I think that if V/Line was struggling to make a profit before Myki, it will have no hope now.

Prime example was when I first used my Myki to travel to Southern Cross from Geelong and return, I wondered why my fare for the return journey was free.....I found it that if you were fortunate enough to touch on for the return journey within 2 or whatever hours from when you first touched on for the inward bound journey, then your return journey is free. This sort of fare charging is inane as far as I am concerned.

And to be charged purely on zones travelled (Myki) rather than distance travelled (V/Line) is almost irresponsible. A $28 fare if I had fronted to the V/Line Booking Office for a paper ticket does not compare to the $11 fare charged by Myki for a Geelong-Malmsbury off peak concession return.
I am not complaining, of course!
But in reality, V/Line will struggle to make ends meet even more if Myki charges these sorts of fares for V/Line travel

If the sorts of figures being quoted by people here are correct then it does raise the question of what the $$$ figures are going to be like by the end of the financial year - I think at some stage I'll have to tackle my aversion to using Myki on V/Line and give it a go to see what happens, particularly on a weekend as this 'half price' thing seems like it's too good to be true.  

The introduction of Myki affected tram numbers adversely and perhaps now it's also going to affect V/Line revenues?

I think that if V/Line was struggling to make a profit before Myki, it will have no hope now.

"This sort of fare charging is inane as far as I am concerned." Like you I'm not complaining, of course! We just hope V/Line does not cut services at a time when patronage is on the increase.

I think that if V/Line was struggling to make a profit before Myki, it will have no hope now.

I think the quoted figures state farebox covers about 10% of the cost of providing the service. So in all honesty (a) V/Line is not struggling to make a profit - they're miles away from a profit and (b) in light of those figures, the reduced income is probably not going to have such a great impact.

Just to confirm....the fare I was charged yesterday for travelling Geelong - Malmsbury return off peak concession using Myki was indeed all of $11.08!!!
And when I checked with V/Line booking at Geelong station after arriving back home to Geelong, she told me that had I presented to booking prior to setting out from Geelong, I would have been charged $28.40 for the pleasure of using a V/Line paper ticket.

I realise that the numbers would not be huge, but I wonder how many other travellers have bought V/Line tickets for rail travel that involves cross country V/Line rail travel and not realised that Myki is markedly cheaper.

As I said to the rather lovely V/Line booking clerk, in this case, I LOVE my Myki card!

I'm sure you called the Myki help desk as soon as you posted that, to report a charging error?

^It's not a charging error.

Say you got the 9.18 from Marshall to Southern Cross, arriving at 10.36.  You touch on at Geelong but your 2 hour fare doesn't start til ten.  You go shopping in Melbourne but are back at Southern Cross and touch on prior to 12.00PM, still inside your original 2 hours.  You return to Marshall, and touch off.  In that case you should technically only be charged $7.70 (off peak zone 1-4 2 hour fare).

I'm sure you called the Myki help desk as soon as you posted that, to report a charging error?

In the case of xxxxlbear's trip, the Geelong-Melbourne leg is in Zones 1-4, while the leg from Melbourne-Malmsbury is Zones 1-7. Because the leg from Geelong is within Zones 1-7, s/he effectively got that leg for free.

Railblogger, xxxxlbear is all male.

And no, it is NOT a charging fault, g00r.
Myki bases its charging on how it works out Melbournes fares through zone and time based travel. It does not differentiate for V/Line.

So when one travels from, say, a zone 4 V/Line station, to a zone 7 station on the other side of the state (in my case), it doesnt take into account distances, all Myki sees is travel with 1-7 zones and charges accordingly. V/Line charges by the distance travelled. Myki SHOULD be charging for zone 4 to 1 travel + zone 1-7 travel but it doesn't. All Myki sees is travel across zones 1 - 7 and charges accordingly as though one has made one trip across all 7 zones.

