Modern public transport ticketing systems

Modern public transport ticketing systems

myki Project

Modern public transport ticketing systems are much more than simply fare collection tools. They provide the key interface with customers and, with smartcard technology, can assist strategic planning for the public transport system, through the collection of valuable usage data. A well designed and implemented system should be easy for commuters to use, and benefit transport operators by streamlining fare collection and providing access to important data on travel behaviour.

Smartcard systems are the new standard in transport ticketing internationally due to their convenience and efficiency. Tickets can be purchased and ‘topped up’ using automated processes, they allow rapid movement through stations and easy interchange between different travel modes. However, international experience has also shown that developing reliable and effective public transport ticketing systems is both difficult and expensive. 

Background of the project

The Victorian Government’s 2002 Linking Victoria Policy committed to developing a new smartcard46 ticketing system to replace the existing Metcard ticketing system when the Metcard contract (former system) expired in 2007. 

The Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) was established in April 2003 to manage the replacement of Metcard system and implement the new ticketing system. TTA would be responsible for the procurement and rollout of the new ticketing system. It completed a business case on 27 April 2004, which forecast total expenditure of $800 million over the life of the project (2004-17). 

In July 2005, a vendor was appointed to develop the new ticketing system, which became known as ‘myki’. Under the terms of the original contract, myki was to be fully operational by July 2007. The initial whole-of-project budget was $1 billion and included $180 million for delivering myki and $350 million for operating it for 10 years. The remaining budget included funds for operating the Metcard system in parallel with myki during the transition, and related operating costs for the Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA). TTA was abolished in 2013, following the establishment of Public Transport Victoria (PTV) which has since assumed responsibility for all of TTA's functions. For the remaining of this case study, TTA will be used to consider the agency managing the project. In April 2008, the budget was increased to $1.4 billion. 

The philosophy of the myki project was to use proven software yet it pursued an ‘open architecture’1 solution which had not been undertaken in the ticketing environment in the past. myki involves over 20,000 physical devices including vending machines, readers, driver consoles

The myki system includes the following components:  

myki smartcard—used to pay for travel on public transport. The myki smartcard technology enables a money value—myki money—and/or a travel pass—myki pass—to be stored on the card. Public transport users that ‘top up’ with myki money need to touch on and off for each trip so that the myki system can automatically calculate and deduct the lowest fare for the travel taken

Devices—the system currently has around 23 500 operational devices. These include card vending and top-up machines, fare payment devices, bus and tram driver consoles, station gates and hand-held devices. These devices read and translate information stored on smartcards and transmit information to and from the back office.

The back office and related systems—these support the operation of the myki system. 

It was expected that myki would deliver a range of benefits for users, transport operators and the state including:

 ease of use

 ▪ convenient purchase and payment options

 ▪ efficient operations in terms of boarding

 ▪ high-quality information for transport planning

 ▪ increased flexibility to change and drive user patterns through differential pricing and fare structures. Despite their clear b