Myki: how Melbourne’s transport card went from Australia’s envy to also-ran

When Victoria's public transport card launched in 2008, paper tickets were still very much the norm in Australia, making the Myki card ahead of its time and the envy of the rest of the country. Fast forward more than a decade and the state government now finds itself needing to renovate the ageing system at the same time as it searches for a new company to replace it in the next couple of years.

In Sydney you no longer need to even have an Opal card if you're not on a concession - you can pay with your credit card or mobile phone, and it is a seamless experience to tap on across trains, buses, ferries and light rail.

In Melbourne, however, there is a mobile Myki version for Android devices, but not for iPhones, despite the Victorian government allocating $1m in 2019 to work on an iPhone version and other improvements.

Vline passengers to regional Victoria still need to buy a paper ticket.

In November last year, the Victorian government sought expressions of interest in replacing the system, put in place and maintained by NTT Data at a cost of over $2bn in the past 17 years. The original contract blew out by more than $500m.

NTT Data secured a $700m seven-year contract renewal in 2016, despite other companies - including Cubic, the company behind the New South Wales Opal card system - competing to take over.

In 2017, the Victorian government came under fire from the state's auditor for renewing the contract without first reviewing whether the company had delivered what was expected. Public Transport Victoria said the Department of Premier and Cabinet could not locate the final business case for the system to provide to the review.

The expressions of interest process will take until the contract expires in 2023, with many of the upgrades already available elsewhere, such as credit card tap on and off and smartphone payments.

The Victorian government has insisted some of these improvements to Myki will come before a complete overhaul of the public transport ticketing system.

"Our public transport ticketing system is constantly being updated and improved to make travel across the network easier and more convenient for Victorians," a Victorian government spokesperson said.

"As part of the ongoing renewal, we will consider all the latest technology to deliver the best possible experience for passengers."

The upgrades, the Victorian government said, will include improving the website login experience and allowing iOS users to pay with Apple Pay for one-off transactions.

But Victorians will have to wait until a new system is in place before they can tap on with a credit card.

In that time, the Victoria government will also need to replace the Myki terminals across its public transport fleet, owing to the terminals using Telstra's 3G network for communication. Telstra has flagged it will shut down the 3G network in June 2024.

The outgoing shadow public transport minister, Steph Ryan, said the Myki rollout had been plagued by cost blowouts and technical faults and it was essential the new system operator could deliver what was needed.

"We need to see an integrated wireless ticketing system across the state, promoting an expansion of digital and online payment options. Without this, our ticketing system will continue to lag behind states like NSW," she said.

"The current ticketing infrastructure is operated off near-obsolete 3G technology. It is crucial the new system operator can deliver ticketing with 5G capability to bring Victoria into the digital age."

In June, the NSW government announced more than $500m for the next generation of Opal, including making a digital card version of Opal permanent, and trialling the bundling of transport services - including taxis, ride shares and ebikes - on to the one card.

Queensland is also in the process of trialling payment by credit card and smart phones on select train lines.

Guardian Australia has sought comment from NTT Data.