Opal Discussion and Observations

[boronia]

Frictionless ticketing technology for people with disability

https://www.railexpress.com.au/friction ... isability/

[Geo101]

Frictionless ticketing technology for people with disability

What happened to this trial from a few years ago?

School students to trial Opal frictionless ticketing

[boronia]

Seems the COVID induced "temporary" peak hour time extensions have now been been made permanent.

[Passenger 57]

Seems the COVID induced "temporary" peak hour time extensions have now been been made permanent.

They never said that it wouldn't be permanent and there probably is a valid rationale for the extended peak in normal times. Constance claimed it would reduce crowding and after initially increasing service frequencies they then went and reduced services which in part would have been due to staff shortages but I imagine cost cutting played a role too. I wonder whether the extended peak has reduced demand during the times the previous peak periods covered. One would imagine the some people that previously avoided the peak period might chose to travel in a busier part of the peak as they would forced to pay the peak fare anyway. IMHO, it would have been more sensible to introduce a peak shoulder fare if the goal was to shift demand. FWIW, IPART originally recommended a 40% discount in 2016 for off-peak fares to shift demand. I don't think they've recommended changing the peak definitions in recent years.

Does Opal+ use the same peak time definitions? For that matter is anyone participating in the Opal+ trial have any feedback to offer?

[pgt]

Does Opal+ use the same peak time definitions? For that matter is anyone participating in the Opal+ trial have any feedback to offer?

That it does, as at a guess there's a flag set when a tap on is detected [based on time of day clock] as to whether the fare is peak or off-peak, though could be wrong.
Peak/off-peak with Opal+ is the same as far as I can tell.

While I'm subscribed to the Opal+ trial, the only time I've used it so far is one weekend where I needed to use ferries so subscribed to the Unlimited Weekend bundle that week.
I don't use it otherwise as my normal Monday-Friday trip is a 3-8km bus trip each way to work, which would cost more under Opal+ ($0.37 per "journey" in this case), without the weekly cap kicking in as well after 8 journeys (thus making the price under Opal effective to 9 journeys).
Based on my current usage vs the Opal+ subscription pricing, I'd have to accrue more than $11.63 worth of half-priced fares [ie. post weekly cap kicking in] on Opal to make an Opal+ Unlimited Anytime subscription ($47.00) worthwhile, which I doubt I would do unless I have weekend plans that include ferries and quite a few trips otherwise.

As it stands, the thing I have to remember if I do use Opal+ include that only one subscription can be active in a 7 day period (starting the day you buy it) - so like that week I bought the Unlimited Weekend subscription (and yes you can cancel right after), I would have to wait until that 7 day period expired before buying another subscription or pay the "pay as you go" fare otherwise.
It does tell you in the app if you try to buy a subscription between midnight and 3:59am to wait until at least 4am to buy it otherwise you lose a day (or words to that effect).

[Passenger 57]

As it stands, the thing I have to remember if I do use Opal+ include that only one subscription can be active in a 7 day period (starting the day you buy it) - so like that week I bought the Unlimited Weekend subscription (and yes you can cancel right after), I would have to wait until that 7 day period expired before buying another subscription or pay the "pay as you go" fare otherwise.

What poor design.

It does tell you in the app if you try to buy a subscription between midnight and 3:59am to wait until at least 4am to buy it otherwise you lose a day (or words to that effect).

That's thoughtful of them but it would have been nicer if they just included those hours in the subscription. The older passes would give you the rest of the day as a bonus if activated after 3p.m.

[boxythingy]

They need to sharply increase the peak fares on Mondays-Wednesdays and encourage the spread of travel across the entire week and alleviate pre-covid moshpit-like peak conditions. I am literally sick of it.

I would not mind free or 40-50% off off-peak travel though to thoroughly enjoy my relaxing Friday peak journeys.

[Passenger 57]

I would not mind free or 40-50% off off-peak travel though to thoroughly enjoy my relaxing Friday peak journeys.

You realise of course that peak fares would needs to be increased to offset the revenue loss.

[pgt]

I would not mind free or 40-50% off off-peak travel though to thoroughly enjoy my relaxing Friday peak journeys.

You realise of course that peak fares would needs to be increased to offset the revenue loss.

If they did adopt the PAYG fare scale for Opal going forward (distance based regardless of fare mode, with an additional fee for ferry use if not on an unlimited subscription), fares would be going up per-se especially for shorter trips on a bus in peak (<10km is $4.30 for example, current Opal fare for 0-3km on a bus is $3.20 peak).

They need to sharply increase the peak fares on Mondays-Wednesdays and encourage the spread of travel across the entire week and alleviate pre-covid moshpit-like peak conditions. I am literally sick of it.

By taking away the 8-then-half price "fare reward" that would even things out although I sense complaints around the corner otherwise.

As for moshpit-like conditions, that requires additional drivers etc to fill the shortfall so we don't get no-show/cancelled buses that then fill up the following services - a topic for another thread.

[Passenger 57]

You realise of course that peak fares would needs to be increased to offset the revenue loss.

