Ticket inspectors to allow grace period for new mobile myki users

A Melbourne public transport ticketing revolution means commuters can use their smartphones to pay for travel from today but beware, the old flat phone battery excuse won’t prevent a fine down the track.

Commuters who use their smartphones to pay for public transport travel from Thursday will initially be let off with a warning if a flat battery prevents their ticket from being checked.

The ticketing revolution means all Android users can now throw out their physical myki cards and instead touch on and off with a mobile myki, which can be topped up within seconds.

The new system switches on at 7am on Thursday but ticket inspectors will give commuters using mobile myki a grace ­period of several months.

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The Andrews Government is also working on the installation of 160 mobile charging ports across eight inner-city railway stations to make sure commuters have enough phone power to have their tickets checked and to touch on and off.

Commuters with Google-powered Android phones can touch on and touch off using mobile myki.

But commuters who switch to the mobile myki system will eventually be expected to make sure their phone battery lasts for their entire journey so they can demonstrate they have a valid ticket.

Negotiations are continuing with Apple to give iPhone users access to mobile myki, too.

“Topping up, touching on and off, and travelling around Melbourne will become a whole lot easier thanks to the introduction of mobile myki,” Public Transport Minister Melissa Horne told the Herald Sun.

“People will still need to touch on and off as they do with a myki card, but inspectors and staff will take a commonsense approach to enforcement in the first few months, educating people on the new system.”

Public transport user will be able to touch on with myki on their smartphones as of Thursday. Picture: Mark Dadswell

Authorised officers have been trained on the new mobile myki system and will check people’s digital tickets without needing to handle their smartphones.

They have been advised to initially focus on educating passengers about the change and will take a lenient approach to those who have made a genuine error or who have lost power on their phone.

To switch to mobile myki, commuters need to make a $10 top-up on Google Pay to activate it, which can then be used to cover the cost of train, tram and bus trips.

The government is spending $350,000 to install 32 ­mobile charging bars with a total of 160 charging ports at Flagstaff, Flinders St, Melbourne Central, Parliament, Southern Cross, North Melbourne, ­Richmond and South Yarra stations. The charging ports will be free.

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