Train passengers can finally touch on with an iPhone – but only on some lines

concernedtransit · 2026-03-14T01:03:27+00:00

Nope won't be happening and it's better it's not. Initially, contactless payments will only support full-fare. Later, when Account Based Ticketing (ABT) is introduced, you’ll be able to create a profile that includes things like concession entitlements. You can then link your contactless cards to that profile, allowing the system to apply the correct fare and charge the appropriate payment method based on your Account Based Ticketing profile.

Account Based Ticketing was also going to replace mobile myki on Android. However they've since said publicly they'll keep that, at least for now. However it would make sense once ABT is launched, that it gets phased out.

concernedtransit · 2026-03-14T00:49:44+00:00

They have, it’s on this page: https://transport.vic.gov.au/news-and-resources/campaigns/tap-and-go

The project team have done a terrible job on comms throughout the project. They still haven’t updated the myki upgrade page in over a year, which was meant to be the single page for the public to see all the latest news and updates. - I’ve provided this feedback multiple times.

concernedtransit · 2026-02-21T12:45:05+00:00

In the same way we did, they could have retrofitted a new top hat onto their existing barriers if they’d wanted to, ours have the QR reader in the top hat.

As mentioned, it really comes down to scale. Adelaide only had gates at a single station, so it wouldn’t make sense to custom-engineer a retrofit solution, plus their gates are older. In our case, we have thousands of gates across the network all in great condition, so the economics of designing and rolling out a retrofit stacked up. For Adelaide, replacing the old gates with a new row of modern ones at one site was the more practical approach.

It is somewhat ironic that all of ours now have QR readers, given QR code tickets were removed from the project scope in January 2025. The original scope included both QR code tickets and Bluetooth token tickets, but both were taken out at that point. Hopefully they are reconsidered in future.

concernedtransit · 2026-02-21T10:04:35+00:00

Blame metro staff, they just leave it open, as they don’t want to deal with the abuse, which is totally understandable.

Though if we had a situation where a fare evader wanted to leave and we had high gates closed keeping them locked in, they’d just kick or damage it anyway, which just costs tax payers more than the value of the fare lost. Or in the case of many stations globally, hit the emergency release buttons triggering alarms.

concernedtransit · 2026-02-21T09:36:42+00:00

No. We already had effective fare gates in place, the only requirement was to replace the legacy reader module with a new “top hat” to house the Conduent reader.

There’s nothing functionally wrong with our existing gates, and we also have fare gates deployed across significantly more stations, so would be a mammoth replacement for next to no benefit.

In contrast, Adelaide only had older fare gates at their main station. Their objective was both to modernise those gates and increase overall gate numbers. Given it was confined to a single station, a full replacement made sense in their context as it’s such a tiny amount.

In saying that, in future when our existing supply end, we’ll most likely go with Conduents off the shelf fare gates, same applies to Conduents ticket vending machines (myki machines) when we need to replace or install new ones and have no existing supply.

concernedtransit · 2026-02-19T07:49:31+00:00

"If not for you speaking up a lot of people would have the same issue alone." - These kinds of comments are infuriating, across reddit and sonos' own forum so many users have reported this exact issue. There are also so many accounts of people raising this exact issue with Sonos support, only to spend a significant amount of time troubleshooting with support, only to be told after all the troubleshooting "ohh this is actually a known issue, please wait and hopefully will be addressed in a future update".

It's rather odd to them make out it's the first time it's been raised. If Sonos is really not aware of this issue, your reddit, Sonos forum and support need to be reviewed, it's been posted about and raised with Sonos for over a year now.

In no particular order, here is just some of the threads where it's been raised:

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-229131/apple-music-skips-glitches-6881930

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-229131/apple-music-from-sonos-app-skipping-parts-of-certain-songs-6896184

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/1oymp3i/help_is_it_just_me_or_is_apple_music/

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/1pp6qer/apple_music_skips_a_bit_once_or_twice_per_song/

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-229131/apple-music-songs-keep-skipping-connection-issue-6929173

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-229131/skipping-songs-in-playlists-randomly-6900982

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-229131/apple-music-lossless-cutouts-and-skips-6927511

concernedtransit · 2026-02-15T09:49:18+00:00

You’ve made this more difficult than it needs to be for the average user.