If they did adopt the PAYG fare scale for Opal going forward (distance based regardless of fare mode, with an additional fee for ferry use if not on an unlimited subscription), fares would be going up per-se especially for shorter trips on a bus in peak (<10km is $4.30 for example, current Opal fare for 0-3km on a bus is $3.20 peak).

My assumption is that something like Opal+ will eventually replace Opal. Opal+ is generally more expensive for single mode fares and cheaper for multi-modal fares. A major exception is the off-peak ferry fares available under Opal+ which are cheaper than the current fares. Bus passengers have been a frequent target for price hikes. It would be easy to have more finely graduated fare bands for Opal+ which would allow a more reasonable fare for short distance bus and tram travel not to mention the Stockton Ferry except that it would mean more N journey subscriptions to cater for the increased number of fare bands but those subscriptions offer very poor discounts compared to PAYG and could easily be eliminated except for the current requirement to have an active subscription to purchase an add-on. IMO all the subscriptions should be removed from Opal+ and replaced by weekly and weekend caps together with a weekly travel reward. If a minimum 10km fare is necessary for rail travel use, the fare could be bumped up to that band if any train travel occurred within the journey with any unused kms below 10km available for use on other modes. Singapore used to do something similar to this but the last time I looked the fares between buses and the different train lines there were quite uniform. The flat surcharge on ferries doesn't seem equitable. If there must be an surcharge for using ferries, which is something I don't agree with, it should be distance-based and peak/off-peak pricing should apply just that same as it does for the base fare on all modes. Whether there should be an off-peak fare for ferries and what period that should be is another matter for discussion, Extending the peak period to the weekends would be useful in reducing demand as well as not including ferry surcharges in any caps/subscriptions or discounts.

They need to sharply increase the peak fares on Mondays-Wednesdays and encourage the spread of travel across the entire week and alleviate pre-covid moshpit-like peak conditions. I am literally sick of it.

By taking away the 8-then-half price "fare reward" that would even things out although I sense complaints around the corner otherwise.

Having a N most expensive journeys cap could be implemented for Opal+ and would remove the incentive for taking cheaper journeys earlier in the week. Opal+ could also be designed so that the week could start when the "ticket" was first used and if the customer did not qualify for a weekly cap or frequent traveller discount within the 7 day period then the start day could keep advancing until they achieved a benefit. With fare calculations done in the backend fare rules can be made smarter.

[TheOpalUser]

New article on front page of transportnsw.info – https://transportnsw.info/news/2023/emp ... e-changing

From 1 March 2023, Employee and Former employee Opal cards reported as lost, stolen, or damaged, will be replaced with a teal Opal card. This will operate in the same way as existing opal cards and will not mean a change in any Employee or Former employee entitlement.

[Aurora]

Don’t know why that is advertised on Transport’s customer website.

[pgt]

Don’t know why that is advertised on Transport’s customer website.

At a guess because it also relates to former employees (well those eligible for such benefits), who wouldn't necessarily have access to the internal memos/Intranet?

[boxythingy]

What is/was the eligibility criteria to have a former employee card? Are these people on grandfathered arrangements?

[boronia]

You needed 30 years continuous employment, perhaps also staying on to retirement age.

[boxythingy]

What's even clearer is that there are very noticeable "peak weekdays" and "off-peak weekdays".

The vast majority of employers seem to think theoretical super spreaders won't happen on Monday morning peak hours, and everyone's social distancing by WFH on Fridays

By extending the morning peak hour by 1 hour, it's impossible to stagger start times, because if some were to delay travel until after 10:00AM, they'd be arriving into work by lunch time

For Sydney commuters, it’s nearly impossible to travel ‘off peak’
By Mary Ward
March 12, 2023 — 4.59am

Sydney should rethink its Opal pricing system, public transport experts and business advocates say, with expensive tickets designed for pre-pandemic working patterns keeping people away from the office.

Lowering the cap on weekly travel, making light rail services free between Circular Quay and Surry Hills, as well as reducing the length of the peak pricing period were all raised as potential strategies to encourage more commuters to adopt public transport.

Weekday patronage on Sydney train services, excluding the Metro, is at 69 per cent of 2019 levels.CREDIT:LOUISE KENNERLEY

Patronage on NSW public transport during February was at 74 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, a slight increase from 66 per cent in October last year. Weekday patronage on Sydney train services, excluding the Metro, is at 69 per cent of 2019 levels.

University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies chair of transport, Professor John Nelson, said patronage was at less than 80 per cent compared to the start of the pandemic.

“We should ask if that 20 per cent is lost forever or if there is something we can do to build it back,” he said.

RELATED ARTICLE
Business NSW is calling on the government to introduce more fare-free days during public holidays.

Free public transport push to ‘bring people back into the city’ and boost CBD spending
Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou said corporate employers were being told saving money on commuting was a key reason why staff wanted to work from home, with peak hour pricing difficult to avoid, even if they shift their hours outside a traditional nine-to-five.

Transport for NSW extended Sydney’s “peak hour” (for ticket price purposes) by three hours in 2020 – to run from 6.30am to 10am in the morning and 3pm to 7pm in the evening – a longer period than any other Australian city with an off-peak discount.

