Opal - E-ticketing - fares discussion etc.

[ozbob]

The Opal 8 paid journey cap is going to be an even more spectacular rort than our own humble go card 9 and free.

Transport authorities are fools for listening to whomever is peddling this as a good move.

In the case of Opal if the paid journeys accumulate on the different modes as non integrated and cap is across all modes (haven't found yet if that is definitely the case but appears to be) then someone who catches a bus to the rail station will complete 8 paid journeys when the get the bus home on a Tuesday!  No need for lunch time one stoppers, although if it is mode specific won't take the punters long to work that out.  Fares in NSW are very affordable, this is just taking it to remarkably absurd levels!!

[Simon Lovell]

In the case of Opal if the paid journeys accumulate on the different modes as non integrated and cap is across all modes (haven't found yet if that is definitely the case but appears to be) then someone who catches a bus to the rail station will complete 8 paid journeys when the get the bus home on a Tuesday!  No need for lunch time one stoppers, although if it is mode specific won't take the punters long to work that out.  Fares in NSW are very affordable, this is just taking it to remarkably absurd levels!!

Not correct.  if a bus-train transfer (within 60 mins) is done, it attracts two fares but only counts as one journey for the purposes of the 8 then free weekly travel reward.

[ozbob]

  thanks! The rort is on then. Although with the daily cap etc. not sure if the same pressure is there as is on the go ..

[Simon Lovell]

Spent a week in Sydney a short time ago, wanted to get an Opal card, as we would be using the public transport network quite frequently for most of the trip (even though I had my car with me, it was simply quicker and easier to take PT in many cases!). One problem: Noone sells the damn things. Not even stations! They must be ordered online and they will be delivered to your home address. So, I just got a MyMulti 7 day pass instead...

That's something they need to fix quick smart!!

Wow yeah I'm going tomorrow and was doing some research and that just seems crazy that you can't just buy one on the go. And cos you have to order it it must be registered?

Why must it be so hard to do anything in Australia. Unless their back-office isn't capable of actually handling all the transactions yet so they're still bedding everything down on a restricted number of "test" audience ie the ones who live in a specific place and want registered cards. Their website also barely mentions there is no intermode transfer, even if there are other caps like 8 then free. I find those discounts highly disincentive to casual users, the ones you should be coveting!

It's still being rolled out.  Presumably, over the counter sales will be added later.  They still don't have tertiary or senior's cards either.  Strangely, it's actually possible to un-register a registered card.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> No warrants needed to access Opal card records

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> End of off-peak return rail tickets in Sydney

[Simon Lovell]

Sydney Morning Herald --> End of off-peak return rail tickets in Sydney

What a bunch of whingers.

[ozbob]

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/opal-card-pop-kiosks-now-located-28-major-sydney-stations

Opal card pop-up kiosks now located at 28 major Sydney stations

Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian announced Opal cards are available from today at pop-up kiosks at 28 of Sydney's busiest train stations, as preparations continue to retire a number of old paper tickets from September 1.

The kiosks begin operating with Opal cards available and staff answering questions from today at stations spanning from Hornsby to Rockdale, Penrith and Wynyard, and for the first time allows a customer to quickly and conveniently obtain an unregistered Opal card.

"Customers can now obtain an Opal card and load value on to it at a station and immediately join more than 440,000 people who have access to cheaper and more convenient travel with Sydney's new electronic ticketing system," Ms Berejiklian said.

"A customer who collects their Opal card this morning and makes two journeys a day with it will be enjoying free trips by Thursday night, and that's just one of the many benefits Opal offers."

Opal cards can be picked up on Mondays or Tuesdays until the end of September at: Ashfield, Bankstown, Blacktown, Bondi Junction, Burwood, Campsie, Central, Chatswood, Circular Quay, Edgecliff, Epping, Hornsby, Hurstville, Kings Cross, Lidcombe, Liverpool, Macquarie University, Martin Place, Newtown, North Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, Redfern, Rockdale, St Leonards, Strathfield, Town Hall and Wynyard stations.

