Good News, Melbourne: PTV Is Finally Testing Myki On Your Mobile Phone

It takes a special kind of city to devise a public transport ticketing system that doesn’t let you pay for a ticket on public transport. Of the many, many complaints Melburnians have of their tram, train and bus services, the hoops you have to jump through to top up your myki are right at the very top.

Fortunately, it looks as though your days of frantically searching for the nearest 7-Eleven could soon be at an end, with Public Transport Victoria about to start trialling an app that’ll let you top up and touch on with your mobile phone.

The “mobile myki” app will initially be trialled by 1000 specially selected users, before being rolled out to a wider test group later in the year. As it stands, the app is only compatible with Android phones, although discussions are taking place to make it available on other devices as well.

“We’re trialling this new technology as part of our ongoing work to make public transport easy and accessible for more Victorians,” said Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan. “Over the next year we will watch how the trial goes, and make sure we get the technology right before making it available for all Victorians.”

The trial in Melbourne comes after Sydney introduced a “contactless” credit card payment option on its ferries and light rail service.

Myki to trial new phone app for public transport travel. I look forward to the simplicity of being able to use my phone to not touch on. #Melbourne

— adam rozenbachs (@arozenbachs) May 28, 2018

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Feature image via Wikimedia