Myki

Myki, the new transport ticketing system in Victoria, Australia, is costing taxpayers $1 350 000 000, over one thousand million dollars. $300 for every man, woman and child in Victoria. Just for tickets.

I would expect for $1 350 000 000:

• on opening day, the transport minister would know the telephone number for customers to ring (by the way, the number is 13 MYKI) .
• the transport minister would not have to suppress a laugh at a demonstration when one of the ticketing machines falls apart.
• the transport minister would have some idea when the tickets can be used on trams and buses.
• the Myki website would not be overloaded on opening day.
• the Myki website would not have problems with entering standard addresses when registering.
• Myki machines could clearly show customers how to insert their credit/eftpos card.
• station staff could assist with loading money into Myki cards.

Unfortunately not.

Myki is costing $1350 million, compared with Perth's fully-functioning $35 million SmartRider ticketing system. The government has thrown good money after bad. This has been a looming disaster for years.

Increased population in Victoria = more people working = more taxes collected by government.  Whose pockets did the Myki money end up in ?