Opal Card: Can I Transfer When I Have Lower than Minimum Balance?

scrypton on 12/05/2017 - 09:21
Last edited 12/05/2017 - 10:29

Hi guys,

I have a specific question regarding Opal transfer and low balance. Consider both of the following cases (which are very similar):

Case 1
Let's say I have $4.50 balance in my Opal card. Then I take a bus that charges $3.50.
Now I have $1.00 on my balance.
If I transfer to another bus within 60 minutes, can I successfully tap on, knowing that the maximum fare for bus travel would be $4.50, and I do have the sufficient balance of $1.00 to reach $4.50? Or will it refuse to tap on because the balance is less than the minimum fare of $2.10 for a bus ride?

Case 2
Let's say I have $4.50 balance in my Opal card. Then I take a bus that charges $4.50.
Now I have $0 on my balance.
If I transfer to another bus within 60 minutes, can I successfully tap on, knowing that I have already paid the maximum amount for the bus travel ($4.50)? Or will it refuse me to tap on because the balance is less than the minimum fare of $2.10?

Any knowledge or personal experiences with any of the above?

Travel

Related Stores

Opal Card - NSW Government
Opal Card - NSW Government

Comments

    • scrypton on 12/05/2017 - 09:31

      I am aware of this, but I am just wondering if transfer would have a different rule. I just thought that it is a bit unfair that (for Case 2) I need to have at least $6.60 in order to catch bus rides worth $4.50 simply because I do a transfer.

      • retiredfeline on 12/05/2017 - 09:36

        I doubt if the machines have been reprogrammed to recognise the transfer rebate.

      • John Kimble on 12/05/2017 - 09:52

        When you tap on the second or nth "trip" of your "journey", it says "transfer" on the screen so it knows.

        • retiredfeline on 12/05/2017 - 09:58

          Yes, but have they changed the calculation logic in them?

        • John Kimble on 12/05/2017 - 10:00

          @greenpossum: Well when you tap off, it takes off the correct amount, so yeah.

        • retiredfeline on 12/05/2017 - 10:05

          @John Kimble: That's true. I guess the only people disadvantaged if it didn't would be transient users since long term users would run through an amount of money far greater than any residue lost on the last use.

        • John Kimble on 12/05/2017 - 10:41

          @greenpossum: True. my wife has 3 because she has forgotten hers a couple times. From what I read it is quite difficult to transfer balances… Involves registering the cards and calling them… So stupid. They should really allow online balance transfer for small amounts… Eg under $5 or $10…

          There are probably thousands of cards out there with under $5-$10 on them just sitting there doing nothing…

  • John Kimble on 12/05/2017 - 09:48
    +1

    Dear Opal

    Wrong website, champ

    • scrypton on 12/05/2017 - 10:30
      +1

      Oops.. I copied back and forth between here and Opal's feedback form. It's now fixed! Thanks for pointing that out :D

  • scrypton on 13/05/2017 - 00:15

    This is what Opal replied to me:

    "As long as you have the minimum value on your card when you tap on, you will be able to tap off.

    Depending on your trip your Opal card may go into a negative balance. If so you will need to add value to your Opal card in order to tap on and travel again."

    LOL. I did not ask them if I could tap off. I asked them if I could tap on the second bus.

    Question not answered.

    • retiredfeline on 13/05/2017 - 00:26

      If you are a long term user, there is negligible effect in the long run, you pay the same amount of money and you just need to keep a higher balance.

      It's only if you are a visitor trying to use up all the balance or you are in the habit of losing cards that you lose any residue.

  • alexshel on 07/04/2019 - 11:59

    In addition to this, my question is:
    When you change from train to bus within a journey with $0.20 on card left, will it let you tap on in the bus?

    • zevious on 16/09/2019 - 13:43

      I successfully transferred to bus with 0.52 balance. It charged 0.24 for 3 stops travel. So i guess you can do it as well. But balance might go down to -0.04 or something negative number.

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