Payment changes set for public transport

DIRECT digital payment is set to become an option for public transport users across Victoria, with a Ballarat-based lobby group backing the move.

The State Government announced the change earlier this month with new ticketing supplier Conduent Business Services set to take over with a 15-year contract from December.

Beginning in 2024, passengers will have other options to pay for travel in addition to Myki cards, like directly using credit or debit cards and smartphones or smartwatches.

Convenor of the Ballarat Public Transport Users Association, Ben Lever, said the additional payment options are a positive change.

“This will add more flexibility to the ticketing system, making it a lot easier for people who don’t take public transport very often, or those who might have lost their myki or left it at home,” he said.

“This goes some way to solving the issue of a lack of single-use tickets, since you’ll no longer need to buy a $6 myki before adding credit to it.”

Yet, Mr Lever did flag some potential problems with the change.

“It’s not quite a complete solution because not everyone has a credit or debit card, particularly those under 18,” he said.

Currently, passengers traveling to Ararat, Maryborough and other long-distance locations still need to use paper tickets.

“The Government committed to rolling myki out to these locations at the 2022 election, but this was not mentioned in the recent Myki contract announcement, so we hope this important improvement hasn’t fallen off the agenda,” said Mr Lever.

Minister for Public Transport, Ben Carroll, said the appointment of a new ticking provider was an “evolution” of the state’s public transport services.

“This new ticketing contract is an important step in the evolution of Myki as a future-proofed ticket to travel on Victoria’s world-class public transport system,” he said.

“We’ve made improvements to Myki over the past seven years and now this new contract will provide a greater benefit to passengers, using proven technology to make it quicker and easier to top up, touch on and travel.”

There won’t be any immediate changes to the Myki system with new the feature to be added to different services from next year.