And there is a lessor known fact that if you tag on at your departing station, and tag off at your destination, and then tag on again within 2 hours of your initial tag on, then your return journey is free.

EDITED for grammer and spelling correction.

Railblogger, xxxxlbear is all male.

And no, it is NOT a charging fault, g00r.
Myki bases its charging on how it works out Melbournnes fares through zone and time based charging. It does not differentiate for V/Line.

So when one travels from, say, a zone 4 V/Line station, to a zone 7 station on the other side of the state (in my case), it doesnt take into account distances, all Myki sees is travel with 1-7 zones and charges accordingly. V/Line charges by the distance travelled. Myki SHOULD be charging for zone 4 to 1 travel + zone 1-7 travel but it doesnt. All Myki sees is travel across zones 1 - 7 and charges accordingly as though one has made one trip acorss all 7 zones.

And there is a lessor known fact that if you tag on at your departing station, and tag off at your destination, and then tag on again within 2 hours of your initial tag on, then your return journey is free.

Sorry about that. Didn't want to be sexist.

Sorry about that. Didn't want to be sexist.

No problem!
It's better take the safe way and assume nothing, as you did

I have found the Myki rules and regulations for V/Line travel on the PTV web site:

How myki calculates your V/Line commuter fare using myki money. When you first touch on and off, you are charged a 2-hour fare for the zones you’ve travelled through. This two hour fare expires two hours from the next full hour after you first touch on.

Any travel after the first 2-hour fare expires caps you at a daily fare if those trips are in the same zone/s. The daily fare is the most you pay on a single day for unlimited travel in one or more zones.

To ensure customers are able to complete long journeys on V/Line commuter services, additional time is added for longer trips:

• Travel of 1-5 zones = 2-hour fare
• Travel of 6-11 zones = 3-hour fare
• Travel of 12-13 zones = 4-hour fare

For example, a passenger who touches on in Zone 8 at 9.30am and touches off in zone 1 at 11.15am (an 8-zone trip) has a zone 1-8 fare expiring at 1pm.

If touch on occurs after 6pm the fare expires at 3am the following day.

Customers can continue to touch on and travel within the zones covered by the daily fare until the expiry time at no extra cost

Link: http://ptv.vic.gov.au/tickets/myki/v-line/

Note the last paragraph.
Also interesting is that if you decide to travel by V/Line after 6pm, your return trip is free if made before 3am. Handy if you live close enough to Melbourne, such as Geelong or Seymour, and want to go to Melbourne CBD for dinner, coffee, or a movie (There's return trains to Geelong that leave town at about midnight, and 1am Friday and Saturday nights that I know of).

Sorry to ask what may be dumb question...

I'm coming to Melbourne in December with the family, and want to get around on the trams, trains and buses. The way I read the PTA website is that to do so I have to get Myki cards for each of my family at Spencer St. Is this actually the case? We'll be staying out at Braybrook so getting into the city in the first instance is going to be very difficult.

Any help from those in the know would be much appreciated.

Just out of interest, there are no 'family' myki's.
You will need individual tickets.
A family of 5 for example (ie 2a + 3c) will set you back $21 ($6 + 6 + 3 + 3 +3)even before you set 1 foot on public transport. Then you need to top up.

This can all be done online.

I got another free trip today, this time on a tram; no charge touching on or off for a single trip during the day.  I'm not sure what the glitch is but it's starting to make up for the other times where I've been overcharged on account of faulty train station validators.

I've taken years to get there but I'm finally warming to Mickey.

Sorry to ask what may be dumb question...

I'm coming to Melbourne in December with the family, and want to get around on the trams, trains and buses. The way I read the PTA website is that to do so I have to get Myki cards for each of my family at Spencer St. Is this actually the case? We'll be staying out at Braybrook so getting into the city in the first instance is going to be very difficult.

Any help from those in the know would be much appreciated.

