Discounted weekend fares for trips on NSW public transport will be extended to Fridays as part of an annual change to Opal ticket prices which will rise from next month by an average of 3.7 per cent, which is less than the inflation rate.
Days before the state budget, the Minns government has decided to make ticket prices on Fridays the same as those at weekends but will end an incentive of half-price fares after eight journeys in a week, arguing almost 90 per cent of passengers are not reaching the number to benefit.
Opal fares will rise by 3.7 per cent on average this year.
The government contends that cheaper fares on Fridays will benefit more commuters because fewer people are travelling to work five days a week than before the pandemic.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said extending weekend fares to Fridays would mean people could travel all day on public transport for no more than $8.90, receiving a 30 per cent fare discount on metro, train, bus and light rail services.
“Every weekend will soon be a long weekend when it comes to Opal fares as we make Friday travel cheaper for everyone,” she said.
Fares for people who use Opal child, youth and concession cards will be capped at $4.45 on Fridays. The weekly travel cap will remain at $50 for adults and $25 for concession cardholders and children, while the $2.50 daily travel cap for seniors and pensioners will be unchanged.
Haylen said the government knew that people were struggling to pay bills, which was why it had ensured that the ticket increases would add just $1 to the cost of a passenger’s average weekly fares.
The weekly travel cap will remain at $50 for adults and $25 for concession cardholders.
The weekly travel cap will remain at $50 for adults and $25 for concession cardholders.
The changes from October 16 mean that a one-way peak-hour train trip from Penrith to the Sydney CBD will increase from $7.24 to $7.65, while a journey from Chatswood to North Sydney will rise from $3.79 to $4.
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The latest annual increase in Opal fares is higher than the 3 per cent rise last year and a 1.5 per cent increase in 2021 when it was pegged to the rate of inflation at the time. The latest figures show annual inflation rose by 6 per cent in the June quarter.
The government has delayed the annual increase in Opal fares by more than three months, which typically come into effect at the start of July each year.
An access fee for the domestic and international terminal stations on the rail line to Sydney Airport will rise by 94¢ for an adult and 84¢ for concession cardholders. It means a one-way journey to the airport stations during peak periods will rise to $20.68 from $19.53. However, the access fee for the airport stations will be capped at $33.84 a week for adults and $30.33 for children.
Mathew Hounsell, a researcher at the University of Technology Sydney’s transport research centre, said extending discounted fares to Friday would remove a financial barrier for people to travel long distances on trains but in the main would be a minor incentive for commuters.
“You will see people who are on lower incomes shifting their behaviour, but it will be a smaller incentive for everyone else,” he said.
Hounsell said the government was trying to entice people to use public transport by raising average fares at a rate less than inflation.
The previous government ended in 2016 a popular incentive of free travel after eight paid trips in a week. It was replaced with half-priced fares after eight trips, which will now end next month.
Preserving fire service history @ The Museum of Fire.
Discounted weekend fares for trips on NSW public transport will be extended to Fridays as part of an annual change to Opal ticket prices which will rise from next month by an average of 3.7 per cent, which is less than the inflation rate.
Days before the state budget, the Minns government has decided to make ticket prices on Fridays the same as those at weekends but will end an incentive of half-price fares after eight journeys in a week, arguing almost 90 per cent of passengers are not reaching the number to benefit.
Opal fares will rise by 3.7 per cent on average this year.
The government contends that cheaper fares on Fridays will benefit more commuters because fewer people are travelling to work five days a week than before the pandemic.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said extending weekend fares to Fridays would mean people could travel all day on public transport for no more than $8.90, receiving a 30 per cent fare discount on metro, train, bus and light rail services.
“Every weekend will soon be a long weekend when it comes to Opal fares as we make Friday travel cheaper for everyone,” she said.
Fares for people who use Opal child, youth and concession cards will be capped at $4.45 on Fridays. The weekly travel cap will remain at $50 for adults and $25 for concession cardholders and children, while the $2.50 daily travel cap for seniors and pensioners will be unchanged.
Haylen said the government knew that people were struggling to pay bills, which was why it had ensured that the ticket increases would add just $1 to the cost of a passenger’s average weekly fares.
The weekly travel cap will remain at $50 for adults and $25 for concession cardholders.
The weekly travel cap will remain at $50 for adults and $25 for concession cardholders.
The changes from October 16 mean that a one-way peak-hour train trip from Penrith to the Sydney CBD will increase from $7.24 to $7.65, while a journey from Chatswood to North Sydney will rise from $3.79 to $4.
Advertisement
The latest annual increase in Opal fares is higher than the 3 per cent rise last year and a 1.5 per cent increase in 2021 when it was pegged to the rate of inflation at the time. The latest figures show annual inflation rose by 6 per cent in the June quarter.
The government has delayed the annual increase in Opal fares by more than three months, which typically come into effect at the start of July each year.
An access fee for the domestic and international terminal stations on the rail line to Sydney Airport will rise by 94¢ for an adult and 84¢ for concession cardholders. It means a one-way journey to the airport stations during peak periods will rise to $20.68 from $19.53. However, the access fee for the airport stations will be capped at $33.84 a week for adults and $30.33 for children.
Mathew Hounsell, a researcher at the University of Technology Sydney’s transport research centre, said extending discounted fares to Friday would remove a financial barrier for people to travel long distances on trains but in the main would be a minor incentive for commuters.
“You will see people who are on lower incomes shifting their behaviour, but it will be a smaller incentive for everyone else,” he said.
Hounsell said the government was trying to entice people to use public transport by raising average fares at a rate less than inflation.
