Council & Politics
31 July, 2025
No tap, no go for Ararat travellers
PEOPLE living in the Ararat district will not be able to make Myki Tap and Go payments at Ararat Railway Station for at least another five years.
Despite a Miki reader being installed at the station close to 20 years ago, the Myki system has never been extended to stations beyond Ballarat.
Shadow Transport Minister Matthew Guy said in the latest episode of the decades long Myki debacle, it now appears that regional Victorians won't have access to Tap and Go Myki payments until 2030 or beyond.
“Labor’s regional rail focus sadly ends at Ballarat - passengers at Ararat or Maryborough are still being treated as second class.”
“It’s just the latest in a long list of public transport failures by Labor for regional Victorians,” he said.
“Connecting the Ararat line to Myki shouldn’t be this hard, clearly the government’s focus is Melbourne and only Melbourne.
“Regional communities have again been sacrificed at the altar of Government incompetence. Labor has treated country passengers with contempt – making big promises before elections, then quietly walking away from them afterwards.”
Mr Guy has also criticised the government’s inability to deliver a promise for free Wi-Fi on country trains.
"The promise to roll out free Wi-Fi on V/Line trains by 2015, never happened.
“It’s woeful that Myki connectivity on the Ararat line now appears years away, as is the commitment by Labor for Wi-Fi on carriages as well as faster regional trains.
“Labor's idea of bringing regional public transport into the 21st century is to now force rural passengers to use last century's paper tickets. The system couldn't be more broken.
“After 10 years in Government Labor can’t even get train tickets right.
Given their form, they can't be trusted to deliver any serious upgrade to regional transport,” Mr Guy said.
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