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10,800 Myki transactions were faulty

Victoria's Transport Ticketing Authority has confirmed the state's new Myki public transport smart card system has suffered errors that caused passengers to be overcharged a total of 10,800 times over the past few months.
Written by Renai LeMay, Contributor

Victoria's Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) has confirmed the state's new Myki public transport smart card system has suffered errors that caused passengers to be overcharged a total of 10,800 times over the past few months.

myki.jpg

A myki reader
(Credit: Transport
Ticketing Authority)

Myki has been rolled out in a Bendigo and a number of other locations throughout the state, replacing previous ticketing systems. However, it has not yet hit Melbourne, with the capital currently being prepared to go live on the system later this year.

The errors admitted this week — which the TTA first flagged and fixed back in July — were as a result of several factors. Firstly, some passengers not immediately familiar with the system, which requires the new smart cards to be touched on and off to terminals in buses when entering and leaving a bus, touched the terminals more than once getting on or getting off.

Secondly, some of the terminals were reset when buses were powered down upon changing drivers.

"A total of 10,800 instances of the system error occurring were identified and all customers have been reimbursed in full," said a TTA spokesperson. Customers paid an average of $1.15 more than was required for their trip.

The error has been fixed since early July.

The news comes as governments around Australia are continuing efforts to replace public transport ticketing systems. The Australian Capital Territory last month revealed it had chosen Downer EDI to develop its own $8 million system, to be modelled on Perth's SmartRider system.

And NSW is still choosing a company to implement the replacement system for its failed Tcard project, which was finally canned in late November 2007 after years of delays. South Australia is also picking from a shortlist of companies for a similar system.

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