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52-557: Opal is a contactless smartcard fare collection system for public transport services in the greater Sydney area. Operation of the Opal system is managed by Transport for NSW . First launched in late 2012, Opal is valid on Transport for NSW's metro, train, bus, ferry and light rail services that operate in Sydney and the neighbouring Central Coast , Hunter Region , Blue Mountains , Illawarra and Southern Highlands areas. Opal equipment

104-475: A trip is a single unit of travel, from tap on to tap off; a journey is a collection of at least 1 trip taken within a short space of time of each other. Trips will be counted as one journey if a passenger taps on for a new trip within 1 hour of tapping off from their previous trip (on the Manly ferry the time limit is 130 minutes from tap on). Trips are used to calculate fares. Fares for consecutive trips involving

156-618: A RailCorp employee alleged to have leaked tender secrets to Cubic. Ruling against Cubic in 2002, the NSW Supreme Court judge Michael Adams found it was ''guilty of reprehensible conduct'' and had shown a ''lack of good faith and positive dishonesty'' in the tender process. The development and rollout of the system was beset with difficulties, leading the government to terminate the contract in November 2007. The government sued ERG for $ 77 million who counter sued for $ 215m. The claim

208-436: A credit or debit card, allowing users to top up their balance online or by phone. When linked to a credit or debit card, Opal cards can be configured to automatically top up the balance when it falls below a pre-set amount (auto top up), currently $ 10. Over 350 top up machines are installed at railway stations, light rail stops and ferry wharves throughout the Opal area. The first generation machines can only provide top ups with

260-472: A debit or credit card. Second generation machines provide top ups and can also sell single trip tickets. There are two types of second-generation machines – the difference between the types is the ability to accept cash in addition to electronic payment. On 11 March 2015, the first top up machines became available at the recently opened Edmondson Park and Leppington railway stations. This had been extended to nearly 100 stations and wharves by July 2015. In 2016,

312-475: A discount has applied when changing modes during a journey, other than metro/train which are treated as the same mode. In 2014, the government stated that when the CBD and South East Light Rail opened in 2019, passengers would pay a single fare for a journey involving the use of both light rail and buses, however this was before the introduction of the transfer discount and ultimately not implemented. Previously once

364-408: A greater range, up to 2 meters (6 ft). Other contactless technologies like UHF (Ultra High Frequency) smart cards can reach up to 150 meters (500 ft) and are often used for applications where the card is read inside a vehicle, such as security gates which open when a vehicle with the access card inside approaches, or automated toll collection . The battery eventually runs down, however, and

416-643: A green tick is shown. Non-adult Opal cards have their own distinct 'ding' when tapping on or off, in addition to having a light mounted atop a train station or ferry wharf barrier lit up, allowing for Transport Officers and police to identify and enforce correct fares. The design of the cigar-shaped Opal poles won the Transport category of the Sydney Design Awards, the Australian International Design Award and

468-401: A journey count of eight was reached during the week (Monday to Sunday), travel was free for the remainder of the week. This discount was changed to half-price travel on 5 September 2016 and removed altogether on 16 October 2023. When an Opal customer completes eight trips on the same mode of transport (even within the 1-hour transfer), a new journey commences. The number of trips required to force

520-607: A number of caps to reduce the cost for frequent travellers: Other key discounts include: Fares have increased on the first Monday in July (although October in 2023) generally matching inflation, but with some adjustment from government directives. The caps for Senior/Pensioner cards, the transfer discount and the Weekly caps (since introduced) have not changed since 2016. Being a distance-based system, Opal users are required to tap on on all modes & tap off on all modes (apart from

572-826: A physical card. This is available for Adult Opal fares only, initially on Apple and Samsung devices with Android 8.0 or later, with Google devices to be added at a later date. The trial which will run for 12 months, is limited to 10,000 users. It could not be used on OpalPay services or park & ride. The trial ended, with all trial cards disabled and refunded, on 12 December 2021. When originally launched, adult cards were scheduled to expire after nine years. This has since been extended to 12 years. Opal integrates ticketing on all modes of public transport; however, it does not fully integrate fares. The fare types for reusable cards and contactless payments are metro/train, bus/light rail and ferry. All modes except ferries offer separate peak period and off-peak fares. All fares are calculated based on