The previous government ended in 2016 a popular incentive of free travel after eight paid trips in a week. It was replaced with half-priced fares after eight trips, which will now end next month.
I think they're right. I actually do hit the 8 week incentive and even then cheaper Fridays would likely benefit me more. It's certainly better for people who don't use public transport that much
So it's the effective end of the weekly ticket. (Which was what the original 8 then free, later 8 then 50% replaced)
I guess not quite as most who travel that much will still be protected by the weekly $50/25 cap. Only going to impact a small number of people who primarily take short or off peak journeys for many trips.
Crazy that the various caps are not being inflated. Haven't they learnt from the pensioner cap.
Both when I was venturing in Sydney & heading to work, the highest I ever got to reaching the cap was 6 out of 8, I just couldn't complete 8 out of 8 journeys so I'm another statistic in there somewhere to why it's being dropped.
While you can't please everyone, It's just my opinion that if you really want to encourage the "leave the car at home, catch public transport" case you really need to do more to draw people in so how about starting at Sunday with either a $2.50 cap (you'll pay no more than up to $2.50 if you tap on / off for your trip) or like senior / pensioner concession cards after you've reached $2.50, remaining trips for the day are "free".
Not a lot to do on Sunday out of the major cities but if this can get people moving around without having to be too worried about fare pricing then It's a no brainer.
Transport enthusiast & photographer / videographer since 2016, documenting & preserving our local Transport History through videos & photos.
boronia quoting TfNSW propaganda wrote: ↑Fri Sep 15, 2023 8:18 am
The internal documents, obtained by the Herald under freedom of information laws, say the existing system has a “long lead time” and a high cost for network-wide fare changes, while it has “limited ability to differentiate prices beyond simple peak [and] off-peak”.
Maybe so, but Opal+ is a new system and clearly resembles the description of Opal Next Gen. Were Opal digital and Opal Connect all throw away hacks?
The agency spruiked the Opal Next Gen project as delivering one of the world’s “most sophisticated ticketing solutions”, providing passengers “seamless and convenient ticketing” that enabled fast, connected and multi-modal trips on public transport.
Yeah, yeah. Just design a fare system fit for purpose without stupid subscriptions and political interference. Don't let IPART anywhere near the design.
The last Opal top-up machine I passed appears to only accept contactless cards. A small LED panel with some control panel below I couldn't identify the purpose of has replaced the old EFTPOS reader. I assume that is further to reduce maintenance costs but is that entirely reasonable now? I'm thinking of visitors from backward countries in particular, the U.S.A. I assume the old readers also accepted mag strip cards but I can't recall. The machine concerned stopped accepting cash quite a while ago now. At least the closest Opal retailer is open til 10pm - not that there is any signage to direct anyone there.
Fleet Lists wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 6:29 pm
"Probably is NOT fact. Please stay with facts.
It is a fact that the weekend cap is increased by 50c.
It is also a fact that the weekday cap is always set as twice the weekend cap.
The weekend concession cap is going up from 4.20 to 4.45 - an increase of 25 cents - not 50 cents..
On that basis the adult cap will go up by 50 cents to $8.90 as in the press release.
Current adult weekend daily cap is $8.40, this will be increasing to $8.90. The current weekday cap is i$16.80, i.e. double the weekend cap. So based on the facts that since the weekend cap was introduced in 2020 it has always been half that of the weekday, the statement that the weekday cap will be increasing by $1 to $17.80 was correct. Although this will only apply Monday - Thursday, with Friday capped at the same rates as weekends, i.e. $8.90.
Opal fare changes from 16 October
Sunday 17 September 2023
Starting next month, you'll enjoy cheaper trips on Fridays, and there won't be any changes to the weekly travel caps as part of the annual Opal fare review.
From Monday 16 October, Opal fares will go up by an average of 3.7%, which is lower than the 7% increase in the Sydney Consumer Price Index in June 2023. Some changes are coming to travel rewards and caps:
Weekend fares will apply on Fridays, allowing all-day travel for no more than $8.90, with a 30% fare discount on metro, train, bus, and light rail services.
Child/Youth and Concession passengers can travel all day on Friday for no more than $4.45.
The weekly travel caps will remain in place: $50 for Adults, and $25 for Child/Youth and Concession card holders.
The $2.50 unlimited daily travel for Senior/Pensioner Opal card holders will remain in place.
However, half-price trips after eight journeys will no longer be available when the fare change comes into effect. Fewer people are travelling five days a week, resulting in lower uptake of the half- price trips benefit, which has dropped from 24% pre-Covid to 14% in 2023.
Sydney Airport Station Access Fee will also increase to $16.68 for Adults and $14.92 for Child/Youth, Concessions and Senior fares. This fee is set by the Airport Link Company for using the Domestic and International Airport train stations.
The daily caps are not covered except for what will apply on Fridays so it can be interpreted that the figures shown also apply on weekends and twice the amount on Mondays to Thursday but is not certain.
A sitting government of ether side would need to have a strong backbone even think about announcing a gold Opal daily cap rise without worrying about the outcome of the decision could be
Campbelltown busboy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 1:29 pm
A sitting government of ether side would need to have a strong backbone even think about announcing a gold Opal daily cap rise without worrying about the outcome of the decision could be
This year would be a good time to do it, with 3-1/2 years to the next election.
Preserving fire service history @ The Museum of Fire.
Campbelltown busboy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 1:29 pm
A sitting government of ether side would need to have a strong backbone even think about announcing a gold Opal daily cap rise without worrying about the outcome of the decision could be
This year would be a good time to do it, with 3-1/2 years to the next election.
The last time they tried raising the gold Opal daily cap it was by $1•10 which would of made the cap $3•60 that didn’t go down well
