Opal card has a death date with commuters to start using phones and credit cards

THE death of the Opal card has begun with other methods being rolled out on ferries, followed by buses and trains.

EXCLUSIVE

AFTER spending $1.2 billion bringing in the Opal card, the state government has effectively signed its death warrant.

The slow demise of Opal has begun with a trial of more than 15,000 commuters ­choosing to use their Mastercards to “tap on” for the Manly ferry instead.

The trial will almost certainly be ­expanded to buses and trains, although the state government is pledging to get feedback from commuters.

The option of contactless payment is expected to be offered across the transport network, given the convenience of using your own card as opposed to getting an Opal card.

Opal cards either top up automatically, keeping a minimum balance of $10 at all times, or require users to add credit at dedicated machines, which can attract long queues.

MORE: Man gets his Opal card implanted beneath his skin

Commuters will start using their bank cards or smartphones to tap on and off as part of the trial.

And Opal’s big advantage — giving commuters free transport after eight trips in a week — has also been dramatically eroded after Transport Minister Andrew Constance changed it to half-price travel instead.

However, Mr Constance, ­already under pressure over the train debacles of the past few weeks, said the move was not about ending the Opal card but rather about giving the public a choice.

“This trial has only been possible because of the success of the Opal card,” he said.

“I’ve always said we will listen to our customers about what they want, and I encourage them to give us their views on any further expansion of contactless payments.

“Opal isn’t going anywhere; it has been a huge success and supports roughly 14 million customer trips every week.

“We have always said we want to make travelling on public transport as easy as possible for our customers, which is why we are trialling contactless credit-card payments on the Manly ferry.”

Mr Constance said the trial would continue to run throughout this year, as his ­department assessed the feedback from commuters.

One move that may extend Opal’s life is offering it as a pay option on private services.

Trains approach Milsons Point railway station in the Sydney suburb of Milsons Point.

About 100,000 extra commuters have chosen to use Opal cards to pay for a trip on the private Manly Fast Ferry since the option was made available last month.

The government will today announce a further expansion of the Opal card into the private sector, adding trips on Sealink and Captain Cook Cruises to Manly, Watsons Bay and Lane Cove.

However, a switch to using credit cards does open up the spectre of hackers getting ­access to your banking details.

University of Melbourne enterprise fellow for cyber ­security Dr Greg Adamson said it was important people were assured their personal ­details would be safe.

“One of the problems is how do we know a particular organisation has the capacity to protect ­information?’’ Dr Adamson said.

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