They will also be available on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from Bondi Junction, Central, Chatswood, Hurstville, Kings Cross, Lidcombe, Parramatta, Strathfield and Town Hall stations.

Both the Adult and Child/Youth versions of Opal will be available at the kiosks. Customers will need to initially load $20 to an Adult card or $10 to a Child/Youth card.

Opal can now be used on all suburban and intercity trains, all Sydney Ferries services and more than 1700 buses. The bus rollout is continuing, and will be complete by the end of this year and Opal will be in place on light rail early in 2015.

"After a customer has their unregistered Opal card from a kiosk they can load the card with credit and travel anonymously, which is what some customers want," Ms Berejiklian said.

"Other customers may also prefer to go on-line or call 13OPAL and register their Opal card. A registered card has many convenient benefits, such as being able to set an auto top-up so you never have to queue or visit a retailer again, and transferring value to another card if your Opal is lost or stolen."

The pop-up kiosks come as preparations are made to retire 14 old paper tickets in just over 30 days, from September 1. Periodical tickets bought before that date can be used until they expire.

"Retiring old paper tickets will allow the NSW Government to continue to modernise Sydney's transport network," Ms Berejiklian said.

"More than 90 per cent of customers will be financially the same or better off with Opal. We are behind the rest of the world when it comes to electronic ticketing. Labor promised electronic ticketing before the 2000 Olympics."

Ms Berejiklian said the Opal card will also be available at about 1,000 retail stores in coming weeks, making it even easier for customers to obtain a card and enjoy the benefits of Opal.

The $2.50-daily-capped Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card will be released later this year. Registered Adult or Child/Youth Opal cards can be ordered from opal.com.au or by calling 13 67 25 (13 OPAL).

Opal card pop-up kiosks now located at 28 major Sydney stations (pdf 82KB)
28 July 2014

===========================

The $2.50-daily-capped Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card will be released later this year ...

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Kiosks give Opal card users option to travel 'anonymously'

[ozbob]

Twitter

The Opal Card User @TheOpalUser

Opal fiasco: The state's new transport system will not offer ticket sales at most train stations. http://m.smh.com.au/nsw/flaw-in-opal-cards-unable-to-be-bought-at-most-stations-20140728-zxu1h.html ...

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Opal card problems will mean closed ticket gates, fuelling overcrowding fears

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> The Opal card is no gem, Gladys Berejiklian

[ozbob]

Gyrovague --> The Opal or Not Report: The hidden $98 million fare hike

[ozbob]

[dwb]

The irony being that you can't use Opal on either of the two fast ferry services that most people want to get (like at all) and even if you do use the Harbour City F1 Manly ferry, then when you transfer to either train or bus you pay another flagfall... so in fact, it's not at all connected!

Basically whatever message they're spinning in the ad is the inverse in reality.

[Simon Lovell]

The irony being that you can't use Opal on either of the two fast ferry services that most people want to get (like at all) and even if you do use the Harbour City F1 Manly ferry, then when you transfer to either train or bus you pay another flagfall... so in fact, it's not at all connected!

Basically whatever message they're spinning in the ad is the inverse in reality.

Not to mention that it says "going everywhere" when the rollout is still happening.

In fact, the Harbour City ferry still goes out with about 600+ pax every half hour in peak hour.  Not all bad.  I think the patronage figures of the fast ferries might be commercial in confidence.

It will be true though that it goes everywhere, just the pricing doesn't.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Fare evaders to cover any shortfall on Opal tickets, says Gladys Berejiklian

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> First known peak-hour Opal glitch hits commuters

[ozbob]

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/update-gold-seniorpensioner-opal-card

Update on Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card

Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian today provided an update on the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card that will be introduced later this year.

Ms Berejiklian said it was important that pensioners and seniors understood that they will still have a choice after the Gold Opal card is introduced, when it comes to buying tickets for travel on public transport.

When the Gold Opal card is introduced, pensioners and seniors will not have to use it if they don't want to.

"The NSW Government will later this year roll out the new Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card, but at this stage the card is not available," Ms Berejiklian said.

