I travelled to the last place you’d expect for a glimpse of our myki-free future

London. Singapore. Sydney. Even Adelaide.

Melburnians have to travel a long way to see what public transport is like in the 21st century.

Cayden Costantino uses his iPhone to touch onto the new myki system on Wangaratta’s bus network.Credit: Jason Robins

But while a seamless passenger experience could still be years off in our growing city, the small Victorian town of Wangaratta has taken a giant leap into modernity.

So, as The Age’s transport reporter, I had to see it for myself: a glimpse of our myki-free future.

In late November, the Department of Transport and Planning quietly installed new ticket readers on the five buses that operate Wangaratta’s four public bus routes.

The big change? Contactless payments. That means being able to touch on with a bank card, smartphone or another smart device.

Pam Neal says she’d rather pay with a few coins than use her bank cards to travel.Credit: Jason Robins

It’s the first trial of the new ticketing system that will eventually roll out across every public bus, tram and train across Victoria through a 15-year, $1.7 billion contract with American outfit Conduent.

Gone will be the hassle of having to buy a physical myki card ($6, non-refundable, and with a four-year expiry date) and ensuring it has enough credit before travelling (or risk one of the world’s harshest fare evasion fines).

Myki was three years late and $350 million over budget when it was rolled out in 2009 to replace paper Metcards. Even then, it was plagued by technical issues. Former transport minister Lynne Kosky was famously caught on camera failing to use a malfunctioning myki ticket machine.

Myki’s reputation never recovered.

So perhaps it’s unsurprising this trial was launched without fanfare or even a press release in Victoria’s north-east, just an hour from the NSW border.

But that’s not far enough to escape this reporter’s scrutiny. Last week, I left Melbourne’s archaic ticketing system behind and headed north, to the future.

The 7.07am V/Line from Southern Cross departs on time. Three hours later, I’m on Ford Street on the edge of Wangaratta’s sleepy CBD.

I step onto the 403 bus and hover my debit card over the new ticket validation machine.

Declan Leask during the trial of the new myki system on Wangaratta’s bus network. Credit: Jason Robins

It responds with an affirmative beep-beep, and I settle in for a tour of the picturesque rural hamlet.

Londoners have been travelling this way for over a decade. The system has also been in place in Sydney since 2017, and on parts of Brisbane and Adelaide’s transport networks since 2022.

But for Victorians, it’s a quantum leap.

In Wangaratta (population 29,808), local bus operator Fallons had never even had myki installed – travel was a cash-only affair until the new contactless readers arrived on November 25.

Over the two hours I spend riding the four local routes, most passengers still pass the driver a few coins as they board.

“I prefer cash – it suits me better,” says retiree Pam Neal, who rides the bus a few times a week to go shopping.

But a handful of younger passengers touch on with their iPhones instead.

Skye, who didn’t want her last name published, said it was far easier than scrambling around for coins, and was an improvement on myki too, which she uses when she visits Melbourne.

Trial of the new myki system on Wangaratta’s bus network.Credit: Jason Robins

“You don’t need to find your card and you don’t need to top it up,” she says.

In the rest of Victoria, the only way to avoid carrying a physical myki card is with an Android smartphone and “mobile myki”, which still needs credit loaded onto it. iPhone owners have never had this option, even though the state government spent $1 million trying to develop that feature five years ago.

In Wangaratta, 125 passengers used contactless payments in the first two weeks of the trial, with an almost even split between smartphones and bank cards, the Transport Department says.

The government says the trial will take about six months and is an important step to train staff to use the new system and develop the back-office programs used to charge passengers.

Everything seems to work fine for my Wangaratta bus trips: I touch on with my bank card on three different buses, and the system recognises the journeys were all within two hours, and so only charges me one $2.80 fare.

An important feature missing, for now, is the ability to apply a discount for seniors, students and other concession holders.

That will be introduced later when the system is fully operational and “account-based ticketing” is enabled.

An account-based system recognises a passenger’s travel across various touch-on methods – bank cards, smart devices or physical tickets linked to your account – and calculates the correct fare.

Rheannon McGillivray uses a bank card to pay her fare as part of trial of Victoria’s new myki-free payment system on Wangaratta’s bus networkCredit: Jason Robins

Daniel Bowen, from the Public Transport Users Association, says the contactless system should also apply weekly or monthly discounts automatically based on the passenger’s travel patterns, rather than passengers needing to pre-purchase a weekly or monthly ticket.

“Myki Pass is very complicated, and so making those discounts automatic would be a huge plus,” he says.

Bowen says the current myki system is particularly difficult to use for new or occasional users and tourists.

“Being able to jump on board just with your bank card will make a huge difference.”

The Transport Department says physical smart cards will still be available with the new system.

It has also flagged single-use tickets and “Bluetooth-based tokens”, which could be a key chain or a wristband, to make public transport easier for people with disabilities. It will still be called myki.

The Allan government won’t say how long it will take to roll out the thousands of new turnstiles, ticket readers and other equipment across the state, but budget papers suggest the program could take until mid-2027.

Bowen says the potential for technical issues will grow as it rolls out onto busier parts of the network, where Conduent’s equipment will need to be set up to accept old myki cards alongside new payment options.

Henry Miller was correct when he wrote that when travelling, “one’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things”.

As I board my train back to Melbourne, my myki card looks more redundant than ever.

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