The Opal card rolled out across New South Wales public transport services from 7 December 2012 until December 2014. Additionally, from December 2017, OpalPay was introduced and can be used as payment on selected third party services. This article contains all the dates of official Opal card and OpalPay rollouts.
The first stage of the Opal card rollout commenced on 7 December 2012 as a trial on the Neutral Bay to Circular Quay ferry service [1] [2] followed on 8 April 2013 by the Manly to Circular Quay service, [3] [4] and on 12 August 2013 to the Eastern Suburbs, Mosman and Taronga Zoo. [5]
From 30 August 2013, Opal was available on all public Sydney Ferries services. [6] [7]
Opal was rolled out on Newcastle Ferries' Stockton ferry service on 20 November 2014, along with Newcastle Buses' routes. [8]
The first Opal rollout on train services was in June 2013. The following is the list of rollouts on Sydney Trains:
This marks the completed rollout for all Sydney Trains stations.
As of November 2018, the rollout began where commuters can use their credit card & mobile devices to 'tap on' & 'tap off' on the Opal Sydney Trains network. [15]
Opal was rolled out on all NSW TrainLink intercity stations within the first 2 weeks of April 2014. However, some stations on the Central Coast & Newcastle Line was rolled out earlier as part of the Sydney Trains T1 rollout:
This marks the completed rollout for all NSW TrainLink Intercity stations in New South Wales.
The first Opal rollout on buses was in September 2013. It was rolled out across all buses on the Sydney Metropolitan Bus System Contracts (MBSC) and Sydney Outer Metropolitan Bus System Contracts (OMBSC).
The following is the list of rollouts for bus routes in Sydney, including school services of any region mentioned:
This marks the completed rollout for all Sydney Metropolitan Bus Contracts.
The first Opal rollout on outer metropolitan buses was in August 2014. The following is a list of rollouts for regional buses, including school services of any region mentioned:
This marks the completed rollout for all outer Sydney Metropolitan Bus Contracts.
Often, some routes have also progressively become partially Opal-enabled because they are run by different depots. These rollouts are only stated on the New South Wales government gazettes and are not announced through ministerial announcements. It is not compulsory for bus routes to be partially Opal-enabled on the dates stated on the gazettes. However it allows some buses to be Opal enabled even before the ministerial announcements.
By the Order, Opal can be used on gazetted routes if buses carry an "Opal bus" or "Opal on this bus" sticker. In other words, Opal cannot be used on bus routes that are not stated in the gazette, or on a bus without the "Opal bus" or "Opal on this bus", even it is running a gazetted route.
The routes and the dates stated on the gazettes are (excluding those covered by official ministerial announcements):
Opal rollout on the Inner West Light Rail took place on 1 December 2014. [53] [54] [55] [56]
OpalPay was introduced on certain private ferry services since December 2017:
OpalPay was rolled out on selected on demand services in New South Wales: [59]
The Opal Park & Ride scheme was introduced on selected car parks in Sydney: [65] [66]
The use of contactless cards is being rolled out on buses as follows, with completion expected by the end of October 2019:- [68]
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