Everything You Need To Know About Myki

Melbourne has a wonderful public transportation system. To get around the city (and surrounding suburbs) there’s really no need to rent a car. The train, tram and bus system will get you to where you need to go. The first thing you need to do when you get into Melbourne is get a Myki card. This is a rechargeable card (similar to the oyster card in UK) that you use to pay for public transport.

Types Of Myki Cards

You can purchase this card from any station or most convenience stores including 7-Eleven. There are three types of Myki Cards:

Full Fare Myki Card: This is for anyone over the age of 17 and with no concession entitlement. It costs 6 AUD to purchase the card.
Child Fare Myki Card: This is for children aged 4-16. It costs 3 AUD to purchase the card.
Concession Fare Myki Card: This is for Australian seniors, students and Victorian Healthcare card holders. It costs 3 AUD to purchase the card.

Once you’ve purchased your card, you have the option to keep the card anonymous or registered with your information at the following website. Once registered you can check your travel history and balance information online.

In the event you board a train, tram or bus without a Myki card you should be able to purchase a pre-loaded card from the conductor. Generally they should have:

Full fare cards costing 30 AUD (with 24 AUD of travel credit)
Concession cards costing 15 AUD (with 12 AUD of travel credit)

Myki Pass System

If you need to use the public transport system frequently while in Melbourne, then you should consider buying a Myki Pass rather than buying tickets individually. A Myki pass gives you unlimited access to use public transport for the duration of the pass. You can buy a 7-day Myki Pass, or anywhere between 28 to 365 consecutive days pass. Your Myki Pass can’t be suspended and spans consecutive travel days only. For example, a 7 day pass activated on Monday is valid for use until Sunday.

Overview Of Transport Zones

Free Tram Zone spans much of the Melbourne CBD.
Zone 1 covers the city center and some suburbs in the outskirts of the city.
Zone 2 covers the suburbs farther away from the city center including Werribee and Frankston.

Free Tram Zone

Touch On / Touch Off

The Myki card works on a Touch On / Touch Off system against card readers that are installed in public transport system. When Touch On you’re activating your ticket for the duration of your ride. Once you reach your destination you Touch Off to deactivate your ticket and your card is charged for the duration of your ride.

Make sure you always Touch On/Touch Off when using public transport

It’s important that you remember to Touch On to activate your ticket. There are Ticket Agents that do random checks to make sure that people have valid tickets. In case you forget to Touch On and are caught by Ticket Agent then you will be fined 75 AUD. If you refuse to pay or don’t have enough money you’ll be slapped with 223 AUD fine. It’s also important to remember to Touch Off so that you are charged only for distance traveled otherwise your ticket will be charged for 2 hour Zone 1 trip.

The below tables are fares for 2021. To view the most current rates click on the following link.