacity.
Since I apparently know a bit more about it than the average person, and I keep getting asked about it, here’s what I know about Myki, which for out-of-towners, is the very silly name for the forthcoming public transport smartcard ticketing system, which $494 million of tax-payers money is being spent on, whether we like it or not.
(They officially spell it with a small m. I’m not buying into that — it’s a proper noun, I’ll use a capital M.)
Of course, the following information may change as the system develops. And some of the stuff I’ve been told about it, I can’t pass on. (Not that any of it’s really that juicy.)
They reckon it’s progressing nicely. They’ve started putting the mounting points for the equipment in. They’re going to do a trial in Geelong, before rolling it out further.
They’re likely to send the cards out to people who already have registered tickets, such as student pass holders, possibly Yearly ticket holders, and Seniors Sunday Pass holders. (In fact the latter group have already been told their current passes have been extended until the Myki tickets arrive.)
The tickets will be contactless cards, like those used for corporate building keys. You’ll wave them past a scanner, and it’ll beep and a light and/or display will flash. It should work within about 5cm of the reader, so you won’t need to take it out of your bag/wallet/pocket if you can hold it close enough. (Similar contactless cards were meant to be part of the current Metcard system.)
They’re going to want you to scan on and off — as you enter and exit buses, trams and railway stations. That way it records exactly where you travel. If you don’t scan off, you may get penalised by having to pay a “default fare”, which is likely to be the equivalent to what you’d pay if you had gone to the end of the line.
Personally I reckon it’s going to be a real mess, particularly on trams when they’re crowded. (Picture what will happen when you’re squashed in the doorway and you temporarily climb out to let someone off, then climb back in.) This is one reason London went to flat fares on buses and trams.
Registering your ticket will be optional. Obviously if it’s not registered, then if you lose it, it can’t be cancelled, and you’ll lose any money on it.
Fares essentially won’t change. The change will be in ticketing, not fares. In fact they’ve been adjusting the fares over the last couple of years to make the ticketing system simpler — like changing V/Line Return tickets into Dailies, for instance. (In Sydney they’re still trying to figure out how to get Sydney’s notoriously complex fare structure onto a Smartcard. That project’s been going for more than ten years.)
Later they might look at changing fares (such as more use of off-peak tickets), but that won’t happen until the system is in and bedded down.
You’ll still be able to buy monthly and yearly tickets — in fact you’ll be able to pay for 28-365 days in advance.
The way shorter-term tickets work will be slightly different though. You’ll put money on the ticket, then use it up. The basic fare will be for 2 hours, with a system of daily and weekly caps. The daily cap will be priced like a Daily ticket is now. So it’s like using a 10×2 hour; the second validation of the day (beyond the initial two-hour period) makes it into a Daily. On Sundays the cap will be $2.50, in line with the Sunday Saver price.
Likewise there’ll be a weekly cap, so if you use the ticket for a few days in a row, you’ll pay no more than a Weekly ticket. But there’s a catch. The current plan is for the weekly cap to apply only from Monday to Sunday. So if you use the system for 6-7 days over two “calendar” weeks (and not on any other days during those weeks), you’ll pay more than you would now if you bought a Weekly.
You’ll be able to check your balance on the scanners, and check and pay extra onto the card at the station ticket machines. There will be some kind of option for occasional users who don’t want a Myki card, eg disposable tickets.
So that’s it in summary. Whether or not the implementation is a complete mess like Metcard was remains to be seen. Given the huge amount of money spent ($494 million over 10 years), let’s hope not.
It won’t do anything for fare evasion (the smartest card can’t force someone on the tram to pay). Given the lack of staff, a lot of stuff won’t change, and you can bet occasional users will still find the machines more confusing than buying a ticket off a human. Hopefully for regular users it will be a little better, but the scan on/scan off thing makes that doubtful.
More information, if you want to read up on it:
Or go to Spencer Street/Southern Cross Station and have a look at the display there.
