MP Matt Kean (L) promoting Opal cards at Hornsby station, in Sydney’s north, with students Ben Cant and Jazmine Reid. But questions have been raised about the complexity of the new silver coloured Opal card.
CRITICS of a new travel smartcard have said a rethink is needed as the conditions of using it are so complex it could actually add to the cost of accessing public transport as users fall foul of multiple restrictions.
But the scheme’s backers have said it’s already one of the most generous travel smartcards in the country and no changes will be made.
Under scrutiny is the new school Opal card which enables students in NSW to travel to school for free. The card is currently being rolled out across Sydney and other parts of the state.
However, a student who talked to news.com.au said the new card penalised her for doing extra studying outside of school hours and effectively incentivised students to go home rather than playing sports or doing additional educational work.
“The new card really doesn’t seem to have been thought through,” said Laura Cook, a 16-year-old student from Hornsby Heights in northern Sydney.
“We’re about to have it rolled out in my school and the concern I have is if I go to school early for extra-curricular activities or if after school I go to the local library to study in a group session or go to any location aside from home to school I’m not covered.”
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance and Ita Buttrose have been spruiking a new range of concession Opal card which are replacing paper tickets.Source:News Corp Australia
The new silver coloured school card is a version of NSW’s established Opal travel smartcard which, similar to Queensland’s Go and Victoria’s Myki systems, allows users to top up their card with cash which is then progressively used up as train, bus and ferry trips are taken.
The school card allows students free travel but only between their school and one nominated address, most often their homes.
MULTIPLE RESTRICTIONS
Any trips outside of that, such as from school to a sporting ground, library or to another relative’s house, have to be paid for with a child Opal card which is currently half the adult fare. Children whose parents have split up would likely have to choose which parent they would be able to visit for free.
In addition, there is a restriction of when the card can be used and students must live a certain distance from their school to be eligible for the school Opal.
Ms Cook said that on those days she left home before 6.30am, when the card is not valid, and didn’t go straight home because she was studying at a friend’s house, she could end up forking out more than $6 on fares, or potentially more than $30 in a busy week, as she would receive no free trips at all. The extra money for fares often has to be shouldered by mums and dads, she said.
The new school Opal card enables schoolchildren to travel free — but there are multiple restrictions that may mean users have to pay. Picture Cameron RichardsonSource:News Corp Australia
“It’s difficult for parents, it’s just another expense on top of things we already pay for school,” Ms Cook said.
“It could encourage people not to use public transport and considering how clogged roads around schools are, it’s going to add to that.
“Having good access to transport means you have more educational opportunities that can further your learning but this system could actually discourage extra-curricular activities.”
Ms Cook called on the NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance to expand the hours of the current system and allow the card to be used for travel between a greater number of locations.
FAILING FAMILIES
Opposition transport spokesman Ryan Park backed the call and said the card’s restrictions failed to recognise relatives other than parents were playing a greater role in childcare duties.
“Under this policy, a student travelling from school to their grandparents or a family friend’s place for after school care would be forced to pay for a ticket and this needs to be fixed,” he said.
Unlike their counterparts in NSW, Melburnian students don’t get free travel on Myki.Source:News Limited
“Parents are working harder than ever just to put food on the table. We don’t need to be slugging those who are forced to rely on help to look after their children out of school hours.”
Mr Park conceded the school Opal had the same conditions as the previous paper-based School Student Transport Scheme but said the move to the new card was a missed opportunity to improve the system.
GENEROUS SYSTEM
A spokesman for Mr Constance said the ability for schoolchildren to travel free cost taxpayers $550 million a year and it was one of the most generous such schemes in the country.
There needed to be limits to the program, he said, to ensure those who needed it most could benefit.
School Opal is certainly a better deal than students receive in many states, with similar programs in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia only offering discounted — not free — fares.
However, in Canberra school kids can travel free transport every weekday and with less catches as part of the ACT’s student transport program.
It’s not the first time questions have been raised about the effectiveness of the Opal system. Unlike most other smartcard systems around Australia, there are relatively few options to top-up Opal cards with more than half of users recharging at retailers in contrast to Melbourne where 65 per cent of Myki holders choose to add value to their cards at machines in stations and beside trams stops.
By recharging at retailers, smartcard holders were opening themselves up to sneaky surcharges with a survey last month finding every single convenience store around Sydney’s transport hub of Circular Quay charged customers to top up their smartcards if they did so with a bank card. Some fees totalled as much as 80 per cent of the cost of the minimum top up.
Transport for NSW said around 100 top-up machines were installed at railway stations and ferry wharves with hundreds more being installed this year.
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