Changes to Opal fares announced today will mean no more free trips beyond the first 8 trips taken for the week. They will instead be half price.
No more free trips on Opal card, announces NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance
How will these changes affect you?
Do you really think they never planned to axe it? Of course this has been planned. They upped the price of tickets too. Next the dodgy folks in government will sell it.
They upped the price of tickets too.
Did they? I can't see anything in the article which suggests that fares will be increased.
Whoops, that's right they plan to.
not yet…..
They didn't directly raise fare prices in this announcement, but the initial fare prices they set when Opal was introduced were about 12.5% higher than what they originally were under the paper ticket system.
Their reasoning for that was because of the fact we got free rides after 8 trips, the increase in the base fare was to make up for it.
Now they've taken away the free rides but it's convenient that they've still kept the higher fares so essentially they got in a straight 12.5% fare hike without anyone even registering the fact.
"Thanks to everyone who exploited the system" - pffft that's a tiny fraction of people. Go read their report.
Those who "exploited the system" were encouraged to do just that when Opal first rolled out.
man thats some BS, going out on a sunday for fun on unlimited travel was great
It will be interesting to see if this effects city shop keepers
Meh, it was too good to last anyway.
Looks like my weekly expenses are going to go up. I used to take advantage of the travelpass and the 8-weekly trips helped to bridge the difference. The multi-mode discount is better than nothing, but I suspect I am going to be worse off overall.
The trains will still run but with more empty seats now with more people go back to their cars on the weekends.
Thank you NSW Government for the taking away the only reason to be using a train on the weekend
not only is the loophole closed, but the 50% charge for > 8 trips means it will cost the average Mon-Fri commuter 12.5% more than prior to Opal being introduced.
I can understand closing loopholes, but the blatant cash grab for extra trips is most disappointing.
Also, why do trains get off peak discount but not buses. Never understood that one.
sucks
Also, why do trains get off peak discount but not buses. Never understood that one.
This was actually explained in the IPART report:
Rail services have high infrastructure costs (eg, rail lines, vehicles, stations) and
relatively low operating costs (eg, electricity, fuel, drivers). Much of the
infrastructure is needed to meet the demand for services in peak times. In
off-peak times, such as the middle of the day and weekends, the infrastructure
may have spare capacity.
In contrast, bus and ferry services have relatively high operating costs and their
infrastructure costs (vehicles and vessels) make up a much lower proportion of
their total costs. Because operating costs don’t differ in peak and off-peak times,
the total costs of providing these modes don’t differ substantially in these times.
So when are these changes taking effect from? 1st July 2016? I read through the article but it doesn't mention when does it take effect
Thanks. looks like Sunday $2.50 cap is not changed for now as well
However, Transport Minister Andrew Constance has put a freeze on fares until July next year and kept in place existing fare bands for the state's Opal ticketing system.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/no-more-free-trips-on-opal-card-an…
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook
As a long distance commuter, I prefer to have no travel rewards and lower fares.
The 8 trips then free thing was used to lure people into using Opal. The advertising at the time even encouraged people to find ways to reduce their weekly cost by making many of these trips low cost. Now that people are doing that, and pretty much everyone is on Opal, guess what? Just more political lies to add to the collection.
I would have thought the massive revenue the NSW govt get from stamp duty on overpriced houses would easily make up for the relatively small number of people saving money by taking cheap bus journeys etc to make up their 8 trips. That would have increased in line with the big jump in property prices over the least 2 or 3 years. But greed knows no bounds.
I look forward to the dramatic and significant increase in public services this revenue boost will surely deliver.
As has already been said, its not just those taking advantage of low cost trips that are affected. Regular commuters going to work and back will pay 12.5% more, in a time of negligible inflation. I currently work one day a week from home and it might be time to increase that.
I can sure what they call lost in revenue from government will ever fixed by put ppl off using public transport.
that said. how do we really know their stats are beliveable
I'm potentially starting a job which would require me to use multi modal transport to get to work. I'll be hitting the weekly cap of $60 within four days… If I could use the old mymulti ticket it would only cost around $40. If only there weren't halfwits in charge they could implement longer term tickets on to the opal cards.
After this change, I will now have to spend $1000 extra each year.
My train has been late for more than 15 minutes (while I was in the train) within last one month. Should I start seeking refund by lodging credit card dispute as I am not receiving the required service?
Disappointing, as I saw my usage, the model of what they wanted.
That is I didn't take advantage of the opal runs, but did use public transport more on the weekend, also the fact that it was free meant I went out more on the weekend, when I went out I spent money on 'goods and services'.
The small intended outings that resulted in bigger spending than expected is the big lost to the economy.
I thought the point of the free travel after 8 trips is to cater for the weekly ticketing system where you can have unlimited trips during the week for a fixed amount. Now that it's gone, there will be no price cap on weekly travel anymore! No incentive for me to use Opal anymore, can we roll back to paper tickets?
I cannot agree more the old paper tickets weekly or fortnightly works the best over the past decades. since opal introduce the 8 trips travel reward is one main benefits for commuters really.
The old weekly ticket which I used for long time allow us to travel one stop to another and all stops in between without extra cost. Now the opal card with new half price after 8 trips means surely paid more. most ppl are pay more, just need to do the maths. This is really putting off people use public transports.
Again, we really never seeing any improvement on services quality from public transport throughout. bus being late, congested and stressful peak hours travel, train being delay on frequent basis. this questions how we benefit on multi transport mode credits. also put up the time and energy with trackwork all round sydney on weekends. just wish the service quality can be improve to justify fare increase but never happened over decades since we move to sydney.
Now just means will likely not use public transport as easy anytime or on weekend. No one really wins from this
Need to spend $67.5 than $30 for five day commuting, this sucks.
Weekly cost capped at $60.
I save almost $10 a week. Bus train bus to work and back means I save $4 a day (concession) for multi mode transport. She Friday is only 50% off but that's rebated by the multi mode
Long live Myki!
As a Melbourne transport user I am actually grateful for what I pay when I read about the complicated, expensive system in Sydney…
Thanks to everyone who exploited the system, genuine people will no longer have free rides after 8 trips. For me - time to start driving car on the weekend :)