Opal Card top up experience

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  retiredfeline on 19/05/2014 - 20:21

  +2

  You should have topped up at Woolies Town Hall. And you get 5% with the ING rebate.

  If you are going to topup online you might as well sign up for auto topup.

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  kelvinsmj on 19/05/2014 - 20:40

  I was trying to avoid topping up $40 so I thought I can top up at one of their counter. Unfortunately that is not the case and that's why I top up online hoping to get the credit immediately.

  Only to realise I cantvuse my credit yet when I try to use it.

  I did top up $20 from their airport station counter and I can use it immediately few months ago.

  • 

    retiredfeline on 19/05/2014 - 20:42

    RMS seems to have decided not to handle retail topup in most cases, letting merchants handle that. You can topup with $20 or $40 at Woolies. You might want to look at the list of topup locations at the Opal site.

    • 

      kelvinsmj on 19/05/2014 - 20:56

      I usually top up online. I don't want auto top up because I am paranoid on how they keep my card detail safe.

      It is strange though they allow top up at counter in domestic terminal.

      A lesson that I need to learn.

      • 

        retiredfeline on 19/05/2014 - 21:00

        That's probably an exception. Perhaps no merchants were handy to the station and it would be a cause for complaint by travellers if they had to go back to the terminal to topup.

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  danyool on 20/05/2014 - 01:02

  A lot of 7-elevens do top-up now, as well as some newsagents. I put $10 on the other day. Would have got more, but didn't have enough funds available in ING! But that was enough for 1 trip i needed.

  One gripe i have is they stooged me by auto topped up when i still had $14 left. Was expecting it to not go as it wasn't below $10. (Hadn't turned auto top up off then. Fixed it now)

  • 

    Chuppa on 21/05/2014 - 01:35

    Auto top up initiates when your balance is below $10. This would have happened when you tapped on as the card charges you the default fare until you tap off and it is adjusted.

  • 

    retiredfeline on 21/05/2014 - 07:16

    What Chuppa wrote. Auto topup is activated when you balance falls below $10 after the default fare has been held when tapping on. This is in the FAQ:

    https://www.opal.com.au/en/faqs/

  • 

    danyool on 21/05/2014 - 23:08

    Ok. Cheers. Although it was a bit annoying.

    Also a bit at odds with the other point in the FAQ "Can i tap off with insufficient credit? - As long you have the minimum value on your card at the time you tap on, you will be able to tap off and the Opal card will go into a negative balance…For trains, the minimum balance is $2.31 during off-peak and $3.30 during peak hours"

    Although - bonus if travelling with a bike - no second ticket needed (as is official case with paper tickets in peak.. although depending on if it's policed.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 22/05/2014 - 00:26

      I didn't know you needed a second ticket if travelling with a bike in peak hour. Interesting. I've never had my bike on me during peak hours though lol.

      Does the same apply to parents with prams or people with wheelchairs? You'd think it would, otherwise that's pretty tough on cyclists! haha

• 

  Chuppa on 21/05/2014 - 01:33

  You'll eventually be able to top up at Opal Machines at stations - once they get around to installing them.

  TfNSW don't want people behind the windows to do Opal Card work as it will add to the queues, which defeats to purpose of a completely electronic system.

• 

  DEvok on 21/05/2014 - 02:33

  City rail won't top it up but they sell the cards, Its very weird in my opinion.

  When you try to top up from the company that sold you the card it should'nt not be a problem within there premises as they handle cash there anyway.
  Its just not very convenient which defeats the point of having the card for its purpose in the first place.

  The other Odd thing that I found was that the minimum amount for top up online is $40 and in shops are $20, they should all have the same $20" if they could manage their finance properly they should not have retailers selling top ups as a percentage goes to the shops, This could save cityrail millions. Cityrail really need to get their act together.

  • 

    retiredfeline on 21/05/2014 - 07:12

    They probably don't want to have topup counters as they wouldn't have the volume of transactions that retailers do so it would be an extra overhead in staff training and equipment. It's not always the case that doing it yourself saves money.

• 

  girlpower on 21/05/2014 - 09:01

  I usually top up mine at Townhall Woolies. There you can use any credit card including amex (you can't use amex to topup online)and scan your everyday rewards cards. Once i recharged $10 there… so i think they are not restricted to any minimum topup.

• 

  Baghern on 21/05/2014 - 11:13

  Just curious why are you using opal? Its more expensive

            Paper           Opal
  

  Weekly $41.00 $37.60
  Monthly $149.00 $150.40
  Qtly, 90 days $410.00(almost 13 weeks) $451.20(12 weeks)

  Annual is same as quarterly x4

  • 

    swilsonau on 25/05/2014 - 16:56

    For some people, It's cheaper. Plus, Opal is more convenient.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 25/05/2014 - 18:09

    Opal is amazing for offpeak travelers

    On paper, the only way to get an offpeak ticket was to buy a single/return, weekly/monthly/yearly tickets don't come with an offpeak option

    I pay $23 a week, instead of $34 for a weekly, which is a massive saving

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  trunks on 02/06/2014 - 21:30

  Kind of annoying how they don't accept American Express for auto-top up as well. They accept American Express for buying that stupid Opal phone case thing though!

  • 

    Chuppa on 02/06/2014 - 22:04

    Higher margin on those fug cases. AMEX need to drop their merchant fee and they'd be accepted just like MC and Visa.

  • 

    rooon on 20/07/2014 - 10:58

    Yeah, bloody annoying. They also accept AMEX for paper ticket purchases at the station.

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  Sshanaz on 03/06/2014 - 06:12

  Opal is useful only for offpeak travellers.

  I travel during peak time so I will save $60 on quarterly paper ticket.

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  upeed on 03/06/2014 - 14:41

  The advantage I see with opal is that I can travel any where. not just within the destinations as in paper ticket. including ferries