I have faith in Myki, Melbourne's new but much maligned public transport ticketing system.  With a price tag of $1.35 billion, $350 million over budget and now running three years behind schedule, it's understandable the system is receiving a public flogging in the media.  I almost feel sorry for the poor schmucks who have to defend it.  But I don't care much for that.  I just want to get out there, try the system for myself and get a feel for how it might revolutionise our public transport system.  Pity though; I doubt it will.

My experiences started last week with the successful purchase of a Myki card through their website. It arrived yesterday with an accompanying letter confirming I had purchased a concession Myki and that I would need to carry my concession entitlement with me at all times. I was then told by customer service that a few concession card holders, (over 1600 according to The Age) received the wrong letter, and after explaining I am an adult I was assured I do in fact have an adult card and that I should simply disregard the letter. Done.

This morning I decided to tackle my commute (two tram trips) with the Myki; Myki services on trams and busses haven't officially been launched of course, but many trams already have working readers so I thought I would give it a crack. The process has been explained clearly; "touch on, touch off". Scan your card as you board a tram or bus (or enter a train platform), and do the same at the completion of your journey. The system will automatically calculate your fare and deduct it from your account.

For my first leg (Tram 70 from Burnley/Swan St, Richmond towards the city) I tried the same trick I have used in London, Singapore and Hong Kong; keeping the card in my wallet and placing it against the reader. It appears this doesn't work here. The card reader kept politely displaying "Please scan your Card". So I removed it from my wallet, placed it on the reader and waited a couple of seconds to be told to "Please touch again". Which I did. And it worked! For a second the screen flashed my balance and all was well.

Given the slight delay in scanning my card I decided to get back to the door a little ahead of my destination at Flinders Street, and found the same thing happened. The first touch failed, "Please touch again", but the second worked and I was charged the correct amount of $2.94 (the two-hour Zone 1 maximum).  But this is where I see the problem; on a crowded tram it will be difficult to get to the door to touch off in advance.

My second leg was from Federation Square towards Toorak along St Kilda Road and my fear was validated, pun intended. This stop is notoriously mental, and at 7:50am I was just ahead of the peak hour insanity. I was the first passenger onto the tram and once again my initial scan failed. While I waited a couple of seconds for the machine to reset a few people pushed past me, but after a successful touch on I was shuffled to the very back of the tram. This meant getting back to the door before my stop at Toorak Road would be difficult, which it was, and after embarrassing myself climbing around a few people I still found others crammed in the doorway leaning against the readers.

Once again my initial touch failed, so for a couple of seconds the other passengers alighting behind me had to wait for me to rescan again. Thankfully my successful touch off displayed my cost for the journey was $0.00 (as I had already paid the two-hour fare).

Those who have caught busy trams know how difficult it can be to move through people in doorways and that you do so in single-file. This, combined with the need to occasionally rescan your card is what I fear will make the process frustrating for punters who commute on public transport during peak times.

To add salt to my early-adopting wounds, the Myki website lets me log in but refuses to show me my transactions, so I can't verify that everything has been recorded in my account correctly. But I'm actually not fussed by that - I saw my balance flash past my eyes on the card readers and from that I feel safe that the correct fares have been applied.

And so I still have faith. I have faith that whatever caused my four attempts to touch on and off fail in the first instance will be ironed out. I have faith everyone will be patient as more and more people start using their cards. I have faith my auto top-ups will work and that the Myki website will soon be up and running correctly. But I have lost faith that Myki will revolutionise our public transport; it's simply another ticketing system that will have its ups and downs, its lovers, its haters, and its boring media hype.