Update Thu pm. Added picture of a scanner mount.
I’m really enjoying the SBS series Great Australian Albums on Saturday nights. It’s kind of an Aussie version of the British Classic Albums series — both take the artists back to the studios to play us snippets from the master tapes, while explaining how the albums came about: the context for the band, the writing, recording, production, marketing, touring and reception. Nice to see popular music treated with this level of seriousness.
Especially for albums I’m very familiar with (Saturday’s was Crowded House’s Woodface) it’s really fascinating. Loved some of the stories, such as them wondering why on earth the American label decided “Chocolate Cake” would be a good first single, given it’s a piss-take of American pop culture. And they confirmed my suspicion that “Four Seasons In One Day” was inspired by Melbourne’s weather.
Torchwood has been moved, if you were wondering on Monday night where it disappeared to. Channel 10 have sent it through the rift to midnight Tuesday nights at midnight. It’s worth the effort to catch/tape next week’s episode “Random Shoes” — I thought it was really quite clever; probably the most enjoyable of the lot.
The APEC forum is coming up in Sydney in September, and they’re only shutting down half the city to accomodate them.
But we all know what APEC really means… a big photo opp getting the leaders together in clothing that’s “traditional” in the host country — typically those colourful shirts.
So, what’ll it be for Australia? Some possibilities…
Got some more suggestions?
(Is there anything more dull than people talking about house prices?)
Age (last Saturday, I think — can’t find it online) reported on the latest annual rise in median house prices around Melbourne — up 11.7% overall.
Of the suburbs rising, many are those close to the city and/or with good access to transport and facilities. In the outer suburbs, some prices have gone up a bit, some have dropped, but median prices in some areas are still affordable. (See my post on why some suburbs are expensive, some affordable.)
It’s just over two years since I bought my place in Bentleigh. According to the figures, prices in the suburb have gone up a massive 34.6% in the past year. Madness!
It’s not that I want to gloat or anything — it’s really more of a relief for when I glance at my bank statements and note the dizzying amount of money being poured out in interest on the mortgage (HOW much in the past year?!?) At least by jumping in when and where I did, I’ve gained on the market.
I love living here, but the suburb is getting too expensive. From the Age a couple of weeks ago:
He [Nick Renna from Hocking Stuart] said Bentleigh buyers who had been “priced out of houses” were now compromising, rather than searching further out. A house on a subdivided block at 1/10 Pleasance Street sold for $471,000 and a single-storey townhouse at 1/8 Laurel Street, Bentleigh East, sold for $630,000, way above the $540,000 reserve.
So if you’re still looking for a house to buy, and considering Bentleigh… well, I love the location, the lifestyle is great, everything’s so convenient… but geez, it’s getting way too overpriced!
Regarding the Haneef case…
The SIM card. By my count, I have four first-cousins, and I don’t even know how many second-cousins. They all live overseas or interstate, so I don’t see them very often, but if they arrived on the doorstep, I’d welcome them, and if they were in need of a mobile phone or a SIM, and I had a spare one, I’d probably give it to them. What would they do with it? I don’t know. Would Haneef be in trouble if he’d given his cousin stamps, or envelopes, or other innocent items that could potentially be misused?
I’ve certainly given my sister old unused mobile phones in the past. Maybe I should ask for them back?
Plans of a Gold Coast building? Well, it sounds like they turned out to be nothing more than tourist brochures.
Is having building plans an indication of guilt? Uh oh. I’ve certainly pored over plans of Melbourne Central at times.
There’s other circumstantial evidence, but Haneef was granted bail, and the DPP elected not to prosecute because the case was so weak.
Maybe he’s guilty, and maybe he’s innocent (this morning there are allegations of a link to Al Qaeda). If the government has more evidence, they should use it. Otherwise it does start to look like Children Overboard again.
I wonder if Jeremy might like to get into journalism?
(Pics from Sunday. Thanks M and R.)