NSW's Opal card. Photo: Kate Geraghty
As Sydney residents trial new transport smartcards, other cities are moving fast on ticket systems that won't need them.
But while one analyst says the Opal cards are “10 years too late” due to the rise of mobile phone and contactless credit/debit card payment systems, other experts say that after a long history of electronic ticketing debacles in NSW the government is right to play it safe with a mature and tested technology first.
Guy Cranswick, an analyst with Australian firm Intelligent Business Research Services (IBRS), said the Opal smartcard was “old technology and already being replaced around the world”.
NSW Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian holding the Opal card at a tap on/off terminal at Neutral Bay. Photo: Kate Geraghty
Cranswick published a report in October looking at mobile ticketing, focusing particularly on the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority in the US which earlier this year rolled out a smartphone app-based ticketing solution.
He also pointed to Transport for London's decision to support “swipe and go” contactless credit/debit card payments from next year. TfL has also trialled mobile payments using NFC chips built into the latest smartphones but said earlier this year the technology wasn't fast enough for the Tube.
Cranswick believes that if electronic ticketing is to be rolled out for the whole network in 2015 the government must test new technologies beyond smartcards, which he says will be cheaper for the taxpayer and more mature by 2015.
A tap on/off terminal at Neutral Bay Wharf. Photo: Kate Geraghty
“The fact that they're introducing Opal now it's gotta be at least 10 years too late and why they haven't refigured that this is no longer the technology to be using is extraordinary,” he said.
Professor Corinne Mulley, the University of Sydney's chair in public transport, said the previous TCard fell over because of the complex fare system but now that the new MyZone fares had been introduced the government could move forward with “tried and tested” smartcard technology.
“I don't think I would agree [with Cranswick] ... other countries and other cities are looking for additional ways of making it possible for people to pay their fares [but] I believe these are largely on top of a smart card system rather than to substitute for it,” she said.
Professor Mulley said the real test for smart card technology in NSW would not be on December 7 when it is rolled out for the Neutral Bay ferry but when it is adopted across different operators and for multi-modal journeys.
Harold Dimpel, CEO of Australian mobile payments firm mHITs, said mobile phones were not yet ready for mass transit ticketing while smartcards were “ubiquitous and reliable and appeal to the lowest common denominator”.
He said smartphones had been adopted for concert and airline ticketing but “for mass transit the key thing is quick scanning and quick authentication and nothing beats the simplicity of these short-range smartcard products”.
Dimpel added mobile phone ticketing would likely come in phase two but the government right now was "appealing to something that's old school and they know will work because possibly it's a political hot potato if they stuff it up".
Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said Sydney had waited for more than a decade for electronic ticketing that works and the Opal cards could be updated to support mobile and other payment technologies down the track.
“The Opal Card is compatible so that one day these technologies could be used, however our focus is rolling out the Opal card system properly first so that all customers – no matter what age – can use it,” she said.
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