MyWay - general/operational discussion

[Bus 400]

For those that have heard the news on ACTION bringing back some sort of paper ticket for charities.

I have been made aware that some passengers have been issued with special cards for use on buses, which is the reason beuhind the "Welfare $0.00" on the driver console.

Also TransPerth have special Smartrider cards that are valid for 24 hours from first tag on. These are issued by Employment Agencies on behalf of Centrelink to help the less fortunate to get to job interviews.

So surely it would be easier to implement the TransPerth system. Or even a system where the Charities are given the option to purchase MyWay cards with a $2 value. These can then be issued to the less fortunate, when the less fortunate require a new $2 MyWay they can return the old card for a new MyWay card. The said charity then recharge the used MyWard with $2, this should keep to card waste to a minimum (this should help to keep some groups happy).

[smitho]

For those that have heard the news on ACTION bringing back some sort of paper ticket for charities.

I have been made aware that some passengers have been issued with special cards for use on buses, which is the reason beuhind the "Welfare $0.00" on the driver console.

Also TransPerth have special Smartrider cards that are valid for 24 hours from first tag on. These are issued by Employment Agencies on behalf of Centrelink to help the less fortunate to get to job interviews.

So surely it would be easier to implement the TransPerth system. Or even a system where the Charities are given the option to purchase MyWay cards with a $2 value. These can then be issued to the less fortunate, when the less fortunate require a new $2 MyWay they can return the old card for a new MyWay card. The said charity then recharge the used MyWard with $2, this should keep to card waste to a minimum (this should help to keep some groups happy).

Puzzled by thgose report's in today's Canberra Times which seem to give the impression this is a new initiative; when drivers were doing their MyWay training in the second half of 2010, we were told then that these tickets were on the way.

[Barry Drive]

The report said that "books of ten" tickets will be able to be purchased by charities at the old Faresaver price. Not entirely sure what's new: perhaps more groups are now able to purchase these tickets than before.

[Buzz Killington]

The MyWay balance history now shows your last 100 transactions. This is a good job & a step in the right direction.

I presume this has been extended once more, as my balance check is currently showing all my transactions (130)

[Bus 400]

Must of as all my transactions, which adds up to 185 are shown.

[Maxious]

185? I have 406! It's 200 transactions shown, so currently I can see 206 to 406.

Would have more if Change of Mind wasn't so prevalent (though does remind me of the good old days of broken/missing validators). I caught a peak hour 313 the other day from Woden to Belco and it was Change of Mind the whole way - ouch.

[Barry Drive]

Just checking the MyWay website: in the FAQ section the time for a BPAY / Credit Card top up has been reduced to 3 working days. Can anyone who uses these top up methods confirm this?

[Bus 400]

A new feature on the MyWay Check Balance page is this paragraph:

Protect Your MyWay Account

   
• When checking your MyWay account details always access www.action.act.gov.au/ARTS/getbalance.asp by typing the address into your browser.
• Always "sign out" from the site when you have finished.
• Never check your account details via a third party site or application.
• To protect your identity never provide your personal or security details, including customer ID or passwords, in response to any email, even if it looks legitimate.
• Always confirm that your data is encrypted by ensuring a symbol of a lock appears within the browser.

Take from this what you will.

[Bus 400]

A new MyWay ad was just on Channel 10.
All it does is remind people to tag on & off. You can get inboard at (TfC website).

The graphics are an improvement to some older ACTION TV ad's.

[Buzz Killington]

Pretty budget ad. Liked the bus 'driving' up the 'swirl' of the MyWay background at the end.

[Busnerd]

Well ACTION has always had pretty good TV ad's and when you think about it is one of the only government operators who advertise on tv. My favourites would have to be the 'new action' ads 'if i had my way' were all great, especially the long 1 minute ad. Also my next favourite would be the flexibus ad, which from memory (presumabely christians) complained about because it depicted/assumed the male had just been having sex and was running out to get his flexibus....

Obviously the christians don't realise, people DO have one night stands...

[Buzz Killington]

The MyWay Balance Check page has moved to the Transport for Canberra website: https://www.transport.act.gov.au/ARTS/getbalance.asp

This message appears on the ACTION page:

NOTE: This page will be decommissioned in the near future and we recommend that you take some time to update any bookmarks or links to this page now.

The MyWay check balance service is now available from the Transport for Canberra web site using the following link https://www.transport.act.gov.au/ARTS/getbalance.asp

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience associated with this change.

[Bus 400]

I know I wasn't, but was anyone else aware of this?

MyWay - Transferring between Deane's Buslines and ACTION for Oaks Estate Residents
Published 30/08/2011 09.19 AM   |    Updated 30/08/2011 09.20 AM
Keep your one-way or daily ticket and present it to the driver for your onward journey. One-way fares can be used up to 90 minutes within the purchase time, and Deane's Buslines return tickets are valid on ACTION buses for the full day of the purchase date.

