OK, EVERYONE let's stay cool. Let's not panic about the new billion-dollar ticketing system for using public transport in Victoria. It's new. So adapt. Be patient.
That's my official policy for dealing with the system called Myki that's getting my urban media counterparts hot under the collar.
So far, reports from the big smoke where Myki is now used on trains are suggesting predictable teething problems - broken machines, machines off line, machines delaying queued commuters as they swipe because they're so slow.
Regional areas like Traralgon, Morwell, Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong, where they're being used on buses, are producing mixed reports.
Myki spokeswoman Jean Ker Walsh says country areas serviced by "inter-urban" V/Line trains will be the first to get Myki when it comes to the bush this year.
What's more, V/Line travellers will be able to travel in the metro area at no extra cost, in the same way as our V/line tickets allows us free travel to our zone of destination now. I'll hold her to that.
Being an early adopter of technology (not), I set out for Bendigo the other day. "No", said the man at the railway station, I could not get a Myki card there. It could be May-June before they come in on V/Line services, although he didn't really know exactly when. After a conversation, he suggested that I could probably get a Myki card at the Post Office, so off to the PO I trotted.
"Are you a full-fare or concession," says the woman behind the counter at the PO in Bendigo.
"Full fare," I say.
"That'll cost you $15 - $10 for the card and $5 for travel." (Concession cards are $7. The cards will last four years and the cost is so we don't readily chuck 'em out.)
I protest, pointing out that Myki had advertised that registration was free before Jan 17.
"Yes," she said. "That's for registration, not for the card itself."
Apparently you can register your card so that should you lose it, you can call up and cancel it before the finder sets about travelling the state gratis, thanks to the credit you've deposited on the card.
The nice lady at the PO suggested I'd missed the free registration offer for Bendigo, which ended about three months ago. Bendigo, like Ballarat, Geelong and La Trobe Valley cities and towns, Seymour plus the Bellarine Peninsula have had Myki on some of their bus lines for some time.
Thinking that I might practise using my virgin Myki card on my next suburban train trip in Melbourne, I then asked the Post Office attendant if I could top it up, i.e. add more money to my Myki money account right there.
"Nah," she said, "you can't do that here. I think you can top it up on the bus."
It's obvious I'm way too keen.
Paul Westcott, the regional spokesman for the voluntarily run Public Transport Users Association, and who lives in Geelong, is concerned that in the nine months that Myki's been operating there, there has been little improvement in its performance.
Machines don't work or they're slow.
Still, he's not prepared to can the system altogether.
"My advice to country (i.e.V/Line) travellers is don't do anything different from what you do now," he says.
"Cool it and let's hope they get it working on trams and buses in Melbourne before they make any announcements about introducing it on V/Line trains."
You never know, V/Line travellers might get a system with its problems ironed out. Let's hope it's worth being last.
