Sydney's Opal Card

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metro
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Sydney's Opal Card

#1 Post by metro » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:54 am

So far in Australia there has been smartcard systems successfully introduced in Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Adelaide. Sydney's T-card failure, and the Myki debacle in Melbourne. This is Sydney's 2nd attempt and I think it's a huge improvement over the T-card and looks like they have watched and learned some lessons from watching the recent Melbourne's failures and possibly Adelaide's success in this area. They also say that it will be operational by 2015, first being introduced on ferries, then trains, then buses.

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/opal

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Nathan
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Re: Sydney's Opal Card

#2 Post by Nathan » Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:58 am

I do find it interesting that each state has gone it alone with their own smart card system, rather than taking the opportunity of standardising across the country. Doesn't affect day to day travel, but certainly would have saved a lot of money by not duplicating efforts 6 times, and would have made secondary uses (such as becoming a payment system in it's own right) much more viable.

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Re: Sydney's Opal Card

#3 Post by PeFe » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:26 pm

The first trial stage of the Opal card starts next week in Sydney.......on 1 ferry service (Circular Quay to Neutral Bay)....a lowly patronised service that probably only has 1 ticket price.....if it doesn't work on that....!!!
The trial on trains is due mid to late 2013 followed by buses in 2014 and light rail in 2015.
I love the "look" of the card...my favoutrite out of all the ones I have seen so far (I have not sighted the Canberra My Way card)
I someow doubt Transport NSW has been watching the development of Adelaide's Metrocard (way too simple compared to Opal) I am pretty sure they would have watched the rollout of Go Card and Myki very carefully....especially the problems of overlaying Myki on top of Metcard. (If you are really intersested in the Myki problems check out the discussion on Whirlpool Forums)http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1971708
It is just a pity that the NSW Labor goverment didn't approach their Victorian counterparts back in 1997 when they first contemplated a smart card for Sydney Public Transportation...maybe the 2 governments could have implemented 1 card that worked in different cities therefore paving the way for 1 smart card for public transport across the whole country.

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Re: Sydney's Opal Card

#4 Post by PeFe » Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:17 pm

I recently purchased my first Opal Card to use on the City Circle/Eastern Suburbs railway lines and Manly Ferry. So far so good,the tap on/off process is simple, the gate opening response time is as quick as the paper tickets but of course you don't have to wait to collect your ticket. The readers display the current balance in a large font with a "big tick" indicating a successful tap on. The webpage for your card is easy to read however there is no current $ balance, this is something I think they should change. Intermodal ticketing between trains and ferries is possible, whether a bus /train transfer will be possible in the future who knows?
Compared to myki Opal looks like a winner (those pissy little myki readers must be shittiest piece of technology developed in this country this century)
And I love the $2-50 Sunday cap! I will be using that more fully when the rest of the train network comes online early next year.

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