Ballarat gets mykiPage created Sunday, 26th April, 2009- HTML 4.01 TransitionalLast modified/checked: Friday, 22nd May, 2009 |
Davis Bus Lines became the third regional bus operator to switch to the myki fare payment system, doing do from Monday the 9th of April 2009. Approximately 22 buses were equipped with myki for route services, while 30 more were fitted primarily for school services. Davis operate 19 urban routes in Ballarat with several extending to serve the nearby towns of Buninyong and Creswick. Ballarat buses fall within myki Zone 8 while Creswick is in Zone 9. Myki replaced time based 2 hour paper tickets and the thin card Creswick weekly ticket which was used mostly by school students. For at least one week after myki's Ballarat launch, the myki mates could be found at either the Railway Station bus stop or the busier Sturt Street City terminals/Bridge Street mall precinct. They were selling all four myki cards in preloaded starter packs and had copies of the standard myki booklets adapted for Ballarat usage. The myki cards are identical with those issued in Geelong and Seymour. The one exception is again the nunbering on the Child issue. Like Geelong and Seymour, the child card commences with 3 08425 but the next four digits are 0002 whereas the Geelong card has 0000 and Seymour has 0001. The Ballarat issued short term tickets are identical to the Geelong issue, even using the same first four digits. As at early April 2009, only one outlet was selling myki cards in Ballarat - the suburban Wendouree News and Lotto shop. 
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