Opal card closes loophole
As the NSW government clamps down on Opal card loading, they have released this vision of Sydneysiders taking advantage of the loophole. Vision: Transport NSW
PT0M37S 620 349Eighteen months after encouraging Sydney commuters to "beat the system", the NSW government is closing a loophole used by some to gain cheap weekly travel on their Opal cards.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance announced the changes on Monday, designed to stop some commuters who have been "Opal running" between train stations and light rail stops to fill their cards with cheap trips.
"From today the system will be updated to substantially disrupt those people who are improperly earning free travel by raising the number of transfers needed to make a journey," he said.
Commuters use Pyrmont stops to beat the Opal card.
Under the Opal card fare rules, people can can travel for free in a week after completing eight paid journeys.
The system creates an incentive for commuters to reach the eight journeys with cheap travel early in the week. However, some commuters have discovered it is possible to reach one "journey" by tapping on and off at nearby light rail or train stops three times.
Under the changes announced by Mr Constance, one journey will now include up to seven transfers instead of three.
A "transfer" occurs when a user travels multiple times on the same mode of transport in the one journey within the same hour.
Previously, when users "transferred" more than three times in one journey – for instance, by pretending to have travelled back and forth between two light rail stops close together – a new "journey" was triggered.
But the changes announced on Monday mean users will have to transfer more than seven times on the one mode of transport to trigger another journey for the purposes of the free weekly travel after eight journeys.
Commuters have mostly been gaming the Opal card fare rules at light rail stops positioned close together. The government released video footage of people swiping multiple cards and roller blading between readers at stations in order to gain free travel later in the week.
There is a gap of only 300 metres between stops at the Star and Pyrmont Bay. This has allowed energetic and thrifty Opal card holders to fill their card for $18 with about 90 minutes worth of tapping on and off.
But under Mr Constance's changes, the time taken to fill an Opal card running between the Star and Pyrmont Bay would extend to about five hours.
The government estimates that "Opal running" has resulted in lost revenue of up to $2 million over the past year. "What we are saying very clearly is, 'no more Opal running'," Mr Constance said.
Labor's new transport spokeswoman, Jodi McKay, accused the government of "making it up as as it goes along".
"One minute the Transport Minister – now Treasurer [Gladys Berejiklian] – is exhorting people to 'beat the system', now her successor is cracking down," she said.
In a bulletin, Transport for NSW advised service operators that the changes have been made "to mitigate customers exploiting" Opal.
The bulletin said some commuters had been "walking, running, cycling or driving between train stations and light rail stops in close proximity, and tapping on and tapping off, without making the journey on the relevant transport service".
It also noted that some commuters had paid a fee to people to swipe their cards in order to reach eight completed journeys and gain free travel.
In a draft report released just before Christmas, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal proposed sweeping changes to public transport fares, including an end to the free travel after eight journeys in a week and a tightening of eligibility for the Gold Opal card.
The pricing regulator was scheduled to release a final on Opal fares by the end of March. However, last week Mr Constance extended the deadline for IPART to deliver that report until the end of May.
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