If you do not prefer to get them online, and are flying in, you can get at the airport in the form of a tourist pass. I'm also positive that there is a myki vending machine at the bus interchange there but not certain.

Welcome to the world's most user-unfriendly public transport system.

Sorry to ask what may be dumb question...

I'm coming to Melbourne in December with the family, and want to get around on the trams, trains and buses. The way I read the PTA website is that to do so I have to get Myki cards for each of my family at Spencer St. Is this actually the case? We'll be staying out at Braybrook so getting into the city in the first instance is going to be very difficult.

Any help from those in the know would be much appreciated.

According to the Myki website you may purchase cards ( and top them up with money ) at

Braybrook Newsagency
127 South Road
Braybrook, 3019

According to the Myki website you may purchase cards ( and top them up with money ) at

Braybrook Newsagency
127 South Road
Braybrook, 3019

Thanks Alamein_Line - missed that page

Just out of interest, there are no 'family' myki's.
You will need individual tickets.
A family of 5 for example (ie 2a + 3c) will set you back $21 ($6 + 6 + 3 + 3 +3)even before you set 1 foot on public transport. Then you need to top up.

This can all be done online.

$21 just to get the cards - even before travel on top !?!?!?!?!?! WTF !!!!

$21 in Perth would get you 2 family day passes, with change. Reckon we'd be better off trying to dodge the transit cops. Even after paying a fine I'd still be better off

$21 just to get the cards - even before travel on top !?!?!?!?!?! WTF !!!!

Precisely the response coming from the less frequent travellers on the networks who have always before bought the tickets they need when they enter the system (at a station or on a bus or tram) but suddenly find they can no longer do so in many cases in addition to the $21 - in this example - in fees before any travel can be purchased.

Does anywhere else anywhere operate a system where there is no alternative to paying card fees?

Just sent a rather strongly, but politely, worded email to PTV regarding how the Myki system is anti tourist and anti family. Not that I expect to change the world, but if enough tourists / infrequent travelers complain they may look at improving the system. Even the poor bloke on the help desk admitted the Myki system is not geared to this demographic of public transport users.

$21 is a stupid amount of money to pay before you can even travel.  They aren't interested in hearing complaints but it's still worth letting them know of you dissatisfaction - I feel it's a major embarrassment to our city that needs rectifying.

Unfortunately the Myki boffins aren't like the pollies - at least we can get rid of politicians at an election.

$21 just to get the cards - even before travel on top !?!?!?!?!?! WTF !!!!

$21 in Perth would get you 2 family day passes, with change. Reckon we'd be better off trying to dodge the transit cops. Even after paying a fine I'd still be better off

Yes. That's just the purchase price, even before a family buys their individual train, tram, or bus fares. And it's no good assuming that if one person has a Myki, that that person can top up with enough money for fares for each of their group or family....each member of the family must have a Myki.

I have mentioned before in this thread that I have heard of Simon Owens, panel operator at 3AW, deciding to take his family of 2 adults and 4 kids to to the city on public transport from Ringwood I think it was. This was a once off weekend actvity, and he ended up turning his family around and headed back to their car parked nearby after being told that the total cost would be $71.32!!!!
....6 Myki's for $24 (2 x $6 adult + 4 x $3 child), and 6 x zone 1 + 2 fares $47.32 (2 x $11.84 adult + 4 x $5.92 children).

He said it wasn't so much the daily fares itself that was the problem, it was the price of the 6 Myki's that was...and he felt it was very unreasonable as travelling by public transport was a rarity for his family, and now he knows what the price is, it has probably detered him and his family from using public transport again for a very, very long time.

I can see how Myki can be very discouraging for people wanting to travel once or twice (such as tourists, or in the example above), and very advantagous for people like me who have found little quirks on the system that can give me free V/Line trips -if you happen to know about the 2 hour window when tagging on at your originating station, and zonal travel as opposed to distance travel as mentioned in previous posts (ie Geelong to Malmsbury for instance).