19 April 2011

MyWay – Recharge early and often

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Though that my experience is post worthy

While exiting the bus at work last Wednesday morning I noticed the orange and green lights came on while ‘tagging off’ the bus.

This is a warning that the credit on my ‘MyWay’ card has fallen below $10. As a regular bus user I then jumped on the internet and Bpay’d $50 onto my card.

The last couple of days I have been watching my credit continue to drop antipating my recharge will hit my card, however this morning (Tuesday) upon departing the bus I note it is below $2, less than my return fare.

So I rang the MyWay number listed on their website and I was informed that it takes a minimum of 5 working days for a payment to be processed.

So at 10 fares per week, I need to, at the very latest recharge at $25.20 (peek adult fare is $2.52). Which makes the ten dollar warning light useless.

Been a while since I used Bpay. Does 5 days seems like a longtime considering the money came out of my account day 1?

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missanonymous8:42 pm 20 Apr 11

Have to admit I have mixed feelings. It seems more expensive to me (though it could just be the lack of broken machines and therefore free rides!) and I find tagging off a pain, though I am getting used to it.
A few recharge machines at the interchanges would really help though – Bpay takes too long for my liking and I’m not a big fan of queueing at the newsagent during my precious lunch hour! Autoload might work but for my need to monitor my spending (hence catching the bus in the first place!)
That said despite my grumbles it could be a lot worse.

Bussie said :

Drivers can add value to MyWay cards with the drivers ticket console but we have been told not to.

Fair enough. I know I wouldn’t want to be driving around with all that cash. And since you seem to know, have they ironed out most of the bugs? Because this morning, I rode from Gunghetto to Belcompton for free, and the MyWay history shows I tagged on AND off in the City.

puggy said :

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the machines that the bus drivers have on board look exactly the same as those at recharge agents. I’m guessing that flat bit on top is where you place the card while you punch in some numbers? If so, can you recharge on board (in a pinch I guess)?

Drivers can add value to MyWay cards with the drivers ticket console but we have been told not to.

I cant see what is so hard about it. The info given out at the start said that there would be a delay with Bpay, I don’t like/trust the direct debit system so I just used the Myway office in the city.

8 people in front of me, no more than 3 minutes waiting & I now have $60 credit.

Are people so used to being spoon fed these days that they cant think for themselves?

Your best option is to set up Autoload on your MyWay card. So whenever it gets below the $8 threshold, the selected amount is topped up on your card. The money is then direct debited from your account a few days later.

For example if your MyWay balance after your morning tag on & off is $7.97 & you have selected $30 for your autoload. Then when you tag on the bus in the afternoon, your MyWay balance is brought up to $37.97.

The form to set up Autoload can be found at http://transport.act.gov.au/myway/pdfs/autoload.pdf

O & puggy, recharging via the driver module is an available feature for Wayfarer system. TransPerth allow passengers to recharge via the bus driver. But ACTION/Transport For Canberra/TWU have not allowed this to be so. Just so everyone is aware, TransPerth run the same system as ACTION.

moneypenny26128:11 pm 19 Apr 11

I recharged via BPAY on a Monday (before 2PM FWIW) and it was credited on Thursday morning.

The length of time for ACTION to credit the payment is by far the longest I have experienced with BPAY.

And here I was thinking there wasn’t any work left for carrier pigeons!

puggy said :

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the machines that the bus drivers have on board look exactly the same as those at recharge agents. I’m guessing that flat bit on top is where you place the card while you punch in some numbers? If so, can you recharge on board (in a pinch I guess)?

That’s what they do in Perth with the same system. I haven’t seen it publicised anywhere but maybe in Canberra they’re worried about having drivers with large amounts of dosh and not long enough breaks between runs to hand it in at the office?

Ironically as I was reading this post on the bus home this arvo, I heard that telltale ‘buzzzzz” as somebody swiped their MyWay card. The guy commented to the driver that he topped it up on Sunday. Driver responded with “was it via bPay?”

You’d imagine there could be some easily forged economies here – for instance someone obviously has a tender to maintain and clear the parking meters etc. I’d guess that could be pretty cheaply and easily extended to clearing and maintaining any MyWay AVMs that might be installed.

But parking meters generate revenue and are worth maintaining. While I think myway recharge terminals will just be convenient and (I think) won’t expand user base.

I can order a cartridge for my printer from the US, pay for it using PayPal and have it sitting on my doorstep within 5 days. But it takes these morons that length of time just to transfer a credit from my bank account to my bus account?

