NSW to axe paper public transport users to move users onto the Opal smartcard

IF YOU’RE holding out against travel smartcards your time is up with paper tickets being shown the exit. Their replacement? Oddly, paper tickets.

PAPER public transport tickets are to be scrapped, to be replaced by, well, paper tickets.

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance announced on Monday that traditional paper tickets will no longer be sold or accepted on Sydney’s transport network from 1 August.

Travellers will instead have to use the Opal smartcard system.

Mr Constance said the move was an “historic transition” to a modern ticketing system. “It’s now time to stop running two ticketing systems and move to one convenient system that enables future innovation”.

Melbourne has already ditched paper tickets with all commuters forced to carry a Myki card at all times. The move is not universally popular because Victorian transport users who leave home without their smartcard have to shell out $6 for a new Myki just to get on a train or tram.

Brisbane commuters still have the option of shunning the smartcard to pay for paper.

In preparation for the changeover in Sydney, paper ticket slots at some ticket machines have already been covered over. From August, the ageing paper ticket machines will also disappear.

Passengers will then have to either use the standard Opal smartcard or purchase a “single trip” Opal card.

First revealed by news.com.au in March, the new single use cards are made of paper — just like the tickets they are to replace — but can be tapped on and off at station gates similar to an Opal card.

However, the new tickets cannot be reloaded with credit like a standard smartcard.

The new ‘single trip’ Opal cards cannot be reloaded and will cost 20 per cent more for a single journey than a trip paid for on a standard Opal card.

PREMIUM FARE

It will also cost you more to use one of the new single use Opals — as much as 20 per cent above the price of a journey on a normal Opal.

“NSW is not alone in setting a premium fare for single trip tickets with electronic ticketing systems,” Mr Constance said.

“There’s a price differential at the moment in terms of single tickets and Opal card so there will be premium but that’s designed to encourage people to get onto the Opal card.”

Some of the most enthusiastic users of paper tickets are pensioners who take advantage of discounted fares. These users are being urged to move over to the Gold Opal card where the discounts will continue.

Two million people take 12 million journeys a week on Opal accounting for 95 per cent of all public transport trips, the minister said. More than 300 Opal top up machines have now been installed at Sydney railway stations, ferry wharves and light rail stops following criticism customers were struggling to recharge their cards.

People travelling to regional NSW will still be able to purchase paper tickets.

Paper ticket machines will be a thing of the past in Sydney from next month.

FARE CHANGES

The minister also confirmed a trial of using debit and credit cards to tap onto the transport system, avoiding the need for Opal smartcards altogether, will commence in 2017. London’s transport system already accepts bank cards as well as payments by phone and even smart watches.

The end of paper tickets come as the NSW Government overhauls Opal with the controversial axing of the weekly travel reward from September which allows commuters to travel for free after eight trips have been completed. This change will see passengers having to pay for all their fares albeit at a reduced rate the more trips are totted up over a week.

In return, Sydneysiders will no longer be financially penalised for changing between trains and buses.

Fares in NSW have been frozen until 2017.