Opal Changes from 6 July (Changed Weekend Travel Caps and Widened Weekday Peak Hours)

CircularIllusion on 21/06/2020 - 11:20

I'm surprised no one has made a topic on this already (unless I'm really bad at searching).

There are two notable changes being made to Opal:

From 6 July, the travel cap will change. You will be able to travel all day on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays and pay no more than:

$8.05 a day for Adult
$4.00 a day for Child/Youth
$4.00 a day for Concession
$2.50 a day for Gold Senior/Pensioner

and peak hours are have been largely widened (see the table here: https://transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/opal/fares-payments/h…).

Travel

Related Stores

Opal Card - NSW Government
Opal Card - NSW Government

Comments

  • John Kimble on 21/06/2020 - 11:46
    +9

    No more $2.80 Sunday fundays :(

    • mbck on 21/06/2020 - 11:49
      +2

      Melbourne lost that ages ago.

      I was amazed people still didn't pay tickets on Sunday and they got fines.

      It was only 3.10 for Sundays!

      • Mechz on 21/06/2020 - 13:42

        Is it still free to travel before 7am in Melbourne? It's been a while since I needed the train for work and that always used to be good.

        • mbck on 21/06/2020 - 14:02

          Its actually touch on AND off by 7.15 am now.

          • Mechz on 21/06/2020 - 14:27

            @mbck: That's awesome, always preferred starting early.

      • Richardc on 21/06/2020 - 17:55
        +1

        But the daily cap for Mel is much lower than syd.

  • niknah on 21/06/2020 - 11:51
    +5

    I'm sad. I'm thinking about going to Bathurst or some place far next week before it ends.

    There's a bigger thread on reddit…
    https://www.reddit.com/r/sydney/comments/hcgu6a/from_6th_jul…

    • peterpeterpumpkin on 21/06/2020 - 14:18
      +1

      I had all these ambitious plans to go everywhere before the bushfires hit (and then Covid-19). Before then it seemed every other Sunday there was track work. I'll be re-telling stories about the glory days.

  • WreckTangle on 21/06/2020 - 12:04
    +8

    Well, looks like it's time to start driving again on weekends. Yet another idiotic move by the state government clowns.

    • djones145 on 21/06/2020 - 12:21
      +1

      indeed, they have also made peak times longer… was 7 to 9 how 6.30 to 10…

  • fantombloo on 21/06/2020 - 12:06
    +3

    Driving to the city with the clan on a Sunday is a no-brainer now.

    Congratulations Transport NSW.

  • SnoozeAndLose on 21/06/2020 - 12:55

    What a move from the government, pushing more car to the road making less revenue form public, then use public money to pay off it debt.

  • fossilfuel on 21/06/2020 - 14:00
    -8

    I'm not sure why people are whinging about this change. With the new adult cap, I save $2.25 per day for the first 4 days of the week then get half price travel on Friday. I end up saving $9 a week.

    Assuming I've done my Mon to Fri travel, if I paid $8.05 on Sunday instead of $2.80, I will be $3.75 better off per week.

    I feel like people have jumped the gun on these changes without actually considering the savings.

    The peak/off-peak time changes are irrelevant if you're going to hit the $8.05 daily cap. You'll be saving more in the long term.

    Even for uni students. I used to pay $24-$27 per week travelling between Monday to Friday. That's when I tried to avoid peak hour travel as much as possible. Travelling during peak would have pushed it towards the $28-$30 mark. Now with the cap, uni students would pay at most $20 per week for travel on weekdays.

    If you're a regular commuter, you're getting a better deal. If you just travel on Sunday, then you're getting dicked. But this change benefits most commuters.

    • TheMindsetTraveller on 21/06/2020 - 14:45

      What $8.05 cap are you talking about? I think this cap only applies for weekends and public holidays.

      • fossilfuel on 21/06/2020 - 14:54

        You're right. I thought it was for Monday to Friday as well. In that case, drivings a much better deal and petrols relatively cheap now.

    • kerfuffle on 21/06/2020 - 14:51

      If you're a regular commuter, you're getting a better deal

      How so? Peak hour starts at 6:30 a.m. and finishes at 10 a.m., and starts at 3 p.m. and finishes at 7 p.m. as of July 6

      Also the $8.05 cap is for weekends; it's still $15 on weekdays.

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 21/06/2020 - 14:07

    I never achieved my Sunday dream of going to all the far out places :(

    Since I live in a trainless area I haven't set foot on a train since Covid-19.

    The saddest part is never taking a ferry again.

  • Simoneee on 21/06/2020 - 16:25
    +2

    Public transport is becoming more expensive but no changes have been done to improve the network

  • gmdarts on 22/06/2020 - 08:03

    no longer have a job here so on jobseeker but still have to pay full fare tried to apply for some sort of concession no way though

    • TrustNoBody on 23/06/2020 - 01:01
      +1

      There is a silver concession opal card gor ppl on jobseeker as my son has just gone on it and i applied for the silvee opal card online and you have to apply every 3 months and its a childs rate for the fares

  • HeWhoKnows on 22/06/2020 - 09:17
    +4

    This is effectively a price INCREASE for most people.

    Stretching the Peak times captures more travellers at the highest fare.

    And Funday Sundays were $2.50.
    No more Funday Sundays for the family

    Back to the SUV for the day

  • bunkr on 22/06/2020 - 10:13
    +1

    I can see a few news articles selling this as win for customers. I just wonder what have they been smoking?

  • zambuck on 23/06/2020 - 07:35
    +1

    The extension of peak hours till 10am even for intercity trains means if you want to travel from Wollongong to Central off-peak you'd arrive at Central at or before 7:26am, or after 12:03pm, and then leave central on your return trip by 2:23pm or wait till 7:22pm, getting you back to Wollongong station at 3:51pm or 8:52pm. I guess it's practically a moot point with a single return fare exceeding the daily Opal cap anyway, but at least an off-peak return would save a few bucks.

    Doesn't extending peak hours that far diminish the effectiveness of defining a peak period? "If the entire morning is peak hour then why should I adjust my travel to avoid the actual peak?"

  • kerfuffle on 23/06/2020 - 07:49

    Doesn't extending peak hours that far diminish the effectiveness of defining a peak period? "If the entire morning is peak hour then why should I adjust my travel to avoid the actual peak?"

    Yep

  • shortgum on 24/06/2020 - 22:40

    So a whole morning and almost all afternoon of peak hours. A measly temporary two months discount off-peak for tinier timeframes. What benefits to any commuter from this, also more importantly remove sunday cap.

    Which weeds the minister presume this will encourage people to take public transport, on weekdays and weekends? bunch of clownface smugs run by Constance morons.

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