The New South Wales Opal rollout is complete with 5000 buses live with the system
The New South Wales Opal rollout is now complete on all trains, buses, Sydney Ferries and light rail services – months ahead of schedule.
As part of the rollout, Opal is now live on all trains, buses, Sydney Ferries and light rail, more than 1.3 million adult and child Opal cards have been issued and more than 100,000 gold senior/pensioner Opal cards have been ordered.
“Opal has revolutionised public transport in NSW – customers are finally enjoying the convenience of electronic ticketing in the same way people in other cities around Australia and the world have for many years,” says NSW Premier Mike Baird.
The first customer trial of Opal on ferries in was held December 2012 and now two years later Opal has been rolled out to 308 train stations, 5000 buses, 40 wharves and 23 light rail stops, well ahead of the 2015 deadline.
Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian says customer take-up of Opal has exceeded her expectations and by putting an end to paper ticket queues and fumbling for coins.
“With Opal now available on all modes of transport in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Hunter and the Illawarra, customers can travel anywhere on suburban and intercity trains, buses, ferries and light rail with just one card,” she says.
“We’re seeing more people catch public transport thanks to the Opal card, weekend patronage on trains is up almost 12 per cent and customers are no longer standing in lengthy and frustrating Monday morning train station ticket queues every week.”
National industry body Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) Chief Executive Officer Margy Osmond says completing the rollout is an historic achievement.
“We have entered a new age of convenience where public transport passengers never have to queue to buy a ticket again,” she says.
“Today’s announcement means that people can use all forms of transport with their Opal card and occasional users don’t have to worry about fares or having different tickets for various modes and distances.”