TfNSW: Time to tap into Opal – majority of paper tickets to be phased out →

The retirement of paper tickets continues, with pretty much every paper ticket being withdrawn from sale as of next year.

Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said: “Given the enormous success of Opal, it’s time to stop running two ticketing systems.

“Opal is one of the great improvements to our public transport network, and it’s the right time we take the next logical step to one convenient system,” Mr Constance said.
From January 1, 57 paper ticket products will no longer be sold. Customers should start preparing now to upgrade to Opal, so getting around is simpler and cheaper.

The next stage of Opal means customers will only be able to purchase adult and concession single or return tickets for trains, ferries, light rail plus singles for buses.

To give customers more of a prod, opal.com.au has a pretty good summary of how ‘unpopular’ paper tickets are becoming;

We know that customers love their Opal cards. There are now more than 3,300,000 cards issued and the number grows steadily every week.

At the same time, there has been a significant fall in the number of paper tickets being sold. For example:

  • Nearly 80% fall in sales of the MyBus TravelTen over the past 12 months
  • 89% fall in sales of the Adult and Concession MyMulti tickets over the past 12 months
  • Almost 50% fall in sales of the Pensioner Excursion Tickets over the past 12 months
  • 72% fall in sales for the Light Rail Weekly over the past 12 months
  • 94% fall in sales of the MyFerry TravelTen in the past 12 months
  • Almost 70 per cent of all public transport trips are now with Opal
Figures: Bureau of Transport Statistics as at May 2014 – May 2015