In Melbourne, all train commuters receive free travel before 7.15am on weekdays and those travelling to the city from V-Line regional stations receive an off-peak discount if travelling between 9am and 4pm or after 6pm.

A 25-kilometre Opal card trip to the CBD at 6.30am in Sydney would attract the full peak fare of $5.42, more than a dollar greater than a peak hour ticket for a similar distance in Melbourne (charged if arriving after 7.15am) or Brisbane (where peak pricing starts after 6am and runs until 8.30am).

While the extension of peak hour was designed to spread commuter load across services – after a significant peak was seen in people tapping on to trains at 9.01am – Nelson said a shorter peak could encourage more people to take public transport to work, and return to the office.

Matthew Hounsell, a researcher at UTS’s Institute for Sustainable Futures who was involved in the modelling which led to the extension of Sydney’s peak hour pricing, said the change made sense when trains were overcrowded, but now it could be time to finetune the policy.

“Clearly the biggest driver as to when you commute is when and where your boss allows you to work,” Hounsell said.

In a statement, Transport for NSW said the overcrowding seen pre-2020 which led to the extension of peak hour pricing was now “far less of a regular occurrence”.

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Commuters attempt to board trains at Parramatta Station during train delays across the network yesterday.
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Premier apologises after train shutdown paralyses Sydney
“Over time, we will have a clearer picture of regular patterns of post-COVID travel as the new normal of hybrid working and commuting becomes established,” it said.

In the UK, pandemic work patterns led to the introduction of a National Rail “Flexi Season Ticket”, covering travel between two stations for eight days in a four-week period.

Weekly spend on an Opal card is capped at $50 a week. But, with daily travel caps of $16.80 each day, a person would need to commute at least four days a week to receive this benefit.

“We can’t translate [the UK ticket] directly because we don’t have season tickets like that, but it’s the principle that’s of interest: people value flexibility,” Nelson said, adding that the change in how people in Sydney work should prompt a “broader overhaul” of public transport policy.

Nicolaou and Business Sydney are pushing for a free travel zone in Sydney CBD, similar to Melbourne’s free tram zone, to encourage people to visit local businesses after commuting to the city centre. He was highly critical of extended peak pricing.

“If the big stick approach won’t work to encourage people to change their hours of the day, what we need to do is incentivise people to come in,” he said.

[moa999]

Light Rail on George St is busy enough as it is. Couldn't cope with induced demand from being free.

The biggest 'equity' issue imho is that shorter journeys on bus and light rail have born the most of fare increases.
- both through the intro a peak (and extension of those peak periods) for bus and light rail
- and the weekly cap effectively limiting any fare increases for regular longer travellers.

Yet any competing mode (private car, taxi etc) is much more fixed $/km (in fuel, maintenance, depreciation etc).


Eg. It's crazy that it costs ~$30/wk to make a regular 2km journey...
When others are paying $50/wk for 100km trips.

If we go back pre-Opal, a 2-section travel-10 was under $20s. And a weekly from Gosford-City above $50 if I recall.

[Linto63]

Opal cap was originally $60 that then had a few increases before being cut to $50 in a bit of pork barrelling during the 2019 election campaign.

[boronia]

The relatively cheaper long distance fares were intended to encourage "decentralisation"; making it attractive for people to move to fringe areas.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Would a gold Opal daily cap raise be a nightmare for whatever party it happens under

[moa999]

The relatively cheaper long distance fares were intended to encourage "decentralisation"; making it attractive for people to move to fringe areas.

Which is laughable economics. I think the pork barrelling or targeting electorates is more correct.

People tend to move to fringe areas because they can't afford rent/ mortgages closer in, not because of a $10-20/wk saving on transport.

Would a gold Opal daily cap raise be a nightmare for whatever party it happens under

Has to be done eventually.. as well as indexing on the weekly cap.

Ideally you'd do it in the July rise immediate after the election, so it's well forgotten by the next one.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Would a gold Opal daily cap raise be a nightmare for whatever party it happens under

Has to be done eventually.. as well as indexing on the weekly cap.

Ideally you'd do it in the July rise immediate after the election, so it's well forgotten by the next one.

It wouldn't be a $1.40 jump like the $1•10-2•50 PET rise that happend around 20 or so years ago

[Fleet Lists]

It wouldn't be a $1.40 jump like the $1•10-2•50 PET rise that happend around 20 or so years ago

That jump only applied to the Metropolitan area. For regional gold card users or whatever they were at the time, it actually reduced from $3 to $2.50 to standardise the fare throughout the Opal Card area.

But I agree that some increase must be on the cards in the near future.

[jpp42]

Would a gold Opal daily cap raise be a nightmare for whatever party it happens under

There are ways to get around that, they could index it to inflation and make sure it only increases a few cents for the first year.

[Campbelltown busboy]

That jump only applied to the Metropolitan area. For regional gold card users or whatever they were at the time, it actually reduced from $3 to $2.50 to standardise the fare throughout the Opal Card area.

But I agree that some increase must be on the cards in the near future.

That would upset the don't touch our 2•50 crowd plus the gold Opal is just a digitised version of the PET