I'm only occasional with using an Opal card; I hope a regular user in the know might be able to answer my question.
Tonight (Sunday) I took a train at around 23:30. When I swiped on my Opal card it said -$2.60 which makes sense - it's Funday Sunday. But by the time I swiped off it was about 00:30 Monday and it indicated -$5.94 for the trip.
Would I have been better off not swiping off?
not tapping off may incur max charge ~$8.3
True, but it would still assume you were on Sunday Funday - hence it would incur max charge of $2.60?
it shouldn't have taken -$2.60 off as you tapped on
No, I wouldn't have expected it either, but perhaps Sunday is treated differently since $2.60 is the charge regardless of what you do further?
If it's a registered card why not look at your transaction record instead of guessing what happened?
I'm know what happened, I'm wondering what would have happened if I didn't tap off.
But you didn't tell us if the tap on "charge" was due failing to tap off earlier since normally you don't get charged on tap on. And the record would have stated if the $5.94 was due to max charge or what, since Sunday should have been capped.
So let us know what they say when you call them.
I'd login to check.
There are 2 reasons I can think of why you should have been charged $2.60 regardless.
The fare depends on the time you tap on (that's how they charge peak rates).
From Opal FAQs: "For the purposes of fare calculation, the Opal day commences at 4.00am and ends at 3.59am the following day.
The Opal week commences on Monday at 4.00am and ends the following Monday at 3:59am."
^this!
Yes, I would have expected this. But I was charged $5.94.
post you transaction log from opal site.
OK. transaction log says $2.60.
But Opal reader definitely said -$5.94 last night.
Seems to me the display on the readers cannot be fully trusted?
@thevofa: Sure that wasn't your balance? Wait a day or two. If the charge doesn't appear on your account you can stop worrying.
@greenpossum: No, balance is $1.90, and it even said that last night when I tapped off. $5.94 sounds like the regular price. Maybe the readers display the fare according to a local algorithm rather than taking into account any complexities, maybe only when they are slow to connect to their hosts? I don't know.
A tap on doesn’t say any value , just what your balance is
This is what I expect too. But it definitely said this last night. I assume this is to do with the fixed price Funday Sunday. I know I didn't imagine it because the last time I used Funday Sunday it was $2.50; I knew it changed but had no idea it was $2.60, I thought it was now $2.75.
Firstly it's a tap on/off, not a swipe on/off.
Secondly, it shouldn't have taken -$2.60 off as you tapped on unless you didn't tap off last time although I didn't think that this runs between days like that. It only deducts funds as you tap off.
And yes, you probably would've been better not to tap off. But you kind of need to in order to get through the gates at main stations.