Prepare to say goodbye to paper tickets on NSW public transport.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Monday Transport Minister Andrew Constance announced all remaining paper tickets would be axed from August 1.
Tourists and those who do not have an Opal card – or forget to take it to the station – won’t be left totally in the lurch.
A single-trip Opal ticket will be brought in but it will cost 20 per cent more than the equivalent fare on an Opal card.
It’s now time to stop running two ticketing systems.
- Transport Minister Andrew Constance
A single-trip ticket is only valid for the day of purchase and a commuter taps on and off with it, the same as they would with an Opal card.
Also, previously purchased paper tickets will not be accepted for travel from August 1 – which means commuters with trips remaining on tickets such as TravelTen will need to contact Transport for NSW for a refund.
The August 1 scrapping is the last stage in a gradual winding down of the paper ticket system.
Fourteen ticket types were discontinued on September 1, 2014, and another 57 on January 1 this year.
The final step includes removing single and return adult paper tickets, as the government states Opal is used for 95 per cent of public transport trips.
“Given the enormous success, it’s now time to stop running two ticketing systems and move to one convenient system that enables future innovation,” Mr Constance said.
“With the single electronic system we can move to the next stage in ticketing, with a customer trial in 2017 for tapping on with credit and debit cards.”
The decision to charge a higher fare for the single-trip ticket comes from a recommendation from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal review into public transport fares.
“NSW is not alone in setting a premium fare for single-trip tickets, with electronic ticketing systems, like in Brisbane or London, encouraging customers to travel with smartcards,” Mr Constance said.
According to government statistics, since the Opal rollout started in December 2012 there have been more than 7.5 million adult cards issued, along with a million Gold Senior/Pensioner cards, 700,000 Child/Youth cards, and 350,000 School Opal cards.