Transferring from Deane's Buslines to ACTION

Purchase your single or return fare from Deane's Buslines
Present your ticket to the ACTION driver and provide proof of your Oaks Estate address such as a Driver's Licence, Pension or Concession Card, or a Deane's Buslines Student Term Pass
Transferring from an ACTION bus to Deane's Buslines

Purchase your single fare or validate your MyWay Card on an ACTION bus
Present your ACTION ticket or MyWay card to the Deane's Buslines driver within 90 minutes of purchase and provide proof of your Oaks Estate address such as a Driver's Licence, Pension or Concession Card, or a Deane's Buslines Student Term Pass
https://www.contact.act.gov.au/app/answers/detail/a_id/1278/~/myway---transferring-between-deane's-buslines-and-action-for-oaks-estate

[Buzz Killington]

Yeah, saw something about that about a month ago.

[Kramden]

The Deane's/ACTION ticketing arrangement for Oaks Estate residents was covered in our Bus Driver Training as recently as August.  It's also in the ACTION driver's handbook.  I've not had any passengers with Deane's tickets to date.

[Barry Drive]

As some may have seen on twitter, MyWay tones were changed a few weeks ago to give multiple beeps when the failure to tag off fare applied.

Since that caused confusion, the tones are being updated again: a low single tone (which previously meant card read error or no funds) will now signal a successful tag on + failure to tag off.

Multiple beeps will now be used for all unsuccessful tag ons.

New tones should be in place by Monday.

[smitho]

The Deane's/ACTION ticketing arrangement for Oaks Estate residents was covered in our Bus Driver Training as recently as August.  It's also in the ACTION driver's handbook.  I've not had any passengers with Deane's tickets to date.

That ACTION driver's handbook must be something fairly new - haven't heard of such a thing, but it sounds a good idea. Must have a bo-peep next time I run into a new driver.

[smitho]

Anyone experiencing issues with the new tone arrangements?

[Snorzac]

Making the old failure tone the low balance tone is an epic fail and confuses everyone. That's the only issue I have with it.

[Kramden]

Anyone experiencing issues with the new tone arrangements?

Yes Smitho, and reported my grievances to the MY WAY geeks upstairs.  For weeks I sometimes get a passenger who sets off a no funds tone.  You ask them to try again, ditto.  Then (if I have time) I place their card on the console to check.  9 times out of 10 it DOES have funds.  When handing back to them, they try a third time and all works out fine.

All that done - and you're only trying to help out to see if there's a larger problem with their card - quite a few of them get the shits and carry on that they only re-charged their card recently.  It's as if they think you're having a go at them.  I laugh and say... "chill, it's just technology having a bad hair day".  Some however, are mildly impressed when I tap the card for them and it works.  I just tell them I've got the magic touch (grin).

When discussing this with another driver he said, "Well screw that, I haven't got time to be cheking tickets on my runs.  I just wave them through.  It's not my problem."

Then of course there's that other old chestnut: schoolies with cards that look like they've been eating them.  Bends, cracks, teethmarks, and so on....  You inform them in basic terms, i.e. words of no more than two syllables, that they need a new card because that one is broken and they look at you like you're speaking in tongues.  All in the day's work on the buses!  Gotta laugh.

[Barry Drive]

Making the old failure tone the low balance tone is an epic fail and confuses everyone. That's the only issue I have with it.

There is no "low balance tone" - see above. The "default fare" tone is now the low, single beep tone. This is not an epic fail since this time drivers have been notified about what tones apply.

For weeks I sometimes get a passenger who sets off a no funds tone.  You ask them to try again, ditto.  Then (if I have time) I place their card on the console to check.  9 times out of 10 it DOES have funds.  When handing back to them, they try a third time and all works out fine.

What you are getting in this circumstance is not a "no funds tone" (since there is no such tone), but (stupid?) passengers who are not tagging properly. They are more than likely trying to "swipe" their card rather than hold it steady. It's a common occurence, usually committed by people who don't know the difference between a smartcard and a barcode. It's not helped when media and others talk about "swiping your MyWay card".

(If only there were a video which explains this ...)

On the other hand if you encounter a single low beep, then tagging the card a second time will cause 5 beeps since it HAS successfully tagged on. In this circumstance you should inform the passenger that they are good to go.

[route56]

I was at a presentation yesterday by Paul Peters of ESDD and he discussed My Way ticket machines, instead of buying them from newsagents etc and also using the cards for parking. I'd say that these things could be very near. he did use non MyWay images though, mainly to demonstrate his point. he did not mention recharging myWay cards at the machines (and i didnt ask). 