"When the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is made available, customers will have the choice to either use Opal or keep buying paper Pensioner Excursion Tickets (PET). I really want to make that very clear - the choice is yours."

Ms Berejiklian said the NSW Government is retiring 14 paper ticket types on September 1 – one month from today, however this change does not impact pensioners or seniors. PET paper tickets will still be sold after September 1.

"You can keep buying and using PET paper tickets today, after September 1, after the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is introduced, and well into the future."

"When the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is introduced later this year, fares will remain capped at $2.50 a day for seniors and pensioners.

"You will not need a credit card or access to the internet to use your Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card. The Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card will not cost anything to get, and customers will be able to manually top it up with cash if they want to.

"I can also assure pensioners and seniors they will have a much smaller start-up and minimum top-up value than the Adult card."

Some pensioners and seniors may choose to link their Opal card to a credit card or debit card and set it to auto-top-up, like having an e-tag in your pocket.

Pensioners and seniors will be given a lot of information about how to get a Gold Opal card and how to use it before it is released later this year.

[ozbob]

Opal card retailers --> http://retailers.opal.com.au/

via http://theopaluser.com/2014/08/sydneys-opal-card-now-available-from-retailers/

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Opal: Just the ticket or on the wrong track?

[ozbob]

The Telegraph --> Passengers savour free tickets to ride, courtesy of the Opal Card

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Opal cards to be sold at 1000 stores as paper tickets go

[ozbob]

Twitter

The Opal Card User ‏@TheOpalUser

Almost fell off my chair. Only mention of Opal in @mxsydney is invitation from #Woolworths to come and pick up card

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Opal card is a success but it's too soon to scrap paper tickets

[ozbob]

Petition

Please make opal cards and top-ups available at all stations

http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/gladys-berejiklian-nsw-transport-minister-please-make-opal-cards-and-top-ups-available-at-all-stations

[ozbob]

Government News --> Faulty Opal Card machines dud commuters on credit

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Opal card commuters overcharged and readers fail as software problems plague the $1.2b ticketing system

[dwb]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Opal card commuters overcharged and readers fail as software problems plague the $1.2b ticketing system

This sounds a little like a beat up. If you card does not scan properly then try removing the card and trying again. It's a bit like whenever a system like this is rolled out, people don't use the card right, they move it around or whatever, put it too close, too far away and the gate doesn't open. It will only take them once or twice stuffing it up to learn how to do it (one would hope). So in fact, I think a lot of these current teething problems are due to people's own behaviour. You know like when there is one dodgy reader on the bus (in Brisbane) and people keep trying time and time again despite there being another one just next to it.

[ozbob]

Twitter

The Opal Card User ‏@TheOpalUser 3h

Tap into Saturday savings, off-peak savings and $2.50 Sundays http://t.co/CT1wYi91nF

[ozbob]

^ crikey, free after 8 journey cap, and if you don't make that, $2.50 flat fares on a Sunday ..

One wonders how long it can last for ... 

[dwb]

^ crikey, free after 8 journey cap, and if you don't make that, $2.50 flat fares on a Sunday ..

One wonders how long it can last for ...

Don't let facts get in the way of a good story, this is nothing new to Opal. MyMulti currently offers an equivalent cap or max cost and has for ages.

A MyMulti 3 Weekly costs $63 and gives unlimited buses, trains, ferries & lightrail for seven days. Opal has a Monday to Sunday cap of $60. The Government is therefore forgoing a maximum of $3 per week for a commuter. Given Opal is not entirely rolled out on buses the chances are people will be additionally using magnetic/paper tickets onboard buses where Opal is not active and therefore paying more than $60.

A $2.50 fare, say for a Manly ferry on a Sunday sounds great, and it is if you haven't gone anywhere during the week (a discount from $7.40) but most commuters will have already hit one of their caps either $60 or 8 journeys, so it will be free anyway. The $2.50 fare applied to pensioners and families previously and has simply been extended to adult singles.

In my case, I've been paying a $60 cap for transport here in Sydney to go roughly 10km (includes ferry). In Brisbane that would cost me $44.19 on Go card (assuming cap at 9x 3 zone journeys).

