Transport for NSW, 23rd May 2015

A media report today claiming that there is a $20 million revenue shortfall on State Transit buses because of Opal is completely false and misleading.

Over the last 12 months, revenue for STA buses has met expectations, with numbers comparable to recent years.

The claim published today uses incomparable data to make assertions which are consequently false and misleading.

Transport for NSW has always structured Opal fares and benefits such as free trips into its revenue projections. These reward free trips are an incentive to use public transport more, and this is proven by the increased use of public transport on weekends and on trains in the CBD.

The claim that earlier this month transport authorities were forced to install new software to fix Opal is false and misleading. Software upgrades are normal and standard activities on every electronic system.