Confused about Opal System (NSW)

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Opal Card - NSW Government

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  retiredfeline on 17/03/2015 - 21:12

  a. One journey and each mode is charged separately.
  b. That's a reversal. No charge.
  c. One journey, minimum fare. In fact you can stay at B up to an hour, very handy for quick errands.
  d. This I'm not sure, I've never made that many trips in a journey. In the best case it would be like c.

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    Thenarrator on 17/03/2015 - 22:14

    a) "each mode charged separately" Does this mean if I accrue 8 TRAIN journeys, it does NOT mean 8 BUS journeys? Therefore after getting 8 trains, I can NOT use free travel on buses?

    b)So If i tap ON at A then stay inside for 10hrs then tap OFF at B, still no charge?

    c)For some off reason, my intuition thinks this is not right. (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/185554). The guy says 4th trip starts new journey. This one is 2 trip starts new journey. VERY CONFUSED. D:

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      retiredfeline on 17/03/2015 - 22:19

      a. There are no separate rail and bus type journeys. Using bus then rail counts as a transfer so one journey, but the total cost is the sum of the two trips.

      b. You said tap on at A then tap off at A again. Within 30 minutes that's a reversal. You are now asking a different question. Tap on at A, go to B, staying 10 hours inside, that's one journey and the cost is the charge for A to B.

      c. Again you originally asked a different question, you said tap at A go to B, get back in again and go back to A. That's one journey. Your changed question is more like d. Have you got your letters mixed up? Stick to the same letters as your original post for consistency please.

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        Thenarrator on 17/03/2015 - 22:34

        b) sorry, I have typed wrong, my question was "So If i tap ON at A then stay inside for 10hrs then tap OFF at A, still no charge?".

        You mentioned 30min reversal, so if i stay inside A for >30min, then tap off at A, it counts as a journey from A->A. correct?

        c) yeah still confused. The guy in the other post did A->B, B->A, A->B, then next one is a new journey.

        However according to your theory, it should be A->B, B->A, then next one is a new journey.

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        retiredfeline on 17/03/2015 - 22:41

        @narato: b. After 30 minutes you are charged, A to A would be the minimum charge. Not sure what happens if those 10 hours cross into a new day, never tried it or wanted to, guards might kick you out of the station at closing time. You may get charged the max for the first day.

        c. I have definitely done A to B, do something less than an hour, then B to A, for the cost of one trip. I have not done more than one transfer on a journey so I actually have nothing to say about when how many trips start a new journey.

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  scrimshaw on 17/03/2015 - 21:26

  You can calculate your fare using the Opal Fares app. This will answer all your questions.
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.opal.fa…

  I highly recommend you install an Opal app on your smartphone, this way you can track your usage history (sadly, not in real time, but the delay in info updates is fairly short) and see how your trips are being charged.

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  vikvance on 18/03/2015 - 07:21

  Trip = Travel between a Tap on and Tap off

  Journey = A collection of Trips.

  A new Journey starts when either:
  (1) Four Trips have already been completed; OR
  (2) The next Tap on is more than an hour after the last Tap off.

  a) If I take a bus from home to station then immediately travel from station A to B, am I incurring 2 journeys?

  This is 2 trips & 1 journey.

  b) If I tap ON station A then immediately tap OFF station A, is that one journey? Is there timeframe involved to be considered one journey?

  There is no travel, so this is 0 trips & 0 journeys.

  c) if I go A->B, then immediately tap OFF and ON at B then B->A, am I incurring 1 journey?

  This is 2 trips & 1 journey.

  d) If I go A->B, immediately tap OFF and ON at B, B->C, immediately tap OFF and ON at C, C->D, immediately tap OFF and ON at D, D->A, tap OFF at A. How many journeys? > (im really confused about this one. Something about Opal storing a maximum of 4 transfers?)

  This is 4 trips & 1 journey.

  http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/frugal-opal-card-users-beat-the-sy…

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    Thenarrator on 18/03/2015 - 17:56

    if i do A->B, B->C, C->D, D->E, E->F, F->G, G->H, H->I, I->K,

    is the first journey defined as A->E and second journey defined as E->I and third journey defined as I->K? a total of 3 journeys?

    • 

      vikvance on 18/03/2015 - 22:08

      Yes, it will be a total of 3 journeys.

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  r2160 on 18/03/2015 - 08:52

  As far as D is concerned:

  If you tap off and immediately tap back on at the same station, it continues your journey. In order for these to be considered as separate journeys there are conditions. 1 hour or more has to pass between tapping off at "B" and tapping back on at "B" for it to be a new journey.
  The way people have been doing it is they get on at A and travel to B, they then get off and walk to C and travel to D. That gives them two journeys.

  That article in the SMH actually covers this. If you tap off at B and tap back on at B, it will be classified as a transfer, not a new journey unless 60 minutes has passed between tapping on and off.

  However, once you have 8 journeys, train, bus etc in a week (a week being defined as Monday to Sunday), all trips after those 8 are now free.

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    Thenarrator on 18/03/2015 - 17:39

    if i go A->B, then WITHIN 1 hr, i tap on at C and go C->D, is that 1 or 2 journeys?

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      vikvance on 18/03/2015 - 22:18

      It's 2 journeys if:

      (1) C & D are heavy rail stations outside the city centre; or
      (2) A, B, C & D are light rail stations & there are 3 additional light rail stations between B & C.

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  [Deactivated] on 19/03/2015 - 11:40

  The Opal system seems to be incredibly complicated, the old paper tickets were even worse!

  I know that this will be unpopular and negged into oblivion but, MYKI is so incredibly simple in comparison.
  Two zones, and either a 2 hour or daily pass for a total of four possible tickets.

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    retiredfeline on 19/03/2015 - 11:57

    Most of the complication is in the various hacks people attempt to save money. Most people only take advantage of the obvious ones like off-peak trains, 1 hour transfers, free travel after the 8th journey. My biggest gripe is that Opal doesn't have integrated charging, e.g. if you use train and bus, you are charged the sum of distance charges on each mode, rather than on the total distance. On the other hand my gripe about Myki is that the cards are non-refundable. I have a couple sitting idle in my drawer.