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624-500: A range of 2 to 10 cm (1 to 4 in). The card can often be left in a wallet or purse, and read by simply holding the wallet or purse near the reader. These early proximity cards can't hold more data than a magnetic stripe card , and only cards with smart chips (ie, contactless smartcards ) can hold other types of data like electronic funds balance for contactless payment systems, history data for time and attendance or biometric templates. When used without encoding data, only with

676-508: A range up to 10 cm (4 in). The related ISO/IEC 15693 ( vicinity card ) standard typically works up to a longer range of 100 centimetres (39 in). The reality is that ISO/IEC 14443 as well as ISO/IEC 15693 can only be fully implemented on microprocessor-based cards. The best way to check if a technology meets ISO standard is to ask the manufacturer if it can be emulated on other devices without any proprietary hardware. The card readers communicate in various protocols, for example

728-407: A reader to transmit their data. An active card contains a flat lithium cell in addition to the above components to power it. The integrated circuit contains a receiver which uses the battery's power to amplify the signal from the reader unit so it is stronger, allowing the card to detect the reader at a greater distance. The battery also powers a transmitter circuit in the chip which transmits

780-594: A stronger return signal to cover the greater distance. Proximity cards are all proprietary. This is also the case of the memory-based first generation of contactless smartcards . This means that there is no compatibility between the readers of a specific brand and the cards of another brand. Contactless smartcards are covered by the ISO/IEC 14443 and/or the ISO/IEC 15693 OR ISO/IEC 18000 standards. These standards define two types of card ("A" and "B", each with different communications protocols ) which typically have

832-680: Is a commuter ferry route in Sydney , New South Wales , Australia . Part of the Sydney Ferries network, it serves several Lower North Shore suburbs around Neutral Bay. Services begin on the southern side of Sydney Harbour at Circular Quay, then head northeast to Kirribilli. From there, services proceed in a loop, stopping at North Sydney, Neutral Bay and Kurraba Point. The journey is completed by returning to Kirribilli and Circular Quay. Services operate every half an hour on weekdays and every hour at night and on weekends. Circular Quay wharf

884-679: Is currently set at its original level of 30%. It was temporarily increased to 50% between 6 July and 5 October 2020. Peak times were originally between 07:00 to 09:00 (for Sydney Trains stations), 06:00 to 08:00 (for most intercity stations) and 16:00 to 18:30 (for all stations) on weekdays. Even earlier peak times applied at certain intercity stations located very far from Sydney. Peak times were widened to (6:00 for intercity stations) 6:30 to 10:00 and 15:00 to 19:00 on weekdays on 6 July 2020. Transport Officers and NSW Police, who randomly patrol services, are equipped with portable card readers and mobile phone based readers. Fares are categorised in two ways:

936-483: Is located at the northern end of the Sydney central business district . The locality of Circular Quay is a major Sydney transport hub, with a large ferry, rail and bus interchange. Kirribilli ferry wharf is located near Holbrook Avenue in Kirribilli . It consists of a single wharf. North Sydney ferry wharf (also known as High Street wharf ) is located at the end of High Street, North Sydney and serves

988-964: Is provided to students with entitlements to free transport to/from school under the School Student Transport Scheme. Owing to the light rail's heritage as a privately run enterprise, free travel for school students was traditionally not available on this mode. The School Opal was introduced on light rail from July 2016. A grey Opal card is available for holders of a free travel Vision Impaired Person's Travel Pass. The card can be used to open ticket gates at stations and ferry wharves without requiring staff assistance. Employee cards are used by certain public service employees (e.g. Police, Sydney Trains staff) entitled to free travel on some or all public transport services. Prior to June 2021, employee cards were grey. Non-reusable (single trip) Opal tickets were introduced on 1 August 2016, replacing all remaining paper tickets. These are only valid on

1040-439: Is that company A has a facility code of xn and a card set of 0001 through 1000 and company B has a facility code of yn and a card set also of 0001 through 1000. For smartcards, a numbering system is internationally harmonized and allocated by Netherlands-based NEN (registration authority) according to ISO/IEC 6523 and ISO/IEC 15459 standards. Neutral Bay ferry services Neutral Bay ferry services (numbered F5 )

