4 March 2011

MyWay for everyone from Monday

4 March 2011 | johnboy

In the Civic bus interchange this morning more people were reading MyWay brochures than texting on their phones.

Chief Minister Stanhope has explains why by announcing that the cards go live to the general community on Monday 7 March.

Now the following dates are important for bus users:

— Sunday 10 April, Last day for people to use magnetic strip tickets

— Thursday 30 June, Last day for any value on magnetic strips to be transferred to MyWay cards

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dull_shiny_things3:41 pm 12 Mar 11

I’m am quite excited by our new MyWay Overlords.

I look forward to keeping my MyWay card in my bra between trips and not having to deal with a soggy/bend card by the time I arrive at work in the Summer.

ML-5852:39 pm 07 Mar 11

Time4Change said :

Well not quite $65 – for this term factoring in the part months of Feb and April its would have cost $70 – which is a 17% increase. Now what’s the CPI at the moment….

Agreed. But my calculation was done on a yearly basis and then divided by 4. Actual cost will vary from student to student – if they have more than 2 trips per day or catch buses on the weekend then they could pay less.

busgirl2:18 pm 07 Mar 11

Stop your whinging Canberrians!!!!!! Holy crap, you have to swipe-off too?! Well, I never…
This MyWay card sounds the same as the GoCard in Brisbane (which caters for buses, trains and ferries/citycats). Believe me, you’ll soon stop forgetting to swipe-off when you keep getting charged at the higher rate. In no time at all, it becomes pure habit. Nothing to get your knickers all in a knot over.

Holditz12:34 pm 07 Mar 11

RedDogInCan said :

So this magical system will record when I can’t get on a bus because it is too full or travel by other means because there is no service available. Can’t wait for the next ‘evidence based’ timetable update.

It will record when the bus is at capacity though (ie. full). It doesn’t need to know when you don’t get on a bus.

BTW, picked up my card yesterday, and used it this morning. Meanwhile everyone else still was using their magnetic stripe cards as if nothing had changed.

Last week I was in Leiden, Holland, where I got to see their bus system- which is pretty much like MyWay works. You have to touch your card on the sensor when you get on and when you get off, pretty much like what you have to do now with MyWay, and no one seemed to have any problems with it- it was an natural act. Cash fares for where I had to go, a 20 minute ride, was 4 euros ($5.52), but if you used the card, only 2 euros ($2.76). However, as far as I could tell, there was no cap to the number of paid rides.

Buses pretty much looked like ACTION buses, except that the seating area next to the rear exit doors are where prams are parked. People entered at the front and exited by the rear doors. Bus drivers grumbled and grunted.

The main difference is that buses seemed to be scheduled every quarter hour, so if you missed one you didn’t have to wait long for the next bus. Weirdly people still ran for the bus.

KB19719:54 am 07 Mar 11

RedDogInCan said :

Watson said :

And that is where the swiping off comes into play: so they can get a picture of the most used routes and destinations and adjust their route planning accordingly.

So this magical system will record when I can’t get on a bus because it is too full or travel by other means because there is no service available. Can’t wait for the next ‘evidence based’ timetable update.

God some of you people cant see past your noses.

Essentially it will, your average bus seats 57 & stands 14. If the bus pulls into Woden & takes on 30 standing passengers as well as the seated passengers then the new system will record this. If every bus from 8 – 9AM was like this then Action could use this data to restructure peak services to acommodate.

The current system cannot do this from what I can see.

Time4Change8:47 am 07 Mar 11

There will be a monthly trip cap applied to School tickets: once 26 trips have been taken per calendar month, the remaining trip are free (this include weekend trips). So effectively you pay for 13 days travel and the rest of the month is free. At $0.95 per trip this works out as low $24.70 per month. Of course some months will have fewer than 13 school days. If the card is used only a for school trips it comes out to close to $65 per term when months with fewer than 13 school days are factored in.

Complaints should be directed to Jon Stanhope MLA.

Well not quite $65 – for this term factoring in the part months of Feb and April its would have cost $70 – which is a 17% increase. Now what’s the CPI at the moment….

RedDogInCan11:59 am 06 Mar 11

Watson said :

And that is where the swiping off comes into play: so they can get a picture of the most used routes and destinations and adjust their route planning accordingly.

So this magical system will record when I can’t get on a bus because it is too full or travel by other means because there is no service available. Can’t wait for the next ‘evidence based’ timetable update.

johnboy9:49 am 06 Mar 11

rogueunderscore said :

I remember those people this morning! I didn’t even notice anyone take a photo. That’s quite scary.

Big camera!

Watson8:58 am 06 Mar 11

Check your balance: https://www.action.act.gov.au/ARTS/getbalance.asp

housebound7:59 am 06 Mar 11

And here’s one to help the drivers keep to a timetable:

“You must tag on or off while the bus is stationary. When the bus is moving, the card readers have a message which says the service is unavailable.”

From: http://www.transport.act.gov.au/myway/faqs.html#movingbus

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