Why myki is the best ticket we've ever had

When I heard the impassioned declaration ''myki is a f---ing disaster!'' from someone who I know hasn't taken public transport in 20 years, I had one of those breakthrough moments. It wasn't as dramatic as St Joan hearing her voices, it was more of a suburban revelation. But it highlighted a key aspect of Melbourne living.

The people in this town love to whinge about the public transport system - in a funny way this shared umbrage brings us together. I can only imagine that this is primarily because it's a sanctioned way to divert anger that might otherwise be inflicted on hapless work colleagues and family members.

Excoriating Melbourne's public transport system as unreliable, overcrowded or inadequate has been one of our favourite distractions - ever since the doomed attempt to make the defunct Outer Circle rail line profitable in the middle of the 1890s depression.

These days we reserve special hatred for our latest ticketing system, which is invariably represented as the ''$1.6 billion myki fiasco''. Journalists have had a field day with it, employing such arch headlines as ''Ticked off with ticketing'' and ''Taking the myki''.

Having caught public transport over 35 years, I have lived through a series of ticketing systems that were all, at one time or another, described as fiascos. Usually by people frightened of change.

In 1981 a range of time-honoured cardboard and paper travel tickets were replaced by the lofty vision of the Travelcard, which introduced travel zones to the transport grid. This was probably the greatest innovation since trains went electric in 1919. Nevertheless, this era was initially known as the Travelcard Fiasco. In the 1990s we had the Met Ticket Fiasco, when those lotto-like scratch tickets (where no one won anything) were introduced. And these in turn were superseded by the Metcard Fiasco, our final paper-based ticketing system, with a fragile magnetic strip that damaged easily rendering the ticket unusable.

What's not to like? It's a smartcard ready to go whenever you're ready to travel. You don't have to calculate zones and systems any more and like any debit card you can arrange for your money to top up automatically. And it's cheaper than the previous Metcard.

Initially the principal complaint was about how much the myki system cost taxpayers. At about $1.6 billion, the government may well have overspent. But it's a complex system and we will be able to benefit from it for many years. Contrast this to truly profligate government spending such as the $50 million that will have been spent on the grand prix this year. A brief annual event that at terrific expense leaves Victorians with little more than smoke and noise.

Sure myki isn't perfect - no ticketing system ever is. On buses and trams card readers don't always work, but most of the time they do. It's worth remembering that the sainted old tram conductor of yesteryear would not always walk around collecting fares during crowded peak hour. I paid for a peak hour tram ticket about twice in the 1980s.

The myki system's biggest omission is the lack of available single-use tickets for tourists and one-off users of public transport.The term 'drycabinets control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. Most people, however,Have a look at all our solarpanel models starting with free proofing. know when they're going to use public transport and should be able organise a myki in advance.

Our ticketing system is one of those few uncomplicated issues about which it's safe to gripe publicly. No one will be offended. This is satisfying and makes us feel better about all the other complex issues in life over which we feel we have no traction. We are awash with social problems and are close to drowning in competing and often controversial solutions.

Cue the sacrificial myki. Like Julia Gillard, it's a topic you can't go wrong complaining about. Conversely, it seems likely that any positive claims made about myki will be met with incredulity and vilification. This smartcard has really got under our skin.

And here's where it gets more involved. A significant part of our maligning myki stems from a quiet terror of where technology may be taking us. Although most of us happily use smartphones, computers and the internet, we share a repressed unease about the shadow side of technology, about what it's doing to us as a species. Children don't play outside any more. People have virtual relationships instead of real ones. Our miraculous phones might cause brain cancer.

Many of us look on myki as a symbol for how dependent we are on technology. A mere bus ticket is now part of a vast, inescapable computer database. Some of the railing against myki is really a protest against the overwhelming digital realities of the modern era. Which helps explain why even those who haven't caught a train, tram or bus in decades feel compelled to denounce it.

I'm also not going to "predict" award winners. How hard would it be for me to sit here clacking away on a keyboard and be master-of-the-obvious by telling you that Mike Trout is a top choice for AL MVP or that Justin Verlander will be among the top candidates for AL Cy Young? Just before the 2012 season started, would you have said that Gio Gonzalez would be the majors' top winner (21 wins with a 2.89 ERA)? Anyone out there think, a year ago, that Edwin Encarnacion would hit 42 homers and drive in 110 runs in 2012? Maybe a handful, but not many.

And in any case, anyone using the search function here can come back here in October and tell me how wrong I was. Further, looking back at the six years of predictions here from 2004-2009, I note that I picked the Cubs to make the playoffs every year and to win the World Series every one of those years except 2006. Obviously, that was the optimist in me, not the realist, and although they did make the postseason in two of those years, those predictions were... well, not so smart.A parkingguidance is a portable light fixture composed of an LED lamp. I didn't make that choice the last three seasons, and I'm not going to do that again this year.

I didn't do too well last year, but I did at least pick the right teams to make the 2012 World Series, even if I didn't get the winner right (and please ignore the fact that I had the 93-loss Marlins and Red Sox winning wild card spots in 2012,A parkingguidance is a portable light fixture composed of an LED lamp. while picking the Orioles and Athletics to finish last; I think a lot of others probably missed those, too.) We also have 15-team leagues for the first time, with the Astros moving from the National League Central to the American League West.Full color parkingsystem printing and manufacturing services It won't change their finish, at least not for this year: they'll still be last.