1092-750: The Neutral Bay to Circular Quay ferry service in late 2012 and was completed two years later when the Inner West Light Rail was added to the network. During this period, Opal was progressively rolled out to all ferry services operating under a New South Wales Government service contract, Sydney suburban and intercity train services, all bus services operating under a Metropolitan or Outer Metropolitan service contract and on Sydney's light rail line. Single trip ticket machines were rolled-out during 2016. Opal replaced all pre-existing paper tickets, with these tickets being withdrawn in stages, with

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1144-511: The Powerhouse Museum Design Award. Proximity card The term "proximity card" refers to the older 125 kHz devices as distinct from the newer 13.56 MHz contactless smartcards . Second generation prox cards are used for mass and distance reading applications. Proximity cards typically have a read range of up to 50 cm (20 in) which is the main difference from the contactless smartcard with

1196-524: The Wiegand protocol that consists of a data 0 and a data 1 circuit (or binary or simple on/off (digital) type circuit). Other known protocols are mono directional Clock and Data or bidirectional OSDP (RS 485), RS 232 or UART. The earliest card formats were up to 64 bits long. As demand has increased, bit size has increased to continue to provide unique numbers. Often, the first several bits can be made identical; these are called facility or site codes. The idea

1248-455: The integrated circuit . The chip sends its ID number or other data to the antenna coil, which transmits it by radio frequency signals back to the reader unit. The reader checks whether the ID number from the card is correct, and then performs whatever function it has been programmed to do for that ID number. All the energy to power the card comes from the reader unit, so passive cards must be close to

1300-604: The Concession Opal, students must be enrolled full-time at a participating institution. Students need to give consent for their institution to share enrolment details with Transport for NSW. As of 14 June 2015 the cards were available for students at over 80 institutions. The Concession Opal became available to eligible NSW job seekers from 29 June 2015. There are a number of cards that do not have any stored value for individuals with free travel entitlements. These cards are plastic MIFARE Ultralight C cards. The School card

1352-468: The F1 Manly Ferry) to ensure the correct fare is charged. If a user only taps at one end of their journey, a default fare will be charged, corresponding to the maximum fare on that mode of travel. However, a lower default fare applies if it is not possible to reach the maximum fare on the route for which the tap on took place. If the user fails to tap off, the default fare is charged after exceeding

1404-418: The bus itself. The rollout of Opal technology has seen a new style of gates introduced at a number of major stations. When tapping on or off, all readers display the current balance of the card or an error message if the tap failed to work. Tap offs also display the fare deducted for the trip. A trip that is part of an existing journey will display "transfer" when tapping on. For contactless cards and school cards

1456-431: The card must be replaced after 2 to 7 years. The card and the reader unit communicate with each other through 125 kHz radio frequency fields (13.56 MHz for the contactless smartcard cards) by a process called resonant energy transfer . Passive cards have three components which are sealed inside the plastic: an antenna consisting of a coil of wire, a capacitor , and an integrated circuit (IC) which contains

1508-687: The card serial number, contactless smartcards have similar functionalities to proximity cards. Passive 125 kHz cards, the more widely used type which were described above, are powered by radio frequency signals from the reader device and so have a limited range and must be held close to the reader unit. They are used as keycards for access control doors in office buildings. A version with more memory, contactless smartcards , are used for other applications: library cards , contactless payment systems, and public transit fare cards. Active 125 kHz prox cards, sometimes called vicinity cards , are powered by an internal lithium battery. They can have

1560-535: The creation of a new journey was increased from four trips to eight trips in March 2016 to reduce the number of short trips made simply to complete a journey and reach the journey limit. Placing money onto an Opal card is known as topping up . As of January 2016, there are over 2,000 Opal card retailers that provide top up services across New South Wales. There are also top up machines at railway stations, light rail stops, and ferry wharves. Opal cards may also be linked to

