Sydney Public Transport Integrated Ticketing System Progressing Well

(Better than Auckland and Melbourne too)

We know the AT-HOP integrated ticketing scheme roll out by Auckland Transport for our public transport system has not been flash hot with delays and issues for the buses (trains and ferries when rather well). However, in Sydney their Opal public transport integrated ticketing scheme roll out is going surprisingly well and apparently ahead on time.

From Sydney Morning Herald:

Opal card use to be extended next week

Date

January 23, 2014 – 2:37PM

Transport Reporter

About half of all Sydney train passengers will be able to use Opal cards by the end of next week.

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said on Thursday that the distribution of the public transport smartcard system is ahead of schedule.

From Friday, January 31, the Opal will be available at train stations between Strathfield and Redfern, Strathfield and Hornsby, Chatswood and Wyong, and on the Epping to Chatswood line.

Announcing the latest stage of the $1.2 billion ticketing system at Strathfield Station, Premier Barry O’Farrell and Ms Berejiklian said the government was on track to ensure the card could be used on all trains, buses and ferries by the end of the year. The light rail will be added next year.

“We are slightly ahead of schedule,” Ms Berejiklian said, “but I say that without being complacent.

“If you look at the way other cities around the world and around Australia have implemented integrated ticketing, it hasn’t gone without problems. It hasn’t gone without glitches,” she said.

“Even though we’ve had great success to date, we will never be complacent.”

The Opal is already available on the eastern suburbs line to Bondi Junction, on the city circle line and on the north shore line to Chatswood, all Sydney Ferries, and two bus routes.

But the take-up of the card has been fairly slow. Some public transport users have been put off by the relative cost of paying with the card, which can be more expensive than using a monthly or quarterly ticket.

Others have been waiting for it to be extended to more train stations and buses.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/opal-card-use-to-be-extended-next-week-20140123-31atu.html#ixzz2rByd0PaX

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Well done New South Wales State Government and Sydney city. But where Auckland will have an advantage (eventually) is on integrated fares something Sydney does not seem to be doing.

Continuing from the SMH article:

Experts have criticised the decision to continue to charge people different fares when they change from one mode of transport to another. But Ms Berejiklian said she did not think users of different types of transport should subsidise the other.

“We don’t think it’s fair that people who catch trains and buses should be subsidising people who catch ferries,” she said.

“Every mode of transport costs a different amount for the government to provide, and we want to make sure it’s an open and fair system.”

About 45,000 Opal cards have been registered, and the government has not yet said when it will stop selling paper tickets.

Mr O’Farrell said queuing for a ticket would be a thing of the past. “This is particularly great news for customers on the central coast,” he said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/opal-card-use-to-be-extended-next-week-20140123-31atu.html#ixzz2rBzR2iw7

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None the less next time I go to Sydney on holiday I’ll try out Opal and see how it goes (last time I used the old paper ticket system and that was not that bad – especially compared to our train paper tickets for the rail network here in Auckland).