As of 1 September they are removing from sale periodical magnetic tickets, monthly, quarterly etc. Compared to these tickets, Opal will be charging users more, possibly substantially.

[dwb]

If you travelled Strathfield to Central station using an annual mytrain, it would cost you $1400. Assuming you make 10 trips for 48 working weeks then you pay about $3.11 per trip. Under Opal you will pay $4.10 per peak trip, limited at $32.80 by the 8 then free cap. So you would effectively pay $1.70 more per week on Opal than using MyTrain.

In effect all that Opal is doing is pushing up slightly the cost of travel for anyone using periodicals. For those buying singles it is reducing the fare to a similar point that the passenger next to them would have been paying using a periodical.

Really the main problem remains that it disadvantages multimodal travel through multiple fares per journey and it has a high short distance cost and a low very long distance cost.

I am a firm believer that Australian public transport systems need to stop giving too much long distance travel while extortionately charging short distance travel. The problems being in that moving away from this system towards say charging a more graduated distance fare that doesn't penalise interchange, that people have actually gotten used to trading off very poor quality long distance/interchange service level for a very low fare. In the mid term any attempt to adjust this would likely be unfairly shouldered by suburban sprawl while inner urban lefties would get off easily... but if the outer suburbs are to have real equity it needs to be in terms of actual service provision, not simply ticket cost.

[ozbob]

I hear you Dwb.

MyMulti 3 is system wide.  Excellent 'value', compared to fares in SEQ, particularly when you move past 3 zone in SEQ.

My guess is with opal, once all moved over, longer fares will ramp up.  Will have too as the punters work out the rort ..

[dwb]

My guess is with opal, once all moved over, longer fares will ramp up.

That is a big call... though I wouldn't be surprised at the next tender point they don't take all that data they've got about actual use and then trial different fare algorithms to see what effect that would have on revenue raised and average cost change to consumers.

Even at minimum wage, if you could enhance the system for outer urban travellers to the point you save them 5hrs travel time a week, then you should be able to raise your fares by at least half the marginal cost... that would be about $35 extra on the current $60, so not something to be sneezed at. Given there are vast swathes of land with no service or very very poor service with major transfer penalties (time, not just cost) then that type of time saving shouldn't really be that pie in the sky over a 15yr period.

[STB]

Used the Opal for the first time while in Sydney over the weekend.  Good response times (about the same as up here), far better user interface, downside was that the fare structure is fragmented, meaning that you pay twice from going on a train to a bus (from one mode to a different mode) although it does treat it as a transfer and it 'Transfer' appears on the screen when you touch on.

My Opal activity: Travel CardTransaction
number   Date/time   Mode   Details   Journey
number   Fare Applied   Fare   Discount   Amount
12   Sun
10/08/2014
08:12   train   Central to Domestic   3   Off-peak   $15.90   $0.99   -$14.91
10   Sat
09/08/2014
18:24   bus   Elzbeth St opp Bthrst St to Oxford St nr Glenmore Rd   2      $2.10   $0.00   -$2.10
8   Sat
09/08/2014
17:59   train   Central to Museum   2   Off-peak   $3.30   $0.99   -$2.31
6   Sat
09/08/2014
13:02   train   Domestic to Central   1   Off-peak   $15.90   $0.99   -$14.91
4   Sat
09/08/2014
13:02      Top up - opal.com.au               $40.00

[ozbob]

Looking forward to using opal myself in a few weeks.  I expect there will be some grief from some of the punters in time.  Not sure if the masses really understand the non-integrated aspect.  The authorities are being clever though with the daily cap and free after 8, flat fares on Sundays.  Punters won't realise until too late that they are being set up for massive fare cost ramp ala SEQ. Fare Nirvana at present ..

[ozbob]

[ozbob]

Twitter

Nick Stylianou ‏@kypros1992

Opal and Tcard – Past Lessons Learnt? http://wp.me/p2P1md-sT

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Commuters to face lengthy queues at ticket windows if they don't have Opal card