Sharing Opal card use

shortgum on 09/12/2015 - 01:59
Last edited 09/12/2015 - 02:00

We are regularly using our Opal trips effectively in our family by sharing our cards together (~if possible) during a week. Find out this is quite useful when one member is staying home then other member need to go out.

Combine this with weekly Opal run have significant savings. Out of interest. Anyone doing this as well in their family?

It is working quite work at the moment. Also pass it to our parents too even they can use senior opal.

Just wondering anyone out there think? Also wonder any minor things might need to careful on

Travel

Related Stores

Opal Card - NSW Government
Opal Card - NSW Government

Comments

  • retiredfeline on 09/12/2015 - 02:11
    +2

    Seniors won't have any choice next year; paper tickets will be discontinued. Senior cards should not be shared, they are issued to a specific person and proof of entitlement needs to be carried. In any case the need to accumulate 8 trips is far less due to the daily cap and half price fares.

    • RockyRaccoon on 09/12/2015 - 04:18

      True and the ability to reduce this to zero is very limited as its $2.50 anywhere in a day (multipe trips etc), and only 7 days in a week…

    • sqgl on 08/01/2016 - 13:22

      I have yet to see any formal legally binding documentation supporting your assertion that they should not be shared. Proof of entitlement can still be carried by the person I share with (assuming they have the same entitlement, eg pensioner). There is no reason to restrict sharing unless the objective is to track innocent citizens.

  • Davo1111 on 09/12/2015 - 02:19

    the main issue is the opal senior card. Obviously you can't use a senior card registered to someone else.

    • sqgl on 08/01/2016 - 13:07

      No not obvious. My Seniors card does not say "non-transferrable". If it is transferred to a friend who is also a senior this would be "reasonable".

  • shortgum on 09/12/2015 - 02:51

    Clarify, I mean we pass our Adult opal card for parents to use even they can use their Senior opal

    Never ourselves use senior opal.

    • RockyRaccoon on 09/12/2015 - 04:17

      Why would they use your Opal card when they only pay $2.50 per trip. Only benefit here would be if the Opal card (the non seniors card) was maxed on the trips so instead of $2.50 they pay nothing.

      And then they have the card which means another member cant travel with it. So is it worth the effort?

      • djones145 on 09/12/2015 - 06:54

        When I work from home, I some times let my dad use my card to help get the 8 trips. Cause he catches buses two blocks to the shops. That's prolly the only time them using ur card would work out, my normal trip is 4.60 but trip is 2.1 or so

      • retiredfeline on 09/12/2015 - 11:11
        +1

        It's actually $2.50 cap per day not per trip. Fares are half so the max paid trips (towards the bonus) you can make in a day is 3, e.g. $1.05 on bus, one hour+ gap, $1.18 on train, one hour+ gap, then the balance of $0.27 on the last trip. More often it's a max of 2 trips because of a transfer.

      • sqgl on 08/01/2016 - 13:18

        Can be worth it to those of us who object to the government tracking the movements of innocent citizens. Swapping cards frustrates such tracking.

    • retiredfeline on 09/12/2015 - 11:05

      But then you are getting charged full fare for a trip for which would cost them half fare, or nothing if they have reached the daily $2.50 cap. So that has to be balanced against the 8 trip bonus for the adult card.

  • try2bhelpful on 09/12/2015 - 07:46

    One thing to watch is where a card might be "non transferable" to someone else. Not sure what rules the Opal cards have but I have certainly seen tickets in the past where they said you couldn't "transfer" tickets to someone else, e.g. if you had bought a daily ticket and then give it to someone else when you don't need it anymore. Can't see that in relation to the Opal cards but if it is there and the card is registered in someone else's name they might fine you. Woth a look at the rules and regulations.

    • scrimshaw on 09/12/2015 - 08:27
      +1

      They don't check who the card is registered to. When they tap the cards on their Opal checking app on their Samsungs, the only info they see is whether the card is in 'transit' or not. If the card isn't in transit, then they know if you aren't tapping.

      Unless you're a senior, they don't check any docs either.

      Besides, it is possible to register multiple cards under one name — it's not as if the Opal cards belong to solely one person.

      The clause you may be thinking of is the No Resale policy.
      https://www.opal.com.au/en/footer/opal-terms-of-use/
      Which says you cannot resell your card to somebody else, but doesn't specify that the cards cannot be used by more than one person.

      and also

      . You must not tap on twice with the same Opal Card in order to pay for another person's trip. You must not use multiple Opal Cards to pay for the same trip.

      the above is not technically possible anyway — since tapping on twice on the same station effectively reverses the tap-on and cancels the trip, and tapping a different card means you're just paying for another trip.

      • airzone on 09/12/2015 - 10:07

        This.. As long as it's an adult card and only one person is using it per trip, then it's fine.

    • sqgl on 08/01/2016 - 13:15

      There is no occurence of the word "transferable" in the TOU (https://www.opal.com.au/asset/8b3ab8f4-89dd-48ad-811f-fd42e6…)so it seems to be OK to transfer even as a concession traveller (providing the transferee carries supporting documentation showing equivalent entitlement). It may require taking it to court to be sure and set a precedent. As a senior I want to swap with other seniors so as to avoid our movements being tracked.

      • retiredfeline on 08/01/2016 - 13:21

        You should be looking for other words besides "transfer". It may be worded as "exclusive", "sole", "only", etc. in conjunction with "use". And why would you trust other seniors with possible memory problems to pay you back the fare? :) Anyway, you go first. :)

  • DarkOz on 09/12/2015 - 08:07

    Done this a few times but can't really take advantage of it because we go out or stay home together.

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