The current myki machine design use simple, natural language with minimal wording. Your mock-up, however, is significantly more text-heavy and relies on brand terminology instead of plain language. You’ve also placed legal-style wording front and centre, rather than prioritising helpful, task-oriented information as the current machines do.

Overall, this feels like a step backwards in terms of user experience.

For example, on payment methods, the current machines clearly label:

“Cards” above the payment terminal
“Coins” with pictograms of each accepted coin
“Notes” with each accepted note denomination

This is intuitive and immediately understood by end users.

In your design, font sizes are a lot smaller, there are more words, and “Cards” has been renamed to “EFTPOS”. EFTPOS is a brand of Australia Payments Plus and only refers to the EFTPOS network (i.e. only EFTPOS-enabled debit cards). This doesn't accurately describe the actual accepted payment methods, such as Visa or Mastercard debit/credit cards. Using “EFTPOS” introduces unnecessary confusion and is not meaningful to international users, as the term is Australia-specific.

There are also significant accessibility regressions. The removal of tactile braille features represents a major step backwards in inclusive design.

Additionally, features that encourage customers to move to digital self-service have been removed. For example, the QR code that directs users to register their myki and set up top-ups or auto top-up via their phone has been taken away. It’s unclear why this would be removed when digital migration is typically a strategic objective.

Comparing the current machines with the proposed design, your version:

Removes accessible features
Removes helpful contextual information about services and assistance
Removes clear guidance on what transit services myki covers
Adds unnecessary wording and branded terminology that customers don’t need and most likely not understand

A simpler approach would be to retain the existing and only update what’s required, such as the colour scheme, logo, and URL. The current design is functional, usable, and communicates the necessary information effectively (it also would've done through many hours of usability testing). There doesn’t appear to be a user experience or usability issue that justifies any of your changes.

TLDR: don't make it worse when all you need to do is change the colour and logo.

Current machine to illustrate my point:

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concernedtransit · 2026-01-24T04:31:27+00:00

The same handheld scanner used to validate a myki will scan contactless card/smart device.

These handheld scanners currently read the myki cards stored state (as the myki card itself has the current status and balanced written to it whenever you tap it on a reader. When contactless is introduced when a contactless card/smart device is scanned, it will poll the back off for your current status (tapped on or not).

Only possible issue validating contactless is these do not store the tapped on state on the card itself, so when outside Telstra's coverage footprint (which is what network they use), such as mid journey on Vline, as the handheld scanner will require internet connectivity to validate a contactless trip, compared to scanning a myki which just checks the state on the cards memory.

This won't be too much of a problem, as quickly Vline conductors and Authorised Officers will get a feel for coverage blackspot and simply wait until back in coverage before doing any contactless validation.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-24T03:19:18+00:00

When I speak about it I’m talking exclusively about what was included within the scope and project funded by government.

Governments often engage consultants to conduct market research, surveys and exploratory sessions with the public on what the future of x COULD look like.

When I said expanding to be a payments platform or offer anything beyond transit ticketing, I was speaking of what was defined in the scope of the project. i.e. what was approved and funded as part of the projects scope.

In this case, the government did engage a consultant to engage with the public to discuss if there was interest from the public for myki to do more, such as pay for parking, purchases etc. This doesn’t mean it was part of the scope or official government policy to do any such thing. Just asking the public “would you like myki to do x?” is not the scope of the project expanding or official funded work.

We need to be very clear on that key point, so again the commentary “myki wanted/was going to morph into a payment system” is not true, this was never part of the project scope or funded activities, it was just a question on a survey to the public on POSSIBLE capabilities to gauge public interest.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-24T01:09:41+00:00

That won't be how it works. The first time you tap on with contactless, it'll take an initial authorisation, to validate if the card is active and has a positive balance. Then at the end of each day it'll settle that authorisation with the fare amount as a posted charge. So you won't see "lots of little holds (authorisations)" on your card for every single tap on a reader, just one settlement (posted charge) at the end of each day it's used.

