Opal machines failing, contractors struggling to keep the system going

OPAL top-up and ticket machines are failing at shocking rates and the understaffed contractor hired to run the system is struggling to keep it going.

On the day the state’s transport system turns to Opal-only, 28 top-up machines were out of order on a single day last month / Supplied

OPAL top-up and ticket machines are failing at shocking rates and the understaffed contractor hired to run the system is struggling to keep it going, an insider said.

On the day the state’s transport system turns to Opal-only, 28 top-up machines were out of order on a single day last month and more than 100 faults were registered across the network on another day.

From today rail, bus and ferry passengers will only be able to use Opal cards, with some machines selling “last resort” single journey Opal tickets, up to 20 per cent dearer than an Opal card.

While hundreds of thousands of Opal card holders use online apps and automatic top-ups, with 13 million Opal journeys a week the government is still expecting delays at top-up and ticket machines this week.

People at Central Station on the last day that paper tickets will be sold or accepted / Picture: Stephen Cooper

US firm Cubic Transportation Systems is delivering the Opal computer system under a $398 million contract with the government. But a Cubic TS insider said the company was failing so badly the government was withholding about $600,000 a month in contract payments.

The insider said Cubic TS was down 30 frontline staff and had just five technicians fixing problems across the city. The company is supposed to fix a broken machine in three hours or repair a machine offering a “degraded service” in 16 hours but was hitting those targets just 8.2 per cent of the time, the insider said.

“My major concern is that, come Monday, the system isn’t going to work,” he said.

The insider said the machines, made in France, did not handle the Australian environment.

Transport for NSW claimed the Opal rollout had been a “huge success”, with customers taking 50 million trips a month with their cards, but appealed for patience from commuters this week.

“During this period there may be queues at Opal top-up machines and also lining up to request information from the many staff on hand to assist,” a spokesman said.