$1 Billion worth of stupidity
Myki, so-called smartcard, but should really be called stupid-card.
Myki, was supposed to have been introduced in the second half of 2007. Well, we are almost into the mid-year of 2008, and we have just been informed that there is a delay of a mere 3 years and a billion dollars over budget.
Why do we bother? Cheaper to give everyone free rides for the next couple of years, if the government is into throwing money away.
I can understand the complexity of the required software to compute the best fare for the user, but this contract was tendered for a specific time period for a specific budget. I can never understand why nor how an overdue project can be extended, seemingly, indefinitely and money continuously poured into it until completion, regardless of whether the requirements have been achieved.
Last week, Vivian Miners, chief executive of the Transport Ticketing Authority, is no longer there. Who else is next?
If it runs on tech similar to the Paris and London cards, the delay may be because those cards were hacked earlier this year. New/updated technology might require a complete fresh start on the implementation. Either way I’m not keen on the Big Brother-ness of these cards.