By ALESHA CAPONE
A KEILOR MP has said train commuters will be disadvantaged under a new fines system if Myki ticket machines break down at railway stations.
Natalie Hutchins has told parliament a State Government bill allowing on-the-spot fines of $75 on trains, trams and buses would be unfair to people who arrive at a station to find the ticket readers are not working.
Ms Hutchins spoke about an incident which occurred at Keilor Plains Train Station during October to make her point.
Ms Hutchins said she and other commuters discovered none of the Myki machines at the station were working in the morning peak hour.
She said the hundreds of travellers present were advised by Metro Trains to get off at another station and swipe their Myki cards.
“I was advised by the guy in the call centre that passengers needed to get off the train and swipe their Myki cards and that the train would not wait for them,” Ms Hutchins said.
“I can tell members that hundreds of commuters at my local station were absolutely apoplectic on their way to work that morning, and I know for a fact that some of those people were fined when they reached the city loop stations.”
A Public Transport Victoria spokesperson said they were aware the Keilor Plains machine experienced “an intermittent issue that affected device availability on the day in question”.
He said ticket inspectors would investigate when told machine malfunctions have led to passengers travelling without a valid ticket.
“Sometimes, however, a passenger may not raise the issue of machine malfunction at the time of interception and will do so after receiving an infringement notice,” he said.
“Where this occurs the functionality of the machine is investigated as part of the infringement notice review.”
