Myki myth: Touching off

There’s “technically” and there’s reality. I live in reality. Fact: Once Myki gets going, there will be three ways to travel on Melbourne’s public transport system: 

1. A time-based pass (weekly, monthly or yearly). Same as the equivalent Metcards.

2. Money deducted from value stored on the Myki itself. Like prepaid mobile phones, value is deducted as you use it.

3. Temporary one-off tickets. Put money in machine, get ticket. Simple. Let’s look at each of these.

In situation 1, you can ride all you want within the time period you paid for. Use it daily, or not at all, you still pay the same amount. Therefore, as long as you touch on at the beginning of the time period, you never actually have to touch off. There are no financial concequences to not touching off. (Just to be safe, I’d still touch on at the start of the journey, in case there’s some kind of timeout). In contrast, touching off is very important in scenario 2. If you don’t touch off in two hours, you’ll be charged for a full day if travel. Not good.

I haven’t seen much information about option 3, but it seems perfect for casual users. I think 3 will end up being quite popular amongst casual public transport users, once they find out it exists (one might call “conspiracy” over the lack of information about this option, but that’s an essay for another person to write).

Casual users are meant to use scenario 2, but it doesn’t really have any obvious benefits over 3. Per-trip prices are lower, but there’s the hassle factor, and the Myki card itself has a cost associated with it. How much per-trip savings do you need in order to offset the cost of the card? Let’s review: The only people who have to touch off are people with money on their cards, not passes. Weekly/monthly/yearly travellers have no financial incentive to touch off because they get unlimited travel. People who have actual money stored on their cards have an incentive to touch off because they’re effectively on a timer, and people who buy one-off tickets don’t have to touch off, because they don’t have a Myki. Furthermore, casual users are more likely to use the one-off tickets, rather than go through the cost and bother of buying, filling, and trying not to lose a little green card.

So: The only people who really have to touch off are the same people who probably won’t have a Myki anyway. (And “touch off” just sounds a bit dirty, doesn’t it?)