Important Things To Know About Opal Card

In this article, we have summarised the need-to-know information about Opal, the official travel card for Sydney and NSW.

Where can I get an Opal Card?

You can get an Opal card this at most newsagents, supermarkets (such as Woolworths), and convenience stores (such as 7-Eleven). See https://www.opal.com.au/en/get-an-opal-card/find-an-opal-card-retailer/ for a list of Opal card retailers.

Unfortunately, Opal cards are not available on the train stations or on buses, as these places only sell single-fare tickets that cost around 30% more.

How much Does an Opal Card cost?

Unlike most travel cards around the world, the Opal card is free (i.e. there is no deposit required for the Opal card). However, you will need to load your card with enough balance to travel.

How many types of Opal cards are there for visitors?

If you are a visitor, you have access to either the Adult Opal Card, or a Child/Youth Opal card if you are between 4-15 years of age.

Child/Youth Opal gives you 50% off the fare when compared to Adult Opal Card. But please make sure you have your identification with you to confirm that you are between 4-15 years of age when requested by random ticket inspectors.

Other types of Opal cards (including Senior/Pensioner Opal Card) are not available for visitors as they are only available to NSW residents who have met specific criteria.

See https://www.opal.com.au/en/about-opal/types-of-opal-cards/ for more information.

What is the minimum top-up for my Opal card?

Minimum top-up for most outlets is $10 (see https://www.opal.com.au/en/get-an-opal-card/top-up/). If you are planning to be heavy on public transport during your visit, you might want to top-up just a bit more to cover your maximum daily/weekly/Sunday charge for your convenience (see https://www.opal.com.au/en/about-opal/benefits-of-travelling-with-opal-card/).

However, since there are quite a lot of number of Opal retailers around, it should not be too hard for you to top-up your card whenever you need it.

How do I use my Opal card?

To use your Opal card, always tap-on when you enter, and always tap-off when you exit. Although this might seem obvious, in other parts of the world you are not required to tap-off on bus trips, so a lot of people think that they don't need to tap-off.

Some train stations also still don't have entrance/exit gates and there are no gates for Light Rail, so you would have to make sure you find the Opal “pole” to tap-on and tap-off.

Failure to tap-on might end up with a fine if you got caught, and failure to tap-off means you will be charged the 'default fare' (which is the maximum fare applicable for that mode of transport — which can be very expensive for trains!). See https://www.opal.com.au/en/get-an-opal-card/using-my-opal-card/ for more information.

What is the minimum balance required for me to use my Opal card?

You will need to have a minimum balance to use your Opal card (see https://www.opal.com.au/en/about-opal/opal_for_adults/faqs_adult/) and if your trip ends up more than your available balance, your Opal card will go into a negative balance.

Please note that once it goes into a negative balance, it no longer has the minimum balance, which means that you will not be able to travel again until you've topped-up your Opal card.

Since you don't require to pay for an Opal card, most people would just discard their Opal cards once they have gone into negative balance and buy a new one. Please note that this is not advised as this is currently a known loophole (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/opal-card-loophole-costs-nsw-government-13m-in-lost-revenue-20170621-gwve0f.html) and the government is currently trying to close this loophole as they recently equate this to stealing.

Can I get discounts for my Opal?

Glad you asked! There are some ways to maximise your Opal usage:

1. You cannot pay more than a maximum amount on a single day (calculated from 4:00am until 3:59am the next day). For Sunday, the maximum daily amount is much lower (currently $2.60).
2. You cannot pay more than a maximum amount on a single week (calculated from Monday 4:00am until Monday 3:59am the following week).
3. Once you have reached 8 “journeys” in a single week (starting every Monday 4am until Monday 3:59 the following week) the rest of your “trips” and “journeys” for that week will be half price. This is called Weekly Travel Reward.

For detailed information, including the maximum amounts, see https://www.opal.com.au/en/about-opal/benefits-of-travelling-with-opal-card/

What is this thing with “trips” and “journeys”?

Please note that I “air quote” trips and journeys because they mean different things in Opal universe.

A “trip” is a tap-on and a tap-off on a single bus/train/ferry/light rail. Then, when you tap-on to another bus/train/ferry/light rail within 60 minutes, you will commence another “trip” but it will still be in a same “journey”.

You can keep tapping-on and tapping-off within 60 minutes of one another and still be in the same journey, providing you are within the maximum journey time (see https://www.opal.com.au/en/opal-fares/Maximum_journey_time/). This is particularly useful for quick stops since they will be recognised as a single travel and therefore charged as if you are going from “A to C” instead of being charged “A to B” and “B to C” separately.

Once you have completed your trip(s) and do not tap-on to another within 60 minutes, your journey will end and the next time you tap-on you will commence another journey.

Can I use my Opal card for other purchases?

Please note that the balance can only be used for travel and not for any other purchases, and it is very impractical to get refunds for any remaining balance on the card (https://www.opal.com.au/en/opal-fares/opal_refunds/), so be mindful of this when doing top-ups on your Opal card.

The balance in your Opal card will eventually expire (currently nine years — see https://www.opal.com.au/en/faqs/ under “Does value on an Opal card expire?”).

Is there an app for Opal?

“Opal Travel App” (available on AppStore and Google Play) has a very useful feature such as checking your Opal card balance, travel history, real-time public transport schedules, as well as the fares applicable to those trips/journeys.

Is there anything else to know about using Opal?

As Opal machine uses NFC (tap) technology, sometimes it can get confused if you have other cards or NFC-enabled smartphone nearby.

Also, some stations allow you to pay using your bank card (see below) and if the machine scans your bank card instead, you will be paying the single ticket fare (which is around 30% more expensive).

Therefore, make sure you separate your Opal card from everything else before tapping on and off.

What is an alternative to Opal Card?

If you cannot get your hands on an Opal Card and need to travel quickly, you can buy a single-fare ticket at the train station.

Single ticket costs approximately 30% more than when using Opal, simply because they give Opal user discounted fares for using Opal cards.

Please note that some buses no longer sell tickets and you will have to buy your single ticket elsewhere (but you might as well buy an Opal card if you are already there).

Currently, some ferry stations and light rail (tram) allows you to pay by your bank card that supports NFC (the one with a chip that also support tap). The fare will be single-ticket fare (which is approximately 30% more expensive) and you won't be having any other benefits that Opal card users have (see above).

If you want a less public option of travelling, you can always book yourself a rideshare like Uber. Check out our rideshare article to find out more about these rideshare operators and how to get free credits for your rides.

Questions or suggestions?
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