Smart card technology provider Cubic has announced a milestone for Sydney’s Opal card
August 5, 2013
Sydney’s new Opal smart card for public transport reached another major milestone, with more than 10,000 cards issued since customer trials began by Transport for New South Wales and Cubic Transportation Systems.
The new system, being installed by the Cubic-led Pearl Consortium, is being progressively rolled out across buses, ferries, trains and light rail in the greater Sydney area. By 2015 the Opal system will cover 42 ferry wharves, more than 300 train stations and more than 5,000 buses and light rail systems.
Cubic Transportation Systems managing director for Australasia Tom Walker says it is gratifying to see how enthusiastically Sydneysiders have adopted the new Opal card.
“We are delighted with the uptake of the Opal card and the benefits it is already providing to Sydney commuters,” says Walker.
“Behind the scenes there’s a massive amount of work being done by a small army of specialists from Cubic and others members of the Pearl Consortium, Transport for New South Wales and contractors to make sure we deliver this landmark project on time and on budget,” he says.
Figures just released by NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian show commuters have made more than 100,000 trips using the new adult Opal card.
And the Opal website, launched in June this year, has recorded about 100,000 visits.
Berejiklian says 90 percent of customers were registering for a card online instead of by phone, and more than 70 percent were opting for the auto top-up function.
Sydney commuters first began using the Opal card last December, when commuter trials started on the short Neutral Bay ferry run.
Earlier this year the trials were extended to include the Manly ferry service, which accounts for approximately 40 percent of the 15 million passengers carried on the entire Sydney ferry fleet each year.
A major spike in the number of cards in circulation occurred in June, when trials began on Sydney’s City Circle trains and stations to Bondi Junction.