Something is seriously rotten in the state of Australia.

madscientist4:38 pm 19 Apr 11

It *is* a government-owned bus service. BPAY infrastructure is around, inexpensive (judging from the number of bills I can pay with them without and ancillary fee), familiar. While recharge terminals will need $, a tender, maintenance etc.

You’d imagine there could be some easily forged economies here – for instance someone obviously has a tender to maintain and clear the parking meters etc. I’d guess that could be pretty cheaply and easily extended to clearing and maintaining any MyWay AVMs that might be installed.

Having had some experience of the Myki debacle – I can say that topping up the card via a vending machine is by far the most reliable method of adding value in Melbourne, because the transaction is completed on your card as soon as the machine has accepted your money (via cash or EFTPOS). I think rolling out some recharge machines at interchanges, the smaller sets of shops and at stops along the Rapid routes would be an excellent way to make MyWay easier to use.

I think MyWay’s doing okay – rollout cost of MyWay, $8 million, compared to $1350M + for Myki. So an investment of about $23 for every Canberran, compared to $340 for every Melbournian. (Given that only about 1 million Melbournians use public transport, it’s more like $1000 per user..)

MyWay’s transition period – 1 month. Melbourne’s – 1.5 years and counting.

So not looking too bad so far, but they could certainly make some improvements.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the machines that the bus drivers have on board look exactly the same as those at recharge agents. I’m guessing that flat bit on top is where you place the card while you punch in some numbers? If so, can you recharge on board (in a pinch I guess)?

lindilou said :

This problem would go away if there were more convenient ways of recharging i.e. recharge machines at the bus interchanges/major bus stations. I’ve suggested this to the ACT government like a couple of times by email and they haven’t gotten back to me. This is ignorance on their part and won’t make anything better. They need to start listening to people.

It *is* a government-owned bus service. BPAY infrastructure is around, inexpensive (judging from the number of bills I can pay with them without and ancillary fee), familiar. While recharge terminals will need $, a tender, maintenance etc.

Pre-paid cards should cause a revenue boost—just because users have to maintain a balance with ACTION—but I don’t think by themselves will boost public transport usage. Now, if myway were able to sell terminals to Canberra businesses to replace cash, and snare a percentage that otherwise goes to Visa/Mastercard—like in Hong Kong, there might be more users, more revenue stream, and more leeway to do these recharge stuff. Or maybe they won’t.

Compared to T-Card and Myki debacles, it’s OK so far, albeit in a smaller scale (and without trains). When Singapore first moved to their tap-and-go cards, users had to periodically line up to fill up their cards at counters as well. It was only later that they had Add-Value machines. And there is no online service. So the BPAY inconvenience is something I can live with, but hopefully not for too long.

madscientist3:19 pm 19 Apr 11

Well, you must understand that your monies must go all the way over to Perth and back before being credited onto your card.. I’m sure it gets over there fine, like every other BPay.. just is a bit slow on the rebound from Westralia…

I think the problem isn’t BPay, but rather on the ACTION’s side to credit your MyWay once it has confirmed receipt of payment.

I’m just picturing several people working in an ACTION office transferring data from the banking system into the MyWay system… all by manually entry.

This problem would go away if there were more convenient ways of recharging i.e. recharge machines at the bus interchanges/major bus stations. I’ve suggested this to the ACT government like a couple of times by email and they haven’t gotten back to me. This is ignorance on their part and won’t make anything better. They need to start listening to people.

Any Bpays processed before 2pm are usually received the next business day. If it’s after 2pm, then it will be 48 hours. 4-5 days is a load of crap, unless they have the worlds most useless banking/accounting department

In my experience BPAY takes a couple of days. 5 seems excessive, whether it actually takes that many I don’t know, maybe they just say that for arse-covering purposes.

For BPay, my Internode Internet invoice states “allow up to 4 days for payment”. My credit card statement states “please allow 2 business days for payment to be received…”. I can pay for Qantas flights with BPay, and the e-ticket is approved in 2 days.

So 5 days seems like a long time, especially if a ticket is unusable below a certain amount. Although, Myway could just be receiving payments, and then have someone add value to individual cards manually (guessing).

Maintain a high balance (same as recharge early). Larger amounts reduce frequency of recharging, but would reflect ticket price, and usage.

I called them in regards of my BPAY recharge issue – I paid $20 in via BPAY on 4th April and I thought it wasn’t recharged as per shown to my balance online but they said it takes 4- 5 days, they checked my account for me, the $20 was sitting on my card since 6th April, so it takes around 24 – 48 hours to get through.

It will show on the balance once you tag on again, and the new amount will be shown online. So I reckon the 4-5 days is bullocks.

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