Myki transit card ready for buses and trams

Long-suffering Melbourne commuters finally get smartcard.

The Victorian Government will extend the myki transit smartcard to cover buses and trams in two public transport zones from next week.

The troubled system went live late last year but only for trains.

It was now ready to be extended to other forms of public transport in Melbourne zones one and two, said the State's Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula.

He said a "significant amount of work had gone into getting the system ready for trams and buses during the past few months".

"Following advice from the Transport Ticketing Authority Board, I am satisfied the system is working at improved levels of reliability and that system operator, Kamco, has the ability to operate the expanded system and assist customers in their transition to myki," Pakula said.

"Over the coming week, card-vending machines and myki check machines at large tram stops and major bus interchanges will be turned on and myki devices on trams will phase out the CitySaver ticket but passengers can still access this fare with [the old] Metcard [system]."

Pakula aid in February that the smartcard's rollout to trams and buses would "fundamentally be determined by the speed with which Kamco and its contractors can iron out the technical gremlins" that had prevented the system operating on all transport modes.

At the time, he appointed a new TTA head, Bernie Carolan, whom he expected to "rigorously analyse everything we're told by Kamco".

Carolan was also tasked with "riding the contractors as hard as possible 'til we get to the finish line" - a system working across all modes of transport.

Myki was developed by Kamco under a public tender and contract agreement. Delivery was over-budget and behind schedule.