My Myki calculations a fare way off

I’VE finally realised why it’s called Myki. It’s because I’ve given them My key to my bank account.

Last Monday was a day of firsts.

It was my first day interning at the Geelong

Advertiser. It was my first commute from Melbourne. It was also my first time using a full-fare Myki on the V/Line.

Luckily for me, my dear parents offered to cover the costs of the 20 days of commuting.

“It’ll be about $100 for the month won’t it?” Dad asked. “Yeah, for sure!” I replied naively. WRONG. Very wrong. Sorry, Dad.

After just my first day, almost $20 of my, well my parents’, hard-earned money had been sucked into the Myki machine, never to be seen again.

I quickly did the maths in my head (I used my phone calculator) 20 x 20 … uh oh. This wasn’t going to be cheap.

I realised that my parents’ triple figure offering, while very generous, was barely going to make a dent. One week of commuting later, I innocently touched on, only to hear the dreaded zero funds duo-tone blaring back at me. My funds status had already been thrown into negative territory. Due to my widespread fear (and past bad experiences) of ticket inspectors, I was forced to abort mission and head to the nearest 7-Eleven to top up. I was fuming. Do not get me started on the nonexistence of top-up machines on trams. My transition from undergraduate to postgraduate studies has made me Myki’s ideal target. Now ineligible for a concession card, I get whacked with double the fee; a $4.10 fare just for touching on.

And as a 21-year-old, sans car, I’m copping the fee multiple times each day.

Losing a concession perk has hit me hard.

I am already dreading the day when the words full-fare become the new norm for all my purchases.

First Myki … who knows what will be next to go? Discounted movie tickets? Online shopping reductions? The list goes on. It’s now week two and my parents have already had to dig back into their pockets. Sorry guys … you did offer. It looks like I am not getting a birthday present this year.