You could be saving hundreds on your commute with simple smartcard hacks

DO YOU just tap on and off every day? You’re doing it wrong. Here are the simple ways you can save on public transport.

Opal Card. Source: Opal.com

IN JUST a few years, travel smartcards, like Myki, Opal and Go Card, have gone from futuristic novelty to everyday essential with more than 20 million in circulation.

However, with fare options more dizzying than a mobile phone plan, many Australians are bamboozled by their smartcards and simply tap-on, tap-off and auto top-up with little thought of the total cost. But an analysis by news.com.au has found a whole heap of hacks that could save you hundreds and, if you play your cards right, even lead to entirely free travel.

In some cases, a return to paper tickets could actually put dollars back in your pocket. You can compare the smartcards side-by-side at the end of the article.

“They’re called smartcards but they’re not as smart as they should be in terms of passengers getting the best deal,” Daniel Bowen, spokesman for the Public Transport Users Association told news.com.au.

“While there are broad similarities between all the systems the devil is in the detail in terms of how much it costs.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull paid a visit to the Gold Coast and used his Go card after riding the tram. Picture: Scott Fletcher

Comparing the various different systems, which all offer different discounts across the day, is not easy. In certain situations, either system could win out. Nonetheless, its Brisbane commuters that appear to have the biggest hole in their hip pocket.

Someone travelling from Goodna to Brisbane Central in the rush hour every day — plus taking a couple of trips on the weekend — will pay a maximum of $53.64 per week on their Go Card. Far more than that a Sydneysider travelling a similar distance. Commuting from Parramatta to Central will cost just $38.56 per week, a saving of more than $15. In Melbourne, a commuter making a regular trip from Glen Waverley to Flinders St, as well as a weekend jaunt, would pay $43.60 pay-as-you-go. But, load up a 28-day Myki pass on your card — a feature neither Opal nor Go Card users have access to — and this Melburnian could pay as little $32.34 per week. That’s more than $20 less than for the same distance in Queensland.

A spokesman for the Queensland Department of Main Roads and Transport told news.com.au that South East Queensland had a larger area and smaller population than other cities and, “fares did perform comparatively well against the Sydney and Melbourne fare systems in some categories, and were bettered in others.” Nevertheless, Go Card fares were currently under review, he said.

Jumping the gates is a risk way of trying to get a cheaper train fare.

SIMPLE WAYS TO TRAVEL CHEAPER

An easy hack for Brisbanites to claw back some cash is by leaving for work after 8.30am saving 20 per cent on the peak fare. Over a year that’s an almost $300 saving. Sydneysiders can save even more by travelling off-peak, with a 30 per cent saving, but you’d have to finish your journey by 7am and head home before 4 or after 6.30pm. In Melbourne, Myki doesn’t care what time you travel but caps your daily fares to the price of two 2-hour tickets, far less than Opal’s $15 daily cap. If you buy a 2-hr ticket after 6pm in Melbourne, it’s good for travel all night.

BARGAIN WEEKEND TRAVEL

In Melbourne and Sydney travel is cheaper on the weekend. But travellers in the Emerald City shine brightest paying only $2.50 for a whole day’s travel on a Sunday.

OR, JUST TRAVEL FREE

Free trips at the end of the week are nothing new to Opal or Go Card users. But, again, Queenslanders get a raw deal having to make nine trips compared to just eight in NSW. A cheap, but time consuming, way to reach your free trips sooner is to make short bus trips early in the week alongside your usual commute.

Perhaps, the best hack though is in Melbourne, where trains are completely free for early risers. As in completely free, you don’t have to accrue a certain number of trips, just ensure your commute is done and dusted by 7am. And trams in the CBD are free every day with a Myki.

Emu Plains resident Gabrielle Griffiths commutes four days a week from western Sydney into Central station. Picture: Toby Zerna

DITCH THE SMARTCARD?

While singles and returns are all cheaper on smartcards, some of the alternative paper tickets can offer a better deal. Bus TravelTens, once loitering in every discerning Sydneysider’s wallet, are still sold and can be 75c cheaper per trip than Opal — but only if you make less than nine bus journeys a week. Enjoy it while you can though because Transport for NSW has told news.com.au TravelTens will be ditched, along with a slew of other paper tickets, in January.

Paper tickets are already museum pieces in Melbourne which can be a problem if you forget your card as the only option is to shell out another $6 for another Myki.

“There are people in Melbourne who accidentally end up with a collection of cards,” says Mr Bowen.

BEWARE THE TICKET TRAPS

The fare gods giveth with one hand and fleece you with the other. In Brisbane, if you have to change on your journey to work, between buses or onto a train for instance, it will only register as one step towards your nine trips. In Sydney, the same applies, but Opal sugars the pill slightly by only charging you more if you change to a different mode — between, say a ferry and train.

Smartcard bosses are not unaware of the frustration the charges to change cause with a spokesman for Transport for NSW telling news.com.au the state government is currently looking at changes to the Opal fare structure.

While in Melbourne the period Myki pass is good value — but could end up costing more than pay-as-you-go you if you don’t travel frequently.

For Mr Bowen, however, the fact we have as many as eight different smartcards systems in Australia is a scandal.

“If you have an e-tag in your car you can use that around Australia, the tollway industry knows it’s useful but our public transport [bodies] have never been so forward thinking.”

Simplifying the systems would be a start though he says, “The key is to make public transport as easy as possible and you shouldn’t require people to study fare structures and jump through hoops to get cheapest fare.”

THE SMARTCARDS, SIDE-BY-SIDE

Opal — NSW

• Card cost: Free
• Fare cap: $15 a day / $60 per week
• Free travel: After eight journeys
• Off peak discounts: 30 per cent off on weekends and outside rush hours (7.30am — 9am / 4pm — 6.30pm on Sydney Trains)
• Sneaky saving 1: All day Sunday travel is only $2.50 (if you’re not on free travel already)
• Sneaky saving 2: Do multiple trips on the same mode (such as two buses) within one hour and only pay for the whole journey, not separately
• Sneaky saving 3: If you travel by bus irregularly, get a paper Travel Ten and save around 17 pre cent per trip
• Potential pitfall: If you use two modes in one journey (such as change from a train to a bus) you will be charged for each trip but it will only count as one journey towards your eight.

Myki — Victoria

• Card cost: $6
• Fare cap: $7.52 per weekday / $6 Saturday or Sunday
• Free travel: After buying two 2-hour tickets per day ($7.52) / 2-hour tickets last all night if bought after 6pm
• Off peak discounts: $6 maximum travel per day on weekends
• Sneaky saving 1: Free train travel if journey completed before 7am on weekdays
• Sneaky saving 2: Free tram travel in CBD
• Sneaky saving 3: Myki pass can be cheaper than using pay-as-you-go for frequent travellers
• Potential pitfall: No paper tickets so have to buy a new Myki if you forget yours.

Go — South East Queensland

• Card cost: $10 (refundable)
• Fare cap: None
• Free travel: After nine journeys
• Off peak discounts: 20 per cent off travel between 8.30am and 3.30pm weekdays and all day weekends.
• Sneaky saving: Tap on after 8.30am to receive off peak fares
• Potential pitfall: Multiple trips within 60 minutes only count as one journey towards your nine to get free trips.

Originally published as You could be saving hundreds on your commute with simple smartcard hacks