[Barry Drive]

An update to MyWay released last weekend has made the following changes -

1. Both card readers will now switch off between bus stops to prevent passengers from tagging off early. I expect that new GPS footprints for bus stops will be released shortly - possibly when the Christmas shifts are loaded onto the buses. In the meantime, mapping of some bus stops is way out (non existent in some cases), so the driver will have to activate the readers manually.

2. "Change of Mind" tag off has been removed from front card reader. Change of mind can be processed through the driver's console only. A quick experiment has revealed that if the bus stop is not updated, tag off is impossible - it will just show message "this card is already tagged on" regardless of how long since it was tagged on. Therefore in the rare situation where a driver forgets to start a new trip, no one will be able to tag off successfully.

[smitho]

They sound like changes for the better.

A rising proportion of punters were waking up to the fact that they could evade paying fares by using the 'change of mind' feature.

[Barry Drive]

New GPS footprints have been loaded.

[Barry Drive]

A rising proportion of punters were waking up to the fact that they could evade paying fares by using the 'change of mind' feature.

I doubt that, given the limitations built in. 99% of change of mind would have been due to GPS errors and failure to end trip.

New GPS footprints have been loaded.

Despite this, Marcus Clarke bus stop still active!

[Buzz Killington]

New GPS footprints have been loaded.

Didn't stop people tagging off along Anketell St before the bus got to the interchange today!

[smitho]

I think there is a single footprint covering the Anketell stop at "Southlife" and the interchange proper.

[Buzz Killington]

This was between the pool and the interchange.

[smitho]

This was between the pool and the interchange.

Hmmm, interesting one; I'll look out for that.

[Barry Drive]

Most Bus Stations have a large footprint enabling early tag off to occur. This can cause problems though, especially at City where on more than one occasion it activated early but by the time you get to the platform it has deactivated.

[Bus 400]

On the weekend I tested out the default fare, below is what I found out:
(DISCLAIMER: Some of you may of already known this)

-You are charged the default fare on top on normal fare, so with my $1.90 fare I was charged $1.48 on top to equal $3.38 fare.
-There is no autoload discount on the default fare.
-While the $1.48 doesn't count towards your daily cap, the $1.90 charged with the default fare does count.

[Bus 400]

While I'll admit this isn't my greatest work (I'm not aiming for an Oscar), below is a recording of the "Don't Forget To Tag Off" ACTION MyWay TV Advertisement. This version misses the school children at the beginning, which is silly since it was played on Eleven during The Simpsons:

http://youtu.be/w692dVjipCQ

[Buzz Killington]

Was sitting on my bus at the interchange the other day and a guy who got on in front of me evidently had a change of mind, got up and tried to tag off. Obviously with the changes which prevent someone from doing a change of mind themselves, he got buzzed. He tried a few times, then handed it to the driver who appeared to tag the guy off from his console.

The guy then promptly tags back on, and gets off the bus.  Enjoy your default penalty fare, champ!

[smitho]

Put my myki to good use while in Melbourne over weekend. Worked well most of the time.

Down there, they don't talk about 'Tag on' / 'Tag off'....instead it's 'Touch on' / 'Touch off', which is much better terminology.

"Tag" is something graffiti vandals do, but for normal people, the term 'Tag' is meaningless. Is it any wonder so many punters are not sure what to do when they first use MyWay, or that so many punters try and swipe with the card, and so muck things up.

[manhinli]

After about half a year of the new tones, I still feel dissatisfied by them. Still a fair number of people not knowing what's happening, some even just walking by the driver after a bad read / insufficient funds tone.

Here's my take on the tones:

• Tag On/Off Success - the usual (http://www.transport.act.gov.au/myway/video/Sound%201%20-%20tag%20on%20success.mp3)
  
  
• Tag On Bad Read or Insufficient Funds - silence.
  
  Why? 99%^ of people listen for *a* tone and move on, and with a lot of people waving their cards around, it leads to a lot of bad reads and confused passengers. By not making an audio response, people are forced to read the reader's screen and calm down with their spazzing hands. The driver should be able to notice that no sound was generated and help in that case.
  
  ^ Anecdotal statistic
  
  
• Tag On Success with Default Fare from previous trip applied - double low tone then success tone, like this (http://www.manhinli.net/pub/TagOnWithDefault.wav)*
  
  The cards were successfully tagged on, so why make a completely different tone? Just warn quickly that you didn't tag off the last time and then confirm that tag on was okay...
  
  * Mashed from http://www.transport.act.gov.au/myway/video/Sound%201%20-%20tag%20on%20success.mp3 and http://www.transport.act.gov.au/myway/video/Sound%202%20-%20default%20fare.mp3
  
  
• Tag Off with forced Synthetic Tap On - extra long oscillating alert, like that of emergency vehicles.
  
  This is not done at the moment, so it's a suggestion from me.
  
