A new public transport fare enforcement system will begin next year. Victorians have never embraced myki from the day Labor committed to the smartcard system in 2005, but even so the government has kept faith with NTT Data and is preparing to reward the company with a further six years as contractor, The Age has learned. In so doing, it has made the politically difficult decision to snub Cubic, the operator of London's Oyster card and of Sydney's Opal card, two systems with less troubled histories, and which are well ahead of myki in the adoption of convenient paywave technology. Sydney commuters began to use their credit cards to touch on and off on the Opal system last month, as part of a trial. There is no guarantee that myki will ever achieve that function, although a commercial-in-confidence tender document for the myki contract extension specified that the successful bidder must "develop a clear road map for possible future system improvements".

"PTV has high expectations for the new contractual arrangements," the document said. The former Napthine government, which initiated the tender process in 2014, said at the time that "the tender will also call for options to use innovative technologies in the future to improve service performance such as paywave". The six-year myki contract extension, with a possible four-year extension on top of that, is due to be signed next month. The competitive tender process has been overseen by Public Transport Victoria. Accenture, a third bidder for the new myki contract, quit the race last year, although that has not been announced.

It is not known when the Andrews government is planning to publicly announce the decision. A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan would not comment, because the tender process is still officially open and contracts have not yet been signed. PTV was also tight-lipped. "Announcements regarding any contract award will be made when the process is finalised. This is expected to occur in coming months," a spokesman said. NTT Data declined to comment, saying the company could not release any information at this stage.

A spokesman for Cubic declined to comment because it is bound by a confidentiality agreement with PTV. Victoria's Auditor-General and its Ombudsman have both issued critical reports of how the 10-year myki contract has been handled, including, according to the Ombudsman, the original, costly decision to contract "an unproven vendor to deliver a significant product in an unproven operating environment". myki's biggest bugbears No short-term ticket option for tourists or infrequent travellers

No vending machines on trams

Online top-up takes up to 24 hours

Slow readers at myki gates cause lengthy queues at peak-hour

New, faster readers do not show myki account balance

myki vending machines spit out unwanted receipts