As we all know, myki is meant to eventually, presumably, hopefully be available for use on Vline. This will truly be a very handy thing for everyone... at the moment you are forced to line up for tickets at Southern Cross or your departure station, but with myki as long as you have enough myki money you should be able to just touch on and go. Not only would myki on Vline encourage more people to take country trips due to the apparent ease of doing so, but Regional commuters who work in Melbourne will have the added bonus of being able to exit barriers and stations just like any other Metro Commuter. Sadly like everything else this has been delayed over and over, and for those of us who take regular Vline trips it's annoying to say the least, especially when most Vline regional stations already have myki readers and machines installed. The equipment is all there, they just won't let us use it.
It appears the main thing stopping the Vline Rollout is outfitting Conductors with Handheld devices which they will require to check validity of your card. How exactly this is going to work, nobody seems to know yet. What happens if you touch on at Southern Cross to go to Bendigo, with only $1.00 of credit on your card? I'm sure all will be explained in due course.
The last we heard Vline won't get myki until at least 2013. But why wait! You can already go to any myki machine and attempt to buy a myki pass for commuting. Like this one, to Bendigo:
Bendigo is in Zone 13 under myki (check out the Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual, Section 2, page 17, for a full list of regional and metropolitan fare zones). When buying a myki pass you can press the "other zones" button to select zones outside the zone the machine is located in.
Sadly the fare doesn't seem correct; according to the Vline Website a date to date ticket for 52 weeks Melbourne - Bendigo is $3926. The myki fare shown here is only $3503.50 (not counting the $6.00 card cost), so either myki is cheaper, or the vline pricing in the myki machine isn't correct. But hey, don't let that stop you. If you are a Bendigo Commuter, why not throw caution to the wind and buy that myki pass, after all, the machine appears to let you. Though you may encounter issues when the conductor on the Vline train says your ticket isn't valid (which, legally, it's not).
It appears the main thing stopping the Vline Rollout is outfitting Conductors with Handheld devices which they will require to check validity of your card. How exactly this is going to work, nobody seems to know yet. What happens if you touch on at Southern Cross to go to Bendigo, with only $1.00 of credit on your card? I'm sure all will be explained in due course.
The last we heard Vline won't get myki until at least 2013. But why wait! You can already go to any myki machine and attempt to buy a myki pass for commuting. Like this one, to Bendigo:
Bendigo is in Zone 13 under myki (check out the Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual, Section 2, page 17, for a full list of regional and metropolitan fare zones). When buying a myki pass you can press the "other zones" button to select zones outside the zone the machine is located in.
Sadly the fare doesn't seem correct; according to the Vline Website a date to date ticket for 52 weeks Melbourne - Bendigo is $3926. The myki fare shown here is only $3503.50 (not counting the $6.00 card cost), so either myki is cheaper, or the vline pricing in the myki machine isn't correct. But hey, don't let that stop you. If you are a Bendigo Commuter, why not throw caution to the wind and buy that myki pass, after all, the machine appears to let you. Though you may encounter issues when the conductor on the Vline train says your ticket isn't valid (which, legally, it's not).
The price of the myki yearly pass is similar to the price of 325 days on a date to date ticket.
ReplyDeletewhich is $3503.50.
Deleteinteresting... touch on in the city, "forget" to touch off in bendigo, pay a default fare equivalent to a z1/2. bargain!
ReplyDeleteRe it not being legal.... would it not be legal as u have pre paid for this & the machine offered it to you and you accepted & the machine accepted on behalf of myki/line?
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm aware (and I'm certainly no legal expert) the use of myki has to be "Gazetted" by the Government before it is valid on a specific route or method of transport. So when it first started it was only gazetted on trains, and then later and tram and bus. I think it would certainly be a grey area: if someone actually did buy a yearly pass to Bendigo, quite obviously their intention is to pay their fare honestly and openly. Of course right now a Vline Conductor has no method to check the ticket anyway, and you are very likely to receive a fine.
DeleteOf course if anyone who is rich enough to want to try buying a myki pass beyond zone 1&2 wants to give it a try, be my guest and let us know how you go. But it won't be me :)