By STEFAN BRADLEY

 

GIPPSLAND train travellers living or visiting east of Traralgon are once again facing a lengthy delay to be placed on the Myki network, with Rosedale, Sale, Stratford and Bairnsdale stations to stick with paper tickets for a while longer and be unable to access the forthcoming credit card ‘tap and go’ feature.

The eventual move to the improved Myki network will reportedly occur after all current Myki readers across Victoria are upgraded with technology enabling credit card and smartphone ‘touch ons’.

Once the roll-out is complete, passengers can travel simply by touching on with a credit card as an option instead of topping up a Myki card or purchasing a Myki Pass. Currently, Myki can be used by Android smartphone users to touch on.

More than two years ago, the Express received confirmation from the state government that under the new contract for myki with the American ticketing supplier Conduent Business Services, the smart ticketing system will be expanded to regional Victoria in areas it currently does not serve, finally replacing the paper ticket system.

At the time, the government didn’t specify whether the entire V/Line system would be moved onto Myki, or which regional stations that Myki would be expanded to. The government also indicated it wouldn’t rush to switch on the new system until it was tested and read to go.

The Herald Sun recently reported that Rosedale, Sale, Stratford and Bairnsdale stations would be among the 37 regional stations to not be part of the first roll-out of the new upgraded myki readers, which also includes Warrnambool, Swan Hill, Ararat, Shepparton and Albury.

But Paul Westcott, regional spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA), a non-profit group that advocates for public transport users in Victoria, told the Express that passengers “almost never complain about the unavailability of Myki in most regional and rural areas”.

“Given the problems Myki had, particularly in its early days, passengers often expressed relief that they weren’t required to use Myki. It seems that sentiment might persist,” Mr Westcott said.

“Of course, Myki was supposed to be a state-wide system when it was being planned and introduced, but the Baillieu government confined it to Melbourne and the major regional centres to cut costs. While a lot of Myki hardware was installed at V/Line stations during the aborted initial roll out, we are unsure how much of it has been rendered unusable by time or later technological developments.”

Mr Westcott said there hadn’t been any real pressure from the non-Myki areas to have the system introduced.

“However, at the same time as the massive V/Line fare cut was announced, the then public transport minister, Ben Carroll, did undertake to have the system introduced state-wide. That part of the announcement was forgotten in the wake of the excitement about the fare cut, and the government seems to have forgotten about it as well, and/or maybe hopes people have forgotten,” he said.

Nationals state MP Kim O’Keeffe, said regional Victorians were continuing to be disadvantaged by the “bungled Myki upgrade”, saying it was “embarrassing” that paper tickets were still being used in Victoria’s regional lines in 2025.

Twenty thousand new Myki readers are being installed as part of a $1.7 billion project that are expected to be switched on credit card payments by early 2026.

A spokesperson from the Department of Transport told the Herald Sun it would eventually install new readers at V/Line stations which were currently serviced by paper tickets and eTickets.

Mr Westcott said it would still be preferable for the Myki system to be introduced state-wide as a unified ticketing system.

An electronic ticketing system was introduced last year, allowing V/Line passengers to pay for an ‘eTicket’, allowing them to print the ticket or display it on their smartphone instead of picking up a physical paper ticket from the train station or having it mailed to their home. The paper ticketing system remains unchanged for those who prefer it.

The eTicketing system is currently not available for the Gippsland Line, presumably because of the current works on a new signalling system for the trains that require coach replacements until Wednesday, August 13.

Arguably the most pressing issue facing Gippsland public transport users is frequency of reliable services. The end of the works on August 13 will complete the Gippsland Line, allowing weekday services on the Traralgon Line every 40 minutes, up from once an hour.