  It is a rare event, but I find that there are some circumstances where people tag onto buses from the back reader (just like today on my bus - about 10 people tagged on from the back while the back door was open because there was a huge line at the front.)
  
  While from what I can see, they get charged a default fare immediately (because back readers are Tap Off only) they tend to also believe that they've done a Tap On, so when they leave the bus from the front, it taps on, leading to a lingering session which results in a default fare the next time they catch a bus.
  
  While they should get punished somewhat (because they shouldn't be hopping onto a bus from the back anyway,) not warning them won't deter them. (The people on my bus today got told to return to the front to get tagged on afterwards, so they'll get double charged for it!) Making an extra long oscillating tone should alert the driver to check and make passengers double check.
  

I also thought about differentiating between Tag Ons and Tag Offs, but that would have been too messy.

[smitho]

Punters on TransPerth trains and buses don't seem to encounter anywhere near the number of 'bad hits'...not sure why.

[Bus 400]

From June 2012, MyWay holders will be able to use their MyWay card to access the Bike & Ride Cages. As per the Transperth system, you will have to register to your card to be able to open the cage.

Also, the MyWay transaction history now shows your last 1,005 transactions.

[smitho]

Stops where MyWay footprint is misplaced or non-existent:-

........second stop into Mulley St, Woden-bound (near old Holder High buildings).

[Bus 400]

Some MyWay punters may or may of noticed recently that the footprints for each bus station has been altered. An example is for the southbound Blue Rapids heading through Woden. Previously you could tag off as the bus entered Woden. Now you can only tag off once the bus reaches the platform. This is because each individual platform has been added to the MyWay database & each platform is shown on your MyWay history whether it's a through service or just starting.

[Barry Drive]

What used to happen for through-running routes was that the "arrival" bus station and the departing platform were both programmed. This rarely worked because once within the footprint of the arrival, the stop never changed. So they've just removed the arrival stop from the system.

[Bus 400]

The link to get your balance has altered with a new TAMS website, it can be found at https://www.transport.act.gov.au/catch_a_bus/myway/check_your_balance

The layout on your MyWay history has also changed, with it no longer showing if you were charged a default fare type or the transaction number. So basically it only shows the date & time of transaction, route number, stop name & fare total.

[Maxious]

The link to get your balance has altered with a new TAMS website, it can be found at https://www.transport.act.gov.au/catch_a_bus/myway/check_your_balance

The layout on your MyWay history has also changed, with it no longer showing if you were charged a default fare type or the transaction number. So basically it only shows the date & time of transaction, route number, stop name & fare total.

I just checked last 50 records and it still had all the usual columns. Maybe only the 1000 record query has less info?

[Buzz Killington]

The layout on your MyWay history has also changed, with it no longer showing if you were charged a default fare type or the transaction number. So basically it only shows the date & time of transaction, route number, stop name & fare total.

The layout has only changed for the (new) mobile version of the site. The desktop version still gives you the full complement of information (regardless of whether you view the last fifty or thousand transactions)

[Bus 400]

For those that aren't aware, 10 more recharge places will open & the City & Belconnen MyWay Offices will close on the 28th June (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5a_gpUL6MWeTE9OdURJLXVnVmM/edit).

Now if I'm not mistaken, the MyWay City was a 10 year lease that will now sit vacant, while we all pay the rent. Unless the ACTION lease in Bailey's Corner has expired.

[Sir Pompously]

Yet still no Add Value Machines at bus stations! I am racking my brain to think of another system that operates smartcards without Add Value Machines (usually combined with ticket functions for short term tickets), but I certainly have not experienced a system without other than Canberra. Rather than just "looking" at them they need to put them in, having them at major interchange facilities is better than having no where to top up!

One would hope that the current MyWay centre in the City will at least become a more prominently located information office. Whilst I do not agree with the closure (those centres have been busy every time I go to either one of them), I do agree with allowing tickets agents to be able to issue concession cards to give people more options. However this will not come until later in the year, so closing the offices now is a little premature.

[Barry Drive]

I was just casually browsing the ACT Gov contracts register and noticed that the Quick & Go store is now a MyWay top-up agent. (This is also shown on the MyWay webpage.)

But Kippax still doesn't have one.

[smitho]

Nor does the Curtin Centre, even though it is destined to get a top-up machine.

[King of Buses]

http://www.action.act.gov.au/fares/bus-fare-increase

Another fare increase in January....

[Barry Drive]

I was just casually browsing the ACT Gov contracts register and noticed that the Quick & Go store is now a MyWay top-up agent.

But Kippax still doesn't have one.

Was mentioned elsewhere a while ago: Kippax Newsagent is now a MyWay "retail agent".

And now Ainslie Newsagent has been added to the list - the first agency in a local shopping centre. (Still none at Curtin, though.)