On the same day the full myki rollout was announced I encountered my first embarrassing and frustrating hiccup and discovered an odd nuance. I guess that's fate.

In short I was held up in the peak crush of Flinders Street Station, trying my myki at every barrier without any feedback while other commuters pushed their way past. And what I discovered was Metcard trumps myki, for now.

After a minute of apologising to the people hurriedly pushing past me I was rescued by a Metro bloke, let through the barriers and directed towards two ashen myki mate-ttes who were being ear-bashed by a portly little lady. "I'm telling everyone to boycott the system" were her parting words.

After describing my predicament and the two matettes briefly debating the cause, one of them lead me back to the barriers. Ironicly, the myki girl's own card wouldn't scan, so the Metro bloke let us through again so we could use a top up machine to check my card. And surprisingly I found I was already touched on.

Here's why...

Flinders Street Station is still fitted with the old-school Metcard barriers, and presumably will be until at least April next year. Anyone who has used these barriers knows that while some are dedicated for one direction during peak times, other barriers will let commuters through from either side. You will quite often try your card to find someone on the other side beat you to the punch. It's these situations that are a problem for myki.

When using a Metcard, it's first in, best dressed. It all happens very quickly; you try your ticket, it comes straight back at you, but by the time you get it into the slot again you're good to go because your adversary has dashed through. myki, unfortunately, isn't that clever.

If you touch your myki to the reader at the same time another commuter validates their Metcard, the barrier will not visually acknowledge your card and will successfully process the other commuter's Metcard. The barrier will open, but it's letting them through; remember your side hasn't responded to you. Your myki is then touched on, but you're not through the barrier. So you try again. Nothing. You move to another barrier. Nothing. Not even a message on the barrier's display. Nothing.

And that's the embarrassing part; you're left to wade through the constant stream of people, getting in the way and making a general nuisance of yourself. The trouble here is you must ask the attendant to let you through. You can prove you're touched on at a blue myki machine, but you won't get the attendant away from the gates.

I can't offer you any solutions when this situation occurs, only to warn you that if you're stuck at a barrier and nothing's happening, don't keep trying. Check your myki, then negotiate your way through the barriers! Unless of course you have just hit one of the random few barriers that don't accept myki yet.

Confused?