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The issue with myki wasn't the card technology, it was the fact they wanted to have standardised ticketing across the entire state.

eg Tap on a bus, tram and train in Melbourne, get off in Wangaratta and tap on to a bus there.

There was going to be something like 29 zones, and all the requirements / edge cases / mucking around sent the cost through the roof.

What I'm trying to say is that it was mismanagement, which was well known at the time. Hong Kong also has Metro, trains (at the time), buses, trams, ferries. All from different companies. In Melbourne they are actually mostly under the same government agency.

The Hong Kong system's backend, and large parts of the frontend, was also written by an Australian company, ERG at the time, now VIX. So there was plenty of local skills that _could_ have been used.

That's interesting history! It goes to show what could have been if they asked around.

people in hong kong had cellphones before the year 2000