{"id":25605,"date":"2026-06-05T19:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25605\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T19:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:27:10","slug":"tap-and-go-technology-to-launch-across-melbourne-train-network-after-many-months-of-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25605\/","title":{"rendered":"Tap-and-go technology to launch across Melbourne train network after many months of delays"},"content":{"rendered":"

After repeated delays, Melbourne commuters will be able to use their credit card, phone or smartwatch across the train network this month, joining other major cities with ticketless travel.<\/p>\n

The capability will launch across two stages, this Sunday and then the week following.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All myki-enabled train stations will get the capability, covering the entire Metro Trains network and some regional V\/Line stations.<\/p>\n

But concession, tram and bus passengers will need to wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Allan government said it would provide a timeline for introducing contactless payments on tram and bus networks in coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Concession passengers make up about one-third of commuters.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A trial of myki credit card and phone tap-and-go technology took place on several train lines in March. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

The functionality for full-fare passengers will launch this Sunday on the Sunbury, Pakenham, Cranbourne, Metro Tunnel, Werribee, Williamstown, Sandringham, Frankston, Stony Point, Bendigo, Gippsland and Geelong lines.<\/p>\n

A week later, it will be rolled out on Mernda, Hurstbridge, Lilydale, Belgrave, Alamein and Glen Waverley lines.<\/p>\n

Regional stations that still rely on paper tickets will not have the option.<\/p>\n

The government has planned to launch the technology for concession and all regional travellers next year, and confirmed on Friday this remained part of the staged rollout.<\/p>\n

Victoria has fallen well behind Sydney and other international cities to enable credit card payments in lieu of tickets or passes on public transport.<\/p>\n

The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office in March put the total cost of the project at $2.8 billion over 15 years, found the project was 18 months behind schedule, and that blowouts and delays could have been avoided<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2023 the state awarded a $1.7 billion contract to overhaul myki to Conduent, which last month announced it is to sell its public transit business.<\/p>\n

Premier Jacinta Allan insisted at the time it would not further delay the rollout of touch-and-go technology.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Williams says the tap-and-go technology will make life easier for commuters. (ABC Central Victoria: Tyrone Dalton)<\/p>\n

Trials were due to begin in 2024, but started a year later on just four bus routes in Wangaratta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two Melbourne train lines<\/a> began trialling the functionality in March, with 88,500 ticketless trips taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Four in five of those used a phone or smartwatch.<\/p>\n

This was interrupted in March by free public transport<\/a> for April and May, which threatened to delay the rollout.<\/p>\n

The cost of living measure, introduced during soaring petrol prices as a result of the United States and Israel’s war in Iran, was replaced with half-price fares for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

“Victorians are already saving money with half-price fares. Now we’re making public transport easier to use too,” said Public and Active Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams.<\/p>\n

“Tap and go means one less card in your wallet and one less thing to worry about on your journey.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After repeated delays, Melbourne commuters will be able to use their credit card, phone or smartwatch across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23937,23936,8657,23938,260,23939,6323,23934,23940,23935,2548],"class_list":["post-25605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-apple-pay","tag-contactless-payment","tag-credit-card","tag-google-pay","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-trains","tag-metro","tag-myki","tag-smartwatch","tag-tap-and-go","tag-victorian-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}