MGSC CITY PROJECT – TRANSPORT MEGAN LUCY BRIDGET MORTON EMMA FERGUSON 9B

INTRODUCTION Every year the year 9’s at MGSC explore a different aspect of Melbourne and the ways we can improve them. We were chosen to explore transport, so over the past few weeks we have delved into everything transport and myki. After several trips to the city and too many surveys to count, this is what we’ve come up with.

BRAIN - STORMING When we first started with this project we looked at the problems with transport that we have now. We looked at safety, fare evasion, schedules, appearance, peek hour services and myki, so that’s where we started. We decided that myki is one of our biggest and most controversial problems and it would be interesting to see how we could adjust and improve the system. We then thought about the most necessary parts of any system- efficiency, reliability, convenience, safety and simplicity- and kept going on that. We put together all our ideas and started narrowing down the list of what we could hypothetically, successfully achieve.

IDEAS Family cards Transferring money between cards Paywave system Metcards Myki points Smartchips 24 hour services Connection with credit cards Pricing changes

INTERNATIONAL SCALE Many cities all over the world are starting to use smartcards for their public transport systems and why shouldn’t they, it’s a fantastic idea that seems be working really well in some places. Others, however are having some problems. All the cities that are using the system, are taking the same basic plan and evolving it to compensate for their needs. Their own personal touch. The most successful places, have been Hong Kong, with the octopus card, Perth’s smartcard and Singapore with EZ link. However myki has been one of the most expensive costing $1.3 billion dollars and has had severe problems.

SURVEYS AND DATA

METCARDS FOR TOURISTS We spoke to a few tourists in the city and they all said the same thing. That myki is complicated for them to use and understand, a hassle to buy for a short trip and that they would prefer to have what we call metcards. We have incorporated bringing metcards back into our system for tourists, families and school groups. We feel that it would be a lot simpler for some people who are only coming for a short time and don’t want to have to buy the proper cards. The system would work how it did during the transition to myki where there was on option but myki would still be the more used option.

FAMILY AND GROUP CARDS After several trips to the city over the year with the rest of our year level- that’s 200 girls- we discovered how agonisingly painful it is to try and control several classes of teenage girls at a train station, making sure they all have valid cards, have tapped on and have all safely gotten on the train without leaving someone behind. It’s the same problem with mothers trying to control excited toddlers who race through the barriers while she taps on for herself and her kids. Along with the tourists, we decided that it would be easier for a mother or teacher to buy one card that covers the whole group/ family without any hassle.

PRICING CHANGES & 24 - HOUR SERVICES Even though it doesn’t fit under the myki derestriction, we want to make all bus services run 24 hours around the city, to provide a safe, easy and cheap way for people to get home at night. As well as this, we want to make some minor changes to the current ones. We don’t know the specific charges that are made for trips but are going off personal experience. trainbus 1 zone2 zones/night1 zone2 zones/ night child$1.25$1.75 $1.35$1.75 concess$1.35$1.75 $1.50$1.85 adult$1.50$2.00 $1.60$2.10 senior$1.00$1.25 $1.10$1.35 veteran$0.80$1.00 $0.90$1.00 metcards family$7 S group$30 2 hour$2 day$5 week$20

MYKI MONEY This part of the system will work the same way that the paywave works. The card will be topped up as it is now and people will be able to make purchase $20 and under at stores like 7-eleven, milk bars, news agents, Big W and Woolworths. If the card reaches $3, further purchases will be unavailable to ensure the card holder isn’t left stranded with a chocolate bar but no money to get home. Participating stores will also be places for you to buy a new myki or top up there current card. There aren’t enough places to buy mykis now and if yours is lost or stolen, it is really inconvenient. Myki’s and metcards will also be available at all airports in Victoria.

FARE EVASION Fare evasion is a big problem here in Melbourne. The most common issue is people not touching on at suburban train stations. We plan to put barriers- such as the ones at Flinders street station- at the tap on machines at all stations to stop people form just walking through. This will not permanently fix the problem and there might be some controversy about it but we feel this will sufficiently cut down the amount of are evasion in Melbourne's suburbia.