1612-423: The day of purchase for a single trip only, and only two ticket types are available: Adult and Child/Youth. Single ticket prices are significantly higher than the applicable fare on a reloadable card to discourage their use. Single trip tickets can be bought from top up machines at most train stations, ferry wharves and light rail stops. Tickets issued from these machines are cardboard MIFARE Ultralight C cards. In

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1664-479: The different modes of transport, a complex fare structure and excluded private operators. By being limited to the services provided by the government agencies, most bus services in the outer western, northern and southern parts of Sydney, plus all bus services of the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, and Illawarra regions were excluded from the system. A unified brand for the majority of public transport tickets

1716-535: The distance travelled and are for single trips only. Opal's non-reusable single trip tickets use the same mode groupings as the standard fares but offer no off-peak fares and are more expensive than the equivalent standard fare. The following tables list Opal fares: ^ = $ 2.50 cap applies for Senior/Pensioner cardholders A surcharge is levied when using the two privately operated stations serving Sydney Airport : As there are no return or periodical options available, reusable Opal cards and contactless payments include

1768-484: The eastern part of the suburb. It consists of a single wharf. Neutral Bay ferry wharf is located at the end of Hayes Street, Neutral Bay . It consists of a single wharf. The wharf was rebuilt between February and August 2012. Kurraba Point ferry wharf is located near Kurraba Road in Kurraba Point . It consists of a single wharf. The following table shows the patronage of Sydney Ferries network for

1820-555: The first time. Opal retailers have distributed unregistered Adult and Child/Youth cards since 10 August 2014. The Senior/Pensioner card was made available for ordering online or by phone on 3 November 2014. Between 11 November and 5 December 2014, temporary kiosks were set up at shopping centres to allow seniors and pensioners to order their Opal cards. The Concession card is available to eligible apprentices, trainees, tertiary students and job seekers. Concession cards became available to tertiary students on 2 February 2015. To be eligible for

1872-468: The journey details to be recorded and the appropriate fare deducted from the stored value on the card. Passengers 'tap on' and 'tap off' any services whenever they travel through the public transport network. Opal cards can also be used to pay for fares on selected third party transport services via a facility known as OpalPay . After a gradual rollout from 2017, the Opal system has accepted contactless payment via credit and debit card and linked devices with

1924-485: The maximum journey time (5 hours for most train trips) or when tapping on at a gated station for the next journey. Users do not need to tap off on the F1 Manly Ferry, as the fare is charged when tapping on. An off-peak discount applies to encourage travel outside of peak times. This discount originally only applied to train trips only, but from 6 July 2020, it was enabled on bus and light rail as well. The discount

1976-531: The past, single trip tickets were also available on buses. These were simply thermal paper receipts and did not need to be validated. As with prior to Opal, these tickets were not available on PrePay routes or stops. Starting in 2018, PrePay routes became known as 'Opal only' routes and many more routes became designated as 'Opal only', with no tickets sold on board. All remaining routes became Opal only on 25 March 2020 due to COVID concerns. A trial supporting direct contactless payments from debit and credit cards

2028-683: The phone. Adult and Child/Youth cards are also available from retail outlets, such as convenience stores, newsagents, supermarkets and at Service NSW centres. The Adult fare card was the first card to be released, becoming available in December 2012. On 6 April 2014, the Child/Youth card was made available. These cards had to be ordered either online or over the phone. From 28 July until the end of September 2014, temporary kiosks were set up at major railway stations and shopping centres, as unregistered Adult and Child/Youth cards were made available for

2080-500: The process completed on 1 August 2016: The Opal network comprises: Opal will also be accepted on the Parramatta Light Rail network when it opens. Reusable Opal cards come in five different types, each with their own colour. These are: Adult (black), Child/Youth (green), Senior/Pensioner (gold), Concession (silver), Employee (blue) and School (light blue). Reusable Opal cards can be ordered online or over

2132-626: The same fares and benefits as an adult Opal card since 2019. Sydney has used a number of automated ticketing systems since the opening of the Eastern Suburbs Railway in June 1979. The Sydney Automated Fare Collection System (AFC) was rolled out across all government-run CityRail (train) and State Transit Authority (bus and ferry) services in Greater Sydney between 1988 and 1993. The system featured loose integration between