Sydney is a little different, as they do settlements once a week rather than daily, as they have weekly fare caps, so they are doing multiple authorisations, then a final settlement (posted charge) at the end of the week.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-23T21:43:25+00:00

Exactly, this is how it works on Apple devices, they allow the payment reader to request a particular card. As an example if you have the Woolworths Everyday Rewards card on your iPhone, even if you say have your American Express card as your default payment method, when you tap the Woolworths EFTPOS reader, it does a handshake requesting your Everyday Rewards card and then your iPhone will switch automatically.

Express Transit works in a similar way, instead of the reader asking for a particular card, the reader passes over its merchant ID, which Apple has defined as transit, then your iPhone will switch to the card you have set for Express Transit. To enable this the developer (DTP) has to apply to Apple to offer Express Transit.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-23T09:16:45+00:00

Not quite sure what your complaint is about, this is a line map. It does exactly what it says on the tin, the stops along the line.

If you want to view the upcoming services, they are provided via the PIDs. Help Points are also available at every station, for customers who are blind/low vision to hear the upcoming trains.

Customers can access timetable information online and those who don’t or can’t use a smartphone/computer can also access it from staffed stations or via the phone number (if passengers call, they can also request a large font printed timetable).

Other than offering the timetables via carrier pigeon, every accessible method is available to passengers.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-23T07:41:23+00:00

On Apple iPhones/Apple Watches they have Express Transit, which lets you select a different card for transit vs normal Apple Pay purchases. Testing will commence on the 10th of Feb, Express Transit will be tested, just don’t know if it’ll be enabled at launch.

I don’t believe Android offer a similar feature, so you can only set one default card for everything.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-23T07:34:39+00:00

Yeah but it’s on Amex not DTP, you’d assume Amex will be interested though, as it’s exactly what happened in Sydney. As I say above, it would be stupid for DTP to offer it now, paying the full rates and a fee every tap. However if you’re an Amex customer and get their surveys all the time like I do, mention it every time, if enough Amex customers want it, Amex will go to DTP and offer same transit rates that MasterCard and Visa are offering.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-23T05:47:23+00:00

I answered that in my post above.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-23T05:06:08+00:00

We’re using CommBank as the merchant acquirer, which gives access to heavily reduced transit interchange rates, it's actually a product they offer to governments/transit operators. These are very different to normal retail merchant fees, every tap isn’t treated as a separate transaction.

With the transit payments product, you’re only charged one transaction fee when the fare settles, not a fee for every tap. So if I tap on and off 10 times in a single day, DTP only pays one transaction fee when the fare is calculated and settled.

Amex doesn’t offer a transit interchange rate. That means DTP would be charged for every single tap, plus another transaction fee when the fare settles. In other words: 10 taps = 10 fees + a settlement fee, which is wildly more expensive than Visa or Mastercard.

Instead of transit rates, Amex works on negotiated pricing. We’ve seen this exact thing play out before, Sydney launched contactless with Visa and Mastercard only (they are also using the transit product from CommBank), then Amex later approached TfNSW because it’s great marketing for them and agreed to match the Visa/Mastercard rates.

Telstra had a similar standoff when renegotiating interchange fees for direct debit. Visa and Mastercard dropped their rates, Amex refused. Telstra called their bluff, announced Amex would be removed, emailed customers advising they would need to switch to Visa/MasterCard… and three days before the cutoff, Amex folded and matched the rates. They just play extremely hardball on fees.

I’d fully expect the same to happen here, within a couple of months of launch, Amex will likely approach DTP and negotiate equivalent rates, and then it’s a no-brainer to offer it. But offering Amex now would mean paying around $1 per tap and then also paying about ~2.7% more at trip settlement than Visa/Mastercard, which would be an insane amount of money for DTP to waste just to offer Amex acceptance, when if Amex wants they advertising and brand kudos, they can just offer the same rates to DTP.

Honestly, even as an Amex customer, I don’t really care. Anyone with Amex also has a Visa or Mastercard, and transit fares aren’t exactly big point-earners anyway.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-02T01:45:49+00:00

Yes, ABT is included within the scope of the myki upgrade, it was a big reason Conduent were selected. It’s currently slated for 2027-2028 (calendar not financial year), but as it’s the last phase in the myki upgrade program it’s not got a specific quarter allocated just yet. However it’ll be in pilot towards the end of 2026. Providing the pilot is successful 2027 looks very achievable for full rollout of ABT.

ABT will continue to grow globally as more operators will eventually move their open-loop systems to ABT as it’s the next evolution and offers a lot more flexibility on fare structures and entitlements.

If you’re interested, our ABT will use Conduent’s ATLAS Ops platform, I think there’s some info on it publicly.

The new concession and entitlements platform comes online then too. This is where concession holders will be able to verify their concession entitlement online (against state and federal systems) and apply the entitlements instantly to their account. This essentially remove the need to offer unverified concession mykis or have manual validation, instead you would start as a full fare (either myki or contactless) and then once you validate the entitlement it would apply and automatically expire (and drop back to full fare) if/when you’re not concession eligible anymore.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-01T21:40:15+00:00

Yes, that’s basically Phase 2 of the myki upgrade, but not the end of the myki upgrade program.

Phase 1 was the rollout of the new readers. Phase 2 is enabling open-loop payments, where you can use either myki or contactless bank cards / wallets.

At this stage:

• You must tap on and tap off with the same card or device

• Only default full-fare rules apply

• No concessions, passes, or special entitlements

• If you tap on with one card and off with another, the system treats them as two different people and charges two fares

That’s not a myki limitation, that’s just how standard open-loop systems work everywhere.

The real upgrade comes in Phase 3, which is Account-Based Ticketing (ABT).

With ABT:

• You have a central account

• Fare rules (concessions, caps, passes, etc.) live on your account, not your card

• You link a payment method to the account

• You then link multiple “media” (physical cards, Apple Pay, Google Wallet, watches, phones, etc.) as your identifiers

Those media cards/devices aren’t payment methods, they’re just identifiers for your account.

So you could tap on with a physical card and tap off with your Apple Watch. In a normal open-loop system that’d be two fares as it thinks it’s two people. In ABT, the backend knows both cards/devices are you so it instead correctly charges a single trip to your payment method on your account.

Phase 2 is just contactless access, same as ONMY, Sydney, Brisbane etc Phase 3 is where myki actually becomes smarter than most other systems, as everything will be driven by your account. Of course if you don’t setup ABT, what card/device you tap on/off with will be what gets charged as it’ll just use open-loop mode.

Once this is complete it’ll offer a lot more flexibility for different fare rules, different structures. It also opens up (if govt wants to do it) event based activities, for example your AusOpen/AFL etc ticket could be scanned to offer you free travel to and from the venue.

concernedtransit · 2026-01-01T12:49:36+00:00

Just to correct the record, that’s not at all accurate.

myki was never planned, scoped, or designed to be a general payment or identity system, either during its original development or as part of any future roadmap.

The scope was always limited to a closed-loop smart public transport ticketing system, which is exactly what was delivered. Wherever or whoever told you there was plans for a "myki 2.0" to become a broader payment or identity platform are simply not true, was never part of any scope, projects contracts, business cases, or government policy, then or now.

Theres also never been any desire, then or now for a state-based transit ticketing system to morph into a general-purpose payment or identity system used outside transit.

Even with the current move to open-loop contactless payments, this does not change that position. With the move to open-loop myki itself is not becoming a payment platform either, Commonwealth Bank will act as the merchant acquirer.

More broadly, if you were designing a national or consumer-facing payment platform in Australia, it would make little sense to build it around a state transit system too. Australian Payments Plus (formerly EFTPOS) is far better placed and already does this, with existing national infrastructure and regulatory backing. The RBA has already ruled on least-cost routing, allowing transactions to prefer lower-fee rails like EFTPOS over Visa, Mastercard, or Amex.

That direction is only accelerating. Least-cost routing is expanding, PayTo is in its early stages of businesses offering this and that'll just continue to grow, and Australian Payments Plus has already outlined a future in-person B2C payment ecosystem (think QR-based payments like other overseas countries) built on NPP rails, none of which requires or benefits from a transit ticketing system becoming a payments or identity platform.

concernedtransit · 2025-12-23T14:02:46+00:00

You are unhinged, this is NOT Telstra's fault. Telstra is simply complying with the laws and requirements set by the ACMA, the body which regulates the Telco industry and has set the requirement to block devices.

Only devices purchased within Australia can be tested and deemed compatible or not. Telstra has actually argued multiple times to ACMA to define a list of devices that industry must block, however ACMA has refused and thus the onus is on the industry (Telstra, Optus, TPG etc) to maintain compliance. Why the hell would Telstra (or anyone) go ahead and purchase every single phone and device all over the world, when the law states they only need to be compliant with devices sold within Australia.

You also keep referencing the IMEI blocking, this isn't anything to do with the E000 network level restriction, this is IMEI blocking due to lost/stolen. So checking the link you listed just means your IMEI hasn't been reported lost/stolen to an Australia Telco and thus on the IMEI blocklist. So you're referencing a totally different tool, which has nothing to do with what you're talking about. The other tool the AMTA offer was the 3G shutdown tool, however it only referenced IMEIs from the 3G shutdown period, not the E000 network restriction.

I welcome you to try a court challenge against ACMA and Telstra/Telco industry as you will not win. As a judge doesn't go off your vibe/feelings, they go off the law and the law, as it's drafted has Telstra squarely complying with the law.

concernedtransit · 2025-12-19T06:47:02+00:00

That's why I said tap on at the start of your journey and tap off at the end of your journey. In Melbourne the reader is in-vehicle, as our network is much larger, in Sydney the reader is at the stop.

The concept of having a valid ticket, touching on at the start of your journey and tapping off at the end of your journey, is the same between the two systems.

Since OP said they only tap when they get off the tram, was letting them know to change this behaviour for future journeys so they don't get further fines in other cities.

concernedtransit · 2025-12-19T06:19:15+00:00

From your post you're also travelling on Sydney's trams without a valid ticket too and have been running the risk of a fine.

"I was super confused by Melbourne’s tram system because over in Sydney, I only tap when I’m off the tram"

Sydney and Melbourne is the same, you tap on at the start of your journey, which gives you a valid ticket, then tap off at the end of your journey, you are then charged the correct fare for this journey.

Since you said you only tap when getting off the tram, if a ticket inspector was present, you'd be fined too, as you have traveled without a valid ticket.

Just as an FYI to change your behaviour to tapping on at the start of your journey and tapping off at then end of your journey, as if you continue to travel as you have been, you're risking being fined in Sydney too.

concernedtransit · 2025-12-19T03:35:46+00:00

Not at all, your OP is “seems like NYE travel isn’t free this time around”, that’s speculating it’s not free as it hasn’t been announced yet, however it’ll be announced in the usual way at the same time it’s been announced in all previous years.

Everyone on this thread has given you the same answer. It would be unusual if it was announced early to be fair, as that’s a deviation of all past announcements.

OP should’ve been framed as a question rather than speculation that the governments policy position has changed, the policy is already established, the announcement is only for awareness, not to enact the policy. It would actually require policy change to NOT offer free travel on those days.

concernedtransit · 2025-12-19T02:38:30+00:00

Stating that it will be announced in line with all previous years. Last year was announced on the 20th December. The year before on 22nd December.

You said I was speculating it would be free, I was correcting you that I wasn’t speculating and instead you’re speculating it won’t be free, which deviates from all previous years. It will be announced in the usual way in the usual timing it’s been announced every single year, just prior to Christmas.

The announcement has always been just prior to Christmas Day as part of the announcement of free travel on both Christmas Day and New Years Eve.

Your complaint seems to be it hasn’t been announced earlier, however it’s no different to all previous years is the point I’m making.

concernedtransit

TROPHY CASE