Qube progresses with GT46 locomotives 10-year milestone for Opal cards

The New South Wales Government recently welcomed the 4.5 billionth tap-on to the Opal network at Parramatta Train Station, as the revolutionary electronic ticketing system turned 10.

Transport minister David Elliott said commuters had clocked up billions of the card trips since the network launched.

“We’ve seen 4.5 billion trips taken on the network in the decade since it was introduced – that’s an average of 1 million trips on our public transport system each day,” he said.

“The sheer volume of trips taken shows how much Sydneysiders and visitors love using the technology and see it as a part of their everyday lives.

“The Government is building on the success with the investment of $568 million over the next five years to deliver a new state-of-the-art Opal system, Opal NextGen.

“This will give commuters even more choice and convenience when booking and paying for public transport, helping them seamlessly travel across NSW like never before.”

The first tap-on was made on the Neutral Bay to Circular Quay ferry route on December 7, 2012, and since then the system has expanded to operate on the metro, rail, bus, ferry and light rail networks across Greater Sydney.

Transport for NSW Chief Operations Officer Howard Collins said the introduction of the Opal network a decade ago has revolutionised the way commuters travel across all modes of public transport.

“It’s amazing when you remember that only six years ago in August 2016, paper tickets were fully retired and now, many commuters travel on the network without a physical Opal card,” he said.

“More than 56 million cards have been issued, giving commuters easy access to our public transport network, whether they’re local, from interstate or overseas.

“We look forward to rolling out Opal weekly round trips.

It is the first interstate service to be handled under automation at the Qube Moorebank IMEX Terminal in Sydney.