Melbourne Trams Now Accept Credit Card, Phone, Smartwatch Payments

Melbourne commuters will be able to use their credit card, phone or smartwatch across the tram network from today after ticketless travel launched on trains this month following repeated delays.

Buses will get the capability next month, but the Victorian government is yet to nominate a date. Concession passengers will also need to wait until next year.

The state in 2023 awarded a $1.7 billion contract to overhaul myki, but the program was hit by delays and cost blowouts.

Melbourne has fallen well behind Sydney and other international cities in enabling credit card payments instead of tickets or passes on public transport.

Trials were due to begin in 2024 but started a year later on just four bus routes in Wangaratta.

Two Melbourne train lines began trialling the functionality in March. This was interrupted by free public transport in April and May, which threatened to delay the rollout.

The cost-of-living measure, introduced when petrol prices soared as a result of the United States-Israel war on Iran, was then replaced by half-price fares for the rest of the year.

There have been more than 700,000 trips using tap-and-go technology since the start of June, when the rest of the train network got the capability in stages.

Regional stations that still rely on paper tickets will get the technology later this year. This month's rollout on trains was for all myki-enabled train stations covering the Metro Trains network and some regional V/Line stations.

Public Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams said four of five tap-and-go trips so far were made with a phone or smartwatch.

"From today, you can step off a train and straight onto a tram using the same phone, watch or bank card,"

she said.

The Public Transport Users Association has called on the government to introduce a weekly tap-and-go cap that matches the cost of a weekly myki pass, so that daily commuters are not inadvertently overcharged.

Shadow transport spokesman Matthew Guy this month said the government should not be celebrating something that should have happened a decade ago.