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2184-540: The same mode of transport are combined so the passenger is charged as if they have taken just one trip, from its origin to ultimate destination – this is known as Trip Advantage. Journeys involving transfers between modes generally attract separate fares for each mode. The exception is the Stockton ferry in Newcastle, which is classified as a bus. A journey can consist of a maximum of eight trips. Since 5 September 2016,

2236-430: The second generation machines are being installed with 58 of the credit card only and 118 of the cash and credit card machines installed as at 23 June 2016. Opal readers are used to tap on or off. They are installed atop existing ticket barriers, or mounted on a stand-alone pole at railway stations, light rail stops or ferry wharves, or integrated into light or power poles. Buses are the exception, with readers installed on

2288-427: The user's ID number in specific formats and no other data. The reader has its own antenna, which continuously transmits a short range radio frequency field. When the card is placed within range of the reader, the antenna coil and capacitor, which form a tuned circuit , absorb and store energy from the field, resonating at the frequency emitted by the reader. This energy is rectified to direct current which powers

2340-493: Was complete by the end of September 2019. For detailed rollout information see Contactless rollout on buses . The technology is based on a system developed by Cubic Transport Systems on licence from Transport for London . On 8 December 2020, registrations opened to trial an Opal Digital Card where the Opal Card is loaded onto mobile devices such as phones and watches, which can then be used to tap on/tap off, instead of using

2392-403: Was designed from the start to support a variety of cards, but launched with the captive Opal cards. Opal cards are the standard method of paying for fares on the Opal system. The card is a credit card-sized smartcard which includes a microchip and internal RFID aerial, allowing the card to communicate with readers. The microchip enables value to be loaded onto the card, as well as allowing

2444-832: Was expanded to include all Sydney Ferries and Sydney light rail services, and support for Visa and American Express cards was also added. On 26 November 2018, it was further expanded to cover all Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink intercity services. The contactless fare structure was also changed to charge normal Opal peak hour fares, and support for the daily, weekly and Sunday caps was introduced. However contactless payments could not be used to benefit from or pay for Weekly Travel Rewards, Transfer Discounts, Off-peak train fare discounts, Trip Advantage and free access to Opal park & ride carparks. On 29 July 2019, all Opal benefits except park & ride and on demand services, were extended to contactless payments. The rollout of contactless payment to Opal controlled buses commenced on 2 August 2019 and

2496-476: Was first announced by the government in 1996, with the aim of having a system in place before the 2000 Sydney Olympics . The contract was awarded to ERG Group , but was delayed until 2002 due to a lawsuit from the losing bidder Cubic , which was labelled dishonest by the presiding Supreme Court of New South Wales judge. In 2001, Cubic launched a court action against the government but the case exposed an improper relationship between its then managing director and

2548-523: Was introduced in April 2010. MyZone was designed to simplify the fare system and remove one of the stumbling blocks to the introduction of a smart card. The AFC system was retained where it was in use, but tickets could also be used on private buses – and subsequently on light rail – by presenting a ticket to the bus driver or tram conductor. A replacement for the AFC based on smart card technology, named Tcard,

2600-463: Was introduced on 6 July 2017. This allows passengers to tap on or off using their card or a mobile device linked to their card's account, thereby removing the need to use an Opal card or ticket. The trial began on the F1 Manly ferry service, initially only for holders of Mastercard contactless cards. All passengers were charged the price of an adult Opal single trip ticket. On 12 March 2018, the trial

2652-469: Was later extended until September 2026. In September 2011 the new name for the system was announced as 'Opal', chosen from a selection of 665 names. Transport for NSW said Opal was chosen because it was 'uniquely Australian', short, and easy to say. As well as the opal being Australia's national gemstone, the black opal is the New South Wales gemstone symbol. The initial Opal rollout commenced on

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2704-711: Was settled in February 2012. After terminating the Tcard contract, the government quickly moved to reset the smartcard project. It called for expressions of interest for the second attempt at the project in August 2008. In April 2010 the government awarded the contract to the Pearl Consortium, whose members are the Commonwealth Bank , Cubic and Downer EDI . The